Guitar lesson on improvising with emotion, creativity, rhythm to tell a story

Guitar Lessons with Tune in, Tone up!

Dan always has such brilliant nuggets of information to share with us and this episode holds some immensely valuable and powerful thoughts and ideas. After a brief recap we have a round of improvisation which leads our discussion to pickup choice and tonal differentiation. Dan shares some ideas about how you can gain different sounds with your technique and touch. Then we discuss rhythmic motifs and grouping notes to gain interest and be more sensitive to what the track is doing. This leads us to discuss how you must listen actively and deeply to a track to really consider what the tone of the piece is and how the instrumentation of it allows space for improvising. First Dan talks about trying to label the emotion of a track and then he really highlights to me that the main driver of a musician is that they have something to say and want to express themselves through their music. Dan talks about how you can use rhythm, volume, dynamics and tone as the vehicle to deliver your story. Phrasing is key but nuance and subtlety can be very effective for really giving the listener something to grasp onto. Timings for the SoundCloud audio version 00:01:22 Brief recap 00:04:09 Last couple of episodes we were adding the 2nd / 9th, Blues note and 6th 00:06:33 How can we add a little style and technique 00:07:26 First round of soloing over the backing track 00:11:12 Be your best judge - look at your playing and be honest 00:12:59 Pickup choice for tonal differentiation 00:13:53 Playing 12 frets higher over the fingerboard to get a clarinet like sound 00:14:47 Jingle jangle - play near the bridge 00:15:18 changing your pick up is a good way to change your tone 00:18:09 Rhythm of playing a melody - grouping notes, Dan demoing a noodling shambles 00:19:12 You have got to listen to the track - what's the track saying? 00:19:24 Gary mentioning Dan tells a good story when he improvises 00:20:07 Labelling the emotion of a song 00:21:48 Funkadelic - Maggotbrain 00:22:25 Bowie's guitarist 00:23:13 Tell a story through the guitar melody and improvisation 00:23:33 e.g. Imagine you're in a disaster scenario 00:23:56 Think about what you're playing over and be sympathetic to what you're playing over 00:24:28 Second round of improv 00:31:36 Talk techniques next time 00:32:41 The main driver of music is we have something to say and want to express ourselves through our music 00:34:01 Think of a song like a book - a beginning, a middle and an end 00:34:58 Dan's advice for Gary is to remember that the biggest difference you can make in improvising is through rhythm, volume, dynamics and tone 00:36:37 Dan demoing how the dynamics can be controlled by a mix of volume and playing lightly or digging in 00:37:36 Use nuance, subtlety and change your tone through your technique - playing softly and disguising the gain 00:38:51 Leave yourself headroom and limit your finger noise using the volume knob and nuance in your playing 00:39:55 Homework: play over a backing track focussing on volume, subtlety and different sounds 00:41:14 Try to tell a story in your playing and practise trying to play with emotion