Be sure to practice all of the common sonorities. There are many other chord qualities as well. There are Am triad shapes in various inversions all over the fretboard, so take time to explore those too. Next, you may want to try different phrase lengths and different tempos. Once you get the hang of these lines, improvise your own at the same tempo. 3 is another variation, using the same concept. What we’re after is introducing some non-triadic sounds that we can hear in relation to the triadic tones. You can analyze the non-triadic tones–G#, G, F, Eb, and Bb (7, b7, b6, b5, and b9, respectively), but harmonic specificity isn’t the point here. 2 was improvised using such neighbor tones. (These nearby notes are sometimes called “neighbor tones.”) Ex. We’ll do that by allowing access to the notes that are a half- or whole-step above or below each of our triadic tones. Once you’re comfortable improvising this way, it’s time to step outside. If you can’t, try taking the tempo down a few notches and practicing awhile at the slower pace. Be certain that you can really hear each of the notes you’re playing. Play this example a few times, then improvise your own four-measure phrases at the same tempo (142 bpm), using only these three notes. Improvising over four measures of A minor, using just the notes of our Am triad, we might play something like Ex. When we start with just three notes, it’s much easier to hear what’s going on. Secondly, when we use common two-octave scale fingerings, it’s easy to rely on muscle memory rather than actually appreciating the quality of each individual note. We’re setting tight boundaries, when the whole point of outside playing is to be free from such restraints. If we choose to play, say, A minor pentatonic, that obliges us to using only the five notes of that particular scale. Why would we bother with such a small shape when we could easily grab two octaves of scalar material? Good question! The answer is twofold. For instance, if we’re going to improvise over an Am chord, we can use a simple Am triad (A–C–E) as our starting point, as opposed to the commonly employed A minor pentatonic scale (A–C–D–E–G) or A natural minor scale (A–B–C–D–E–F–G). Start with Triads The first principle is this: Play from triad shapes, not 6-string scale patterns. Wherever you’re at in your own development as an improviser, I think you’ll be able to understand the principles presented here and apply them in your own musical escapades. ) What I mean is that when we want to play notes beyond the prescribed harmonic structure of any song, we’ve still got to be thinking inside some other structure-an alternate harmony, or melodic motif, or rhythmic motif. (Or, less succinctly put: Outside one thing is inside something else. It’s based on a handful of easily understood principles, all of which are derived from one big-picture concept: Outside is inside. With that in mind, I’d like to show you my approach to outside playing, both as a performer and in my teaching practice. It has more to do with actually hearing, and then playing, sounds that are beyond listeners’ expectations. In my own experience as a teacher-and as a lifelong student myself-I’ve come to believe that the path to outside playing is not merely rote memorization of exotic scales or arpeggios. Does anyone really improvise like that? Possibly so, but I sure don’t. To play outside over A7, these are the 17 arpeggios you can use. To play outside over Dm7, these are the 12 scales you can use. Dishearteningly, when such players start to seek information on how to play outside from online resources, in books, and from some teachers, they’re likely to encounter thesaurus-like approaches. Then, one day, he was hungry for something different.Īs I’ve been teaching for 25 years or so, I’ve had more than a few students reach this point in their development. There are so many rules to heed, so many formulas to memorize, so many fingering patterns to get down pat. As anyone who’s done the woodshedding knows, this is no small achievement. He had developed his ears and technique to a level where he could “make the changes,” as jazzers say, whether playing jazz, blues, rock, or other styles. For example, if he was improvising over a tune and the sheet music indicated an Am7b5 in the third measure, he was able to outline that chord in a really musical way. This shouldn’t have surprised me, because for quite a while the student had been working so hard at playing inside. One of my guitar students asked me this recently. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
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