Musicians and DJs  » Guitar lesson: How To Improvise The Classical Guitar Way

Guitar lesson: How To Improvise The Classical Guitar Way

When I was a fifteen years old guitarist playing rock solos and

classical guitar pieces I remember that I had a desire to be

able to improvise on my guitar in a classical manner.

Nowadays I have developed this skill and I love to improvise in

the style of composers like Sor, Tarrega, Paganini or others or

just trying to find myself somewhere among the notes. These

special moments are a form of meditation. They clear my mind and

also helps me as a composer to stimulate my creative abilities.

The most important reason for learning classical guitar

improvisation is that it's fun!

If you learn classical guitar improvisation it will benefit you

in many other ways too:

1. It will be easier for you to memorize classical guitar sheet

music.

2. You will find it easier to compose your own guitar pieces in

a classical guitar style.

3. You can make up your own techniqal exercises on your guitar

on the go.

There are many ways to develop classical guitar improvisation....

4. You will understand your guitar better.

There are many ways to develop classical guitar improvisation.

How?

You can start with major scales, experimenting with easy chords,

or easy classical guitar pieces. The most basic requisite is

that you want to learn this art and with this desire you will

find ways to practice classical guitar improvisation in all your

guitar playing.

I will just mention using classical guitar pieces in this

article. But how do you begin?

May I suggest that you begin with an easy melody with just one

voice or maybe a two voice piece with bass notes on open

strings. Learn a couple of bars by heart and play the melody

over and over again and try to change the melody slightly

without losing the classical touch.

The ultimate exercise is to use advanced classical guitar solos.

If you think about it you will realize that classical guitar

pieces are filled with wonderful licks, more or less complicated.

These licks can be developed and added upon to give you material

that will help you developing your improvisational skills.

For example, take a two bar passage in a classical guitar piece

that you like and practice it until you master it and then

memorize it.

Now you can play around with the passage, break it down, change

it, analyze it and so on. If you want to improve as an

improvisational guitarist and musician you can regard classical

guitar pieces as collections of very musical licks just waiting

to be used.

I hope these hints will motivate you to reap the benefits from

improvising the classical guitar way.

About the author:

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit

his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and

learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.co

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