ibblebibble7 Posted July 1 Posted July 1 Hi guys, I've recently decided to start learning how to properly improvise on the guitar. I'm a massive fan of the licks, techniques and melodic sounds from Thin Lizzy (mainly Gary and Scott) and Led Zeppelin. does anyone have and starting point suggestions, I'm not a complete beginner as I have got 95% of crazy train down and a few Thin Lizzy songs like Waiting for an alibi and Dancing in the moonlight etc, I know of a few pentatonic scale shapes and the bare basics of minor third harmonies (I think?). Any help would be greatly appreciated! Quote
ezbass Posted July 1 Posted July 1 A common mistake is for folk to stick to the minor pentatonic when improvising, whether the key or chord is major or minor. Try and make sure you’re complimenting the chord by emphasising the 3rd note. A lot of players tend to play through the scales from one end to the other. Stand out from the crowd by making some interesting, intervalic jumps (Carl Verheyen is the king of this, check him out). Don’t be in a hurry to show your chops too early, build to a crescendo and release (the solo from Stairway is a great example of this). 2 Quote
Kiwi Posted July 2 Posted July 2 Look at barre chord shapes and use those notes as a guide to what to play, then experiment with different positions up and down the neck. Then, if you're brave, try it with inversions and THEN with modes. See how far you can push things without it sounding irrelevant. 1 Quote
ibblebibble7 Posted July 3 Author Posted July 3 On 02/07/2025 at 08:00, Kiwi said: and use those notes as a guide to what to so use the bar chords of a song almost like scale shapes? Quote
ezbass Posted July 3 Posted July 3 4 hours ago, ibblebibble7 said: so use the bar chords of a song almost like scale shapes? Yep! Therein lie the important chord tones, which will add flavour to your soloing. 1 Quote
Kiwi Posted July 8 Posted July 8 On 04/07/2025 at 00:37, ezbass said: Yep! Therein lie the important chord tones, which will add flavour to your soloing. Mostly thirds. Quote
icarusi Posted 5 hours ago Posted 5 hours ago (edited) One thing I do is to extend what you already do. So take a lick you already play/know. and alter some of the notes, or the note order. until you get something you like. Once you have the new lick, make sure to play the old lick, then make sure you can alternate each at will, so you can use the new lick as the alternative, but still use the old lick. If you primarily use minor pentatonic shape/position 1, which is a good start for any line, add in the notes from the top 3 strings of shape/position 2,(used 1 position higher than your start position 1) and also the notes of the bottom 2 strings of shape/position 5 (at 1 position lower) . The aim is to have a diagonal group of notes, larger than shape/position 1, but not having to think too much about the whole of positions 2 & 5, you just know when you're on the high strings, you can go higher, ditto on the lower strings. Get comfortable over 6 fret spans, extended off the corners of position/shape 1. Get used to playing within the 6 fret 3 string area of each corner. Add in the rest of the adjacent positions, when you want to vary what you can already over position 1, and the 2 corners. If you play something you like the sound of, record it. I use a Zoom H2N, but previously a microcassette. It's so easy to remember a lick incorrectly, especially if it sounds 'unforgettable'. Edited 5 hours ago by icarusi Quote
