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15 Improvisation Tips
Here are some tips to consider when you are improvising your solo. Read one, and try it, experiment.
1. Learn different scales (pentatonic minor, pentatonic major, normal (pure) major and minor, harmonic minor, etc.). Learn the sound and atmosphere of these scales. Learn to play them fluently.
2. Only repeat notes when you really want to. Do not repeat a note because you do not know what else to do; in that case just build in a rest.
3. Play to notes via the scale. Give a note an accent, go up or down via the scale to a next note that also gets an accent. For example C-d-e-f-G-f-e-f-G-a-b-c-D-C (in this case the notes with a capital letter get the accent).
4. Vary the rhythm. Change the length of notes. For example short-short-long, short-long-short. Vary this pattern as well. Build in rests. Play occasionally after the beat (on the "and" in 1st 2nd 3rd 4th). Also, use triplets. And do not play the same rhythm as the accompaniment.
5. Bending strings is a technique that can make or break a solo. When you bend a string, make sure it produces a pure, correct tone, with correct pitch. Only consciously bend a string, don't use it as a trick. Listen to your bend: listening is the key to perfect bends.
6. Listen carefully to the harmonic (sounding together) effect of the tone you are playing. Does it match the accompaniment? Is it a tone that you can leave alone, or is it an intermediate tone that must be followed by another one?
7. Use slides, hammer-on and -off and vibrato to make tone more appealing.
8. Try playing multiple notes simultaneously (2 or 3) in your solos so every now and then.
9. Develop speed. Keep practicing. You also need speed when you play slower solos.
10. Play larger distances now and then, not just the next note in the scale (combine with point 3). Make “phrases”; new phrases can start at a different point in the scale. Within the phrases themselves, you do follow the scale.
11. Practice arpeggios, use them in your solos.
12. Use rests. Just like in a conversation. Sometimes you remain silent to give yourself and the other person time to process what has been said.
13. Also play the notes between the notes of the scale (chromatics).
14. Play a question and answer game with your melody lines.
15. Skip an octave or more, for example by changing position (e.g. in A minor from position V to position XII).