Take your playing to the next level.
What happens when you’re in a jam and someone says ‘take a solo’? Do you gravitate to a minor pentatonic box and play up and down the scale? We look at how to improvise from the ground up, keeping things simple so that you have something practical to work with straight away and produce some cool-sounding lead/improvisations.
Check out our sister Saturday course running on the previous day covering everything-rhythm.
Our Improvers-level courses are about taking your playing to the next level: harmony, melody, rhythm, technique and theory/know-how. It’s a structured day with a mix of group playing and learning how to play together properly. Here we’re focusing on lead/improvisation.
At a glance
Improvisation is music nirvana. What freedom to just be able to take a break, solo, jam, etc. i.e. not have to follow the music/TAB.
The course adopts a ‘from the ground up’ approach i.e. we start at the beginning and then gradually layer the various techniques and bits of know-how. Pretty much non-stop playing with exercises galore and lots of great songs.
Beginner-level players will learn the basics and the more intermediate-level player will take on more challenging elements. Everyone will be able to play together throughout the day. We’ll look at:
The overall aim is to start simply and gradually add things into the ‘improv pot’ as we go . We’ll keep everything at a practical level with lots of playing and as theory-free as possible.
For this course, we’ll take lots of videos of the tutor’s demonstrations for reference afterwards.
The course is ideal for relative newcomers to the art of improvisation but it will also provide lots of lightbulb moments for experienced improvisers. Easy-start exercises galore, practice routines, great songs to learn (and maybe some backing tracks), no information overload.
Check out our Improvers – Rhythm day course on the Saturday of the same weekend with the same tutor. It’ll be exploring all aspects of rhythm playing across multiple genres. It’s
B&B, dinners, etc. are available at this venue. Please contact them directly (click on the venue in the sidebar to go to their website).
We encourage most levels of acoustic, electric and bass guitarists to come along; it’s definitely not for a raw Beginner. Average-and-above players who have a few songs under their belt, can play most open chords and have attempted barre chords should be fine for the course. A good guideline question is “can you play a Blues in Bb?”
We encourage most levels of acoustic, electric and bass guitarists to come along; it’s definitely not for a Beginner. You could be a total newcomer to improvising or a seasoned jammer – everyone can learn something from this one.
Beginner level players you should leave the course with core tools and knowledge to enable you to improvise and the confidence to just have a go.
More experienced players should pick up new and wider ideas, consolidate your current approaches and challenge you with additional things to try out and bring into your playing.
Any hand-outs will be provided during the course. We’ll make available all supplementary PDFs, copies of flip chart diagrams, any audio and video recordings after the course.
Unlike our online sessions these Day-Only courses can only accommodate limited group numbers – book early to avoid disappointment.
Note: B&B and/or dinners are available at the venue. Check out the venue’s website by clicking on the name in the sidebar and call/email them for details. Of course, other venues are available in the area.