Improvising on Electric Guitar

Improvising on electric guitar is one of the great goals every guitarist sets out to achieve. 

That's because being able to play solos over a backing track without having prepared them in advance is one of the best displays of skill a musician can offer. 

So this time around, we're going to share one of the most valuable resources to help you practice on the guitar and build up your toolkit for electric guitar improvisation. 

What is improvisation?

Improvising on electric guitar, and on any other instrument, is the ability to create coherent melodic lines on the spot, without having worked them out beforehand. 

Picture this: you're playing your guitar, or just jamming with your bandmates, and out of nowhere they ask you to do something off the cuff, and you pull it off.

That's what improvisation is all about, playing melodic lines you never rehearsed with the band. 

The secret to improvisation

Many young guitarists think that electric guitar improvisation holds hidden secrets that only the most experienced players can reveal. 

Well, the truth is there's no secret. I've always believed that when it comes to skill, there's no such thing as a secret. What there is, instead, is learning, effort, and consistency.

So the secret to improvisation is that there is no secret. What there is, is learning, effort, and consistency. And this holds true not just for guitar or music, but for every area of life. 

If you want to achieve something, those three factors are what will get you to your goal. 

The best guitarists improvising

Now then, "the sparrow only learns to sing when it hears other adult sparrows singing." This famous line from Alfredo Kraus seems to have been forgotten, but it captures the whole truth. 

So let's keep it in mind so you can learn to improvise on electric guitar by listening to other sparrows, only not singing this time, but playing guitar. 

Here are my heroes:

• Frank Gambale
• Steve Vai
• Joe Satriani
• Eric Johnson
• Pat Metheny
• Jimi Hendrix
• Angus Young
• Jeff Beck
• Stevie Ray Vaughan

There are countless more, and other guitarists have their own favorites, but these are mine, and they're the ones who have taught me from afar how to improvise on electric guitar. 

Tips for learning to improvise on electric guitar

Here are some tips to help you improvise on electric guitar: 

• Learn your scales, natural, harmonic, melodic, two-string, with string skips, and on a single string. 
• Always use a metronome.
• Don't rush straight for speed; start slow and easy, take it nice and steady.
• Put in the time, as much time as you possibly can, practicing scales and chords on the guitar. 
• When you practice scales, stay aware of which key or harmonic background you're working over. 
• Record yourself playing a chord progression, then play it back and build melodies over it. Do this in different keys and come up with your own ways of working through the scale. 
• Always, and I mean always, work guitar technique into your practice sessions. 
• Play with the rhythm, subdivide everything in every way you can imagine. 

For this, we recommend buying a good metronome and tuner, a two-in-one or even an all-in-one, since there are plenty on the market. 

The best method for electric guitar improvisation

Now, so you can practice improvising on electric guitar, we're going to leave you with the method we consider the most complete.

This method was written by one of the most underrated guitarists in history, none other than Frank Gambale. 

That's why we're giving you the book in PDF format along with the audio that accompanies each of the lessons.