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This is said to be one of the most popular blues jamtracks on Youtube. Here’s a mini-challenge: Grab your guitar, start the jamtrack, and see what comes into your mind