Guitar Solo Example: Improvisation to planned

Bacco

New member
Hey everyone,

I thought that maybe some people may find the following video I made interesting. The video is supposed to be more than just showing a guitar solo but really showing in a brief few minutes how an improvised recording can lead to a great final take. I kept it short for the sake of not blabbering on and on but if it sparks any conversation here I'd be interested in participating. Has anyone else experienced this yet? That is, with no preconvceived notion of what to play or when to play the notes, you just hit record and lay down whatever comes to you in that moment, then when you listen back, it just strikes you? Something about the way to notes/tones/rhythm interact with the backing track just seems it was meant to be? It's interesting trying to go back and recreate that moment.

Guitar Solo Example: Improvised to Planned - YouTube
 
Nice break! Lots of good ideas in there too. Thanks for sharing the process.

I work in the field of music notation and deal with lots of transcriptions. I often wonder how close things really are compared to the way they were actually played (with regards to positions, etc). Sometimes there are some pretty good clues, but many times it's just an educated guess as to whether an E was played on string 2 or string 3, etc.

I've often wanted to hire someone to transcribe a few of my solos just to see how close they were, but I'm too cheap to do that! :)
 
Hey Beagle,

Thanks for the reply, you bring up a good point! A note has a personality that is brought out by the player and this can sometimes be hard to replicate even for the original artist! To me it's like the difference between natural dialogue and scripted acting. If you ever get around to making a comparison between your solos and someones transcription I'd be interested in the results!
 
I tend to do that over and over and it takes shape.
For sure on occasion you hit on something and want to figure out how to duplicate it.
But usually I find that by living with it for some time, soloing over and over the best ideas take shape and most or all of the ones I've stumbled upon stick.
It's always a balance between spontaneity and precision so I don't "write" a solo but the "taking shape" thing works for me.

BTW great chops! Great Sound!
 
Great little video and beautiful sound you have there. Love the quality of the recording, and at first I was thinking it sounded fine with the acoustic guitar, but I definitely like the electric tone better for that (as well as the performance). And yes, I do that all the time, almost always start with improvisation, whether it's writing a song or composing a solo.
I'm a guitarist too and and just started a Youtube channel. When I have enough posts I'll put my Youtube site in my signature, but for now it is the same as my username here.
 
Back
Top