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 Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any? 
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Post Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
I'm just curious to see how everyone is doing with their improvising/soloing, it's always good fun to see people make stuff up and rock out. I've found that from working on reading very, very small digestible chunks, and then messing with those same ideas in different contexts that my own ability to improvise and solo while self accompanying has improved quite a bit. Of course, I always like to hear what folks are doing to expand their sonic territory and widen that musical gaze...

So yeah, let's see what y'all have been up to!

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Wed Apr 12, 2017 6:46 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
Personally...soloing just started to click this week. Until now...it was very mechanical and not "musical". If it ain't got a groove and a nice pocket....then I'm not happy with it. I record my practices so i can see what i like and what needs help....and this week...I'm actually liking what i hear (well...startng to like it)


I got Little Wing as my song for this weeks lesson and all of a sudden...some solo licks and good phrasing are happening over the simple bass line.

I play it back and there's a groove starting there. My goal is that this sounds soulful, and make you want to sway a bit and just dig it. It's been a struggle to get here...but it's progressing.

I always practice with only a bit of reverb on the right hand. I'm really striving to get the tone i want through technique and not effects. Anyone do the same?


Wed Apr 12, 2017 7:01 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
For me it's all about getting used to playing notes over other notes, hearing what it sounds like, and trying to build on what happens. You know, just take a pool of notes and "see what happens" sort of thing. I try to improvise as best I can with both the bass side and melody side simultaneously. A starting point to be sure.

I made this up tonight, just for reference to this thread... Messing around with ACDD#EG


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Wed Apr 12, 2017 7:47 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
I see what you're going after.

One thing i was taught a long time ago on guitar was phrasing. How to make the instrument sing. Neal Schon from Journey is a master at singable solos. Dont stop Believing, Faithfully, Wheel in the Sky, Lights, etc....all these solos you can sing along with...and if you're in a cover band and don't nail them perfectly...people notice.

Dunno if this will help or not...but it's helping me port some of the feel from guitar and piano to the stick.

I'll will take the same scale like you have, simplify the left hand to root and 10th, and sing a melody along with playing it on the right hand. So many times we will want to run the scales up and down that we get riffs, but no real "feel". I found that singing my solo as i played it forced the hand to take pauses and to have more soul.

I did like the bend you thru in there....still working on that myself and not hitting the other strings.

Personally...something like Little Wing has been really helpful this week cuz i can take the simple melody and play with it, all while keeping the phrasing of the song. Just sounds more musical and something I'd want to listen to rather than scales.

Don't get me wrong, the scales are important...but when we talk, we don't fire every word we know as quickly as we can fire notes. We pause, we fluctuate and syncopate as we talk or sing....improv should be the same way.

Count Basie had an incredible audition rule for people in his brand. He said..."Pick 2 notes and make them swing....cuz if you can't swing with 2 notes, the rest won't help you and your wasting my time" There's a lot of wisdom there...and once i grabbed that on guitar or piano...it made a world of difference....and now I'm porting that to stick.

Hope some of that ramble makes sense. I'm only 16 months into stick, but 40 years in music....and really the concepts are the same

Tp


Wed Apr 12, 2017 8:07 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
Like I said, I was just messing around, created and recorded that video at the same time. Improvising, you know? Spontaneous composition... getting to know the instrument. Y'know, exploring?

Post a clip of your little wing solo, I'll learn it when I get back from work. Unless it sucks.

"4 decades of experience" lol is that the new requirement to be one of the cool kids?

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Wed Apr 12, 2017 8:41 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
I like it! Now, try playing it without looking... 8-)
Almost all of my playing is improv.
It's a blast and relaxes me.

I've been taking Stick videos from the internet and editing them.
I cut out all the fluff and get to the meat of it all. ;)
I make my own clips of what I want to see.

I use the free app AvidEmux to resize, cut, splice, slow down, etc.
http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/avidemux-portable
http://mycomputersaver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Avidemux-User-Guide.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQZJ1NyLvR8

Jayesskerr wrote:
For me it's all about getting used to playing notes over other notes, hearing what it sounds like, and trying to build on what happens. You know, just take a pool of notes and "see what happens" sort of thing. I try to improvise as best I can with both the bass side and melody side simultaneously. A starting point to be sure.

I made this up tonight, just for reference to this thread... Messing around with ACDD#EG


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Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:08 pm
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
Thanks for reading the thread! I do play without looking a lot, mostly when I work on sight-reading which I do a lot. Lol I haven't tried laying down yet while playing though.

There is a lot of improvised music out there from a ton of different genres and player mindsets and tastes. Mike Stern, Yngwie Malmsteen, Wayne Krantz, Frank Gambale, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, SRV etc etc... Christina Aguiliera and Metallica. Green Day and Adele I personally am of the opinion that it's all legit, and that if it sounds like music, then it probably is. I prefer to not judge someone else's music for "taste" "feel" "groove" or "spirituality" because those are intangible and highly subjective parameters.

