musically helpless??
Hi David - i have been using the site for 3 years now and was wondering that by now if i should be able to play some reasonably sounding blues along with my buddies who play guitar .. If i play stuff ver batum which i have learned on the site (in the accompanyment and solo lessons)that i can play with them and sound pretty good but if i try to improvise - well i feel like i shoild maybe take up golf or something - i put in hours of practice just about every day and am feeling a bit frustrated with my improvskills - or am i expecting to achieve this prematurely -- thanks Frank
May I join the discussion?
Do your listeners care if you improvising or not?
If they don't - why should you?
I think improvising is overvalued. It's nice to be able to do it. But at the end of the day - it is much nicer to be able to "move the souls" of your listeners.
Hopefully it will relieve the frustration, if you think about it that way.
Hello Frank. Improvising (in any art form) is by FAR the most challenging thing to do. Improvising shows that you have a level of mastery over the instrument and idiom. What I CAN say, is that it will happen... the path you're on will lead you there... you just don't know how long it will take (and it is always longer than you think it should). Your study songs provide the vocabulary... keep learning those songs! Also... spend 1/3 of your practice time applying the Chorus Forms... this is very important (this is the idea where you take a lick and play it as all of the chorus form types, as well as moving it up or down an octave, changing the textures, playing fragments of it, etc.).