Improvisation

**ragman1** · 02-13-2026, 07:15 PM

I don't know if anyone's interested in this but here it is anyway.

This is a demo of how I improvise. It's not the only way but it's representative. It involves short phrases, minorisation and subs.

One normally puts a complete 'performance' at the beginning and then breaks it down afterwards but I'm not doing that here. The tune is Sweet And Lovely and there are ample versions on the current Practical Standards thread, which include mine.

February 2026 - Sweet & Lovely

I decided to try it with a bossa backing before turning it into a demo. It makes a change, which is not to say it's any more simple than the swung version.

I've separated the tune and solos from the backing. It shows how short phrases work well. A lot of instructional material supports this idea although it needn't, and doubtless shouldn't, be used on every tune. It happens to suit this one.

The symbol 'm' means minor and usually I play the minors as melodic minors. In one place I deliberately use a dorian and I've made it clear where.

I keep major chords as majors because it simplifies improvisation.

**ragman1** · 02-13-2026, 07:20 PM

I also want to put something serious to those who have trouble with improvisation.

If you watched that video you'd have seen those short phrases are played without backing. They could have been carefully written down and presented to a learner to try out. Then perhaps that learner might try to play them with a backing track or fit them into an attempt at improvisation. He wouldn't be improvising, of course, but that's not the point.

The point is that none of those phrases existed in abstraction, they were played on the spot by me at the time of the recording. Naturally I had a general view of what to do but nothing specific in the sense of lines.

So it may be that we're educating ourselves back-to-front. We play lines from books, we copy other players' lines, we play exercises and etudes, hoping that somehow it'll help us improvise. But it won't, it simply reinforces the ability to imitate.

I've looked at etudes and so-called exercises. Yes, you may know the guitar better, your fingers become more nimble, and so on. But, when the backing of your tune starts, do they help you let go and improvise? No, they don't. On the contrary, your brain still wants to do something it knows, not something new that it doesn't know. And that's the trouble.

So all that has nothing to do with improvisation and then we say we can't improvise.

So I'm saying what I've said so many times, if you want to improvise begin improvising. You obviously need the basic arpeggios and scales, etc, but that's not an exercise, that's just essential knowledge. Work out what you need to cover the chords and bit by bit the thing will fall into place.

Forget other people, play what is natural to you. Let your own ear and musical sense lead you and you'll inevitably find a way to do it. Like a child learning to walk you're sure to fall over many a time but in the end you'll find yourself happily walking as you should.

**AllanAllen** · 02-13-2026, 07:50 PM

So I'm saying what I've said so many times, if you want to improvise begin improvising. You obviously need the basic arpeggios and scales, etc, but that's not an exercise, that's just essential knowledge. Work out what you need to cover the chords and bit by bit the thing will fall into place.

This is important stuff. When you’re starting out, learn what you need to get through the next tune. Then play that tune.

You don’t have to memorize 4 inversions of every chord on each of the 4 string sets. To play Perdido.