By: Lin Flanagan

How do you teach electric guitar improvisation? Sussex based teacher, Lin Flanagan explains his approach in this fun and interesting article.

“I need help with my soloing. It’s stale and boring and just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere!” is a common cry of new students coming to me for lessons.

I think that it’s best to start on the improvisation trip as soon as the student’s technique allows him to play a scale.

Leave Major Scales for Now

“The major scale isn’t the easiest to start with”

Where do we start? With a scale sure – but let’s make it one that’s useful. Most people can relate to kids in school playing endlessly up and down the major scale.

But other than using it to improve their technique, what are they going to do with it? Often, the answer is nothing!

The problem with our wonderful old major scale, is that initially it is hell to try and solo with.

Apart from which, most rock and blues guitar solos don’t use that scale anyway, so the poor soul wouldn’t be able to play all those screaming lead breaks that he wanted to anyway because he’d be using the wrong choice of notes.

Try Minor Scales First

“The minor pentatonic is a good place to begin – it’s simply bombproof.”

Well, what scale should we use then? How about the minor pentatonic. Not only is it the most commonly used one for rock and blues playing, but it’s a cracking place to start because used over a 12 bar blues progression it is bombproof.

Not one of the notes in this situation will make you writhe in audio agony or make you wish you had the ability to run like Linford Christie so that you could leave the room in super-fast time.

The trouble with major scales is that the two extra notes that we have to hand, will either sound drop dead gorgeous when used at the right time, or be an assault on the ears if used at the wrong time.

So send the student away to practice the pentatonic scale for a week; first with downstrokes and then with alternate picking, (perhaps as a warm up exercise) with the promise of using it for soloing the following week.

Start Soloing Right Away

“Start students improvising as soon as the scale is learnt”

When next week arrives drop the poor soul in at the deep end. While you play a very simple 12 bar blues backing, ask him to play some of the notes from the scale in any order he chooses.

An initial “who me?”, is a common response – but assure him that this isn’t going to sound bad and ‘just go for it’.

After his first attempt, get him to try again, but just playing three or four notes. The concentration on just a few notes forces the attention away from the scale and more onto improvising music.

Analogy Time

“Use analogies to get your points across”

It’s often said that music is a language. I’m not sure about that… whilst it may convey emotion, what is the musical translation of: “a pint of Guinness please landlord?”

Having said that, we can use language as an analogy as there are several things relevant to both.

Here’s what I tell my students:

“When trying to hold a conversation with someone the voice rises and falls in, usually, a pleasant way. Talking on a monotone would be very boring, and darting around all over the place as if your voice hasn’t decided whether to break or not yet, is difficult to listen to comfortably. So when you choose your notes for soloing, try and do the same.”

Phrasing is Key

“Question and answer licks are a good way to start”

A lot of people, when soloing, play one long continuous phrase. That is to say, there isn’t a single breath, rest or pause from start to finish – just one big long ‘flourish’.

I explain it to my students this way:

“What you need to do is organise your playing and thinking. So, if you are the sort of anorak/statistician person who goes around quoting endless bizarre facts at people, eventually, somebody is going to land one on you. Likewise if you persistently ask questions. It’s all about getting the balance right.”

As teachers we could say the same thing about musical phrases. Any phrase which doesn’t finish on the root note (or chord tone) will not sound complete.

We can call this a ‘question phrase’. One which does finish on the root, does sound complete and would thus be an ‘answer phrase’.

Exchange question and answer phrases with the student and once he has got the hang of it accompany him again, making sure that he keeps the phrases short with plenty of breathing spaces in between. Call out “question” or “answer”, but be careful.

To alternate (Qu – Ans – Qu – Ans) too much is as boring and predictable as having no phrasing at all.

It is the act of organising and putting thought into playing that makes it sound so much better and gets away from inane musical waffle.

Encourage your students to try and chuck in the odd flourish for a bit of contrast- after all, playing tastefully all the time can get too predictable!

What are your tips and approaches for teaching guitar soloing concepts? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.