Me, I like to look at what's going on in the music itself and reflect on the harmonic, rhythmic, and intervallic qualities of said piece of music to ascertain where I wish to continue listening to it, or perhaps pursue it further, and learn to play it.

My posted clip is not a "hey look at me" kind of thing, but rather a "hey, I am trying to work on improvising simultaneously with both hands within a designated harmonic context". So I understand that some folks might not like it, and even feel a need to let me know what I should be doing to accommodate their tastes and prejudices and that's okay. Really, I am just excited about playing the Stick and working on music, and discussing ideas and approaches.

It's a big musical world out there, no "one way" is "the way" to do things, so I for one am not going to force feed anyone my beliefs and experiences. Talk about them, sure.

Rock on...

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Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:59 am
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
Man, me with solos is a curious thing. Working with a great guitar player you might have heard of--Scott Kerr, he's a Monster Shredder Master of Strings!--as well as a couple of other great musicians in bands past, I have recently come to the conclusion that I am a rhythm player, and not as much a soloist.

Thomas_Powers wrote:
One thing i was taught a long time ago on guitar was phrasing. How to make the instrument sing. Neal Schon from Journey is a master at singable solos. Dont stop Believing, Faithfully, Wheel in the Sky, Lights, etc....all these solos you can sing along with...and if you're in a cover band and don't nail them perfectly...people notice. Dunno if this will help or not...but it's helping me port some of the feel from guitar and piano to the stick.

But I do like to do, and gravitate to, a very melodic "solo" that is like singing. The examples of Neal Schon is a great one, and the comment about singing melodies as lead solos is also a good one.
Thomas_Powers wrote:
Hope some of that ramble makes sense. I'm only 16 months into stick, but 40 years in music....and really the concepts are the same
I hear you there: our background musical experiences definitely inform our Stick journeys. I'm about the same time with the Sticking, and only 30 years into the study of music, but the particular instrument is not so important for universal ideas like phrasing and melodies. That's all true on any and all instruments.

The parts about scales are more personal taste, in my humble opinion. And I'm speaking as the original guy who hates scales. But scales and their patterns are a huge part of many musician's style--even musicians like Eddie Van Halen, who famously are not into music theory and formal training, nevertheless use lots of blue scale patterns, and fretboard patterns as part of their style. Which I'm a huge fan of. I'm also a huge fan of Neal Schon and Santana and other melodic players. And Satriani and Vai and the shredders certainly got the singing melodic thing down too.

Jayesskerr wrote:
"4 decades of experience" lol is that the new requirement to be one of the cool kids?


I don't think Thomas was playing the "Respect Mah Authoriteh" card here, as a few of our crusty senior Stickists have done recently that started huge flame wars. (I'm old, too, just not on the Sticks!) Thomas is just making a general point that I think we all agree with: solos should have a phrasing and melody to them akin to singing, and I would add that pyrotechnics are awesome too. They are by no means mutually exclusive. Neal Schon can shred and noodle as well as "sing," and those are all skills we need in our toolbag. Journey's Raised on Radio was my very first rock concert, by the way, and Neal Schon single-handedly is about 32% responsible for turning me into a rocker. And EVH is about 43% responsible and throw in a Billy Joel and then we have a Steve Sink.

And I love Scott's soloing style(s)! (He's got about 40 styles as a studio guitar player, to be fair). But Thom is just making a general point that we all agree with, especially Scott, from what I know of his musical philosophies.

Even when I solo, it's really an arpeggio style that also makes a good rhythmic accompaniment. And I have a couple of good solos that I've recorded and that I'm proud of, but they're not my best skill. I do melodies, and rhythms, and riffs, but lead solos with a separate lead instrument playing mainly monophonic lines is not what I do (much). I'm all about that syncopated rhythm with a beautiful (or haunting) melody.

And then Scott and I get together and our styles seem to complement each other. Or Scott can compensate for my lackings. But the first way sounds better! :mrgreen:

Don't Stop Believing (in Melodic Shredding)!
--Stevie Schon Halen Joel

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Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:01 am
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
The Stick is the perfect vehicle for improvising. Being able to alter the harmonic and rhythmic setting at any moment, as well as having different sonic pallets for each hand. Plus the immediacy of having your fingers right on the strings...

Keyboards are great and so is the guitar, but only one type of instrument lets you do it all with such complete integration and expressive immediacy...

I'd only been playing for 2 years when I released my first improv recording with Tim Reynolds Stick and Stones: a collection of spontaneous improvisations. I'm probably proudest of Water on the Moon (1998), though AZUL was a pretty fun session as well. There are very few long-form solo improv recordings out there on any instrument... (Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert comes to mind... any others you can think of?)

If you haven't checked out WOTM, please do. Here is is as one uninterrputed hour-long piece on bandcamp...

https://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/water-on-the-moon

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Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:42 am
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Post Re: Tapping Improvised solos... Anyone have any?
2 years and you cut the first album Greg?

OK...I have a goal now! I have about 8 months to get myself in gear.

WOTM is very cool....would love to talk to you more about this at Interlochen....I'll buy the first round and we can chat.

Thanks
TP


Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:30 am
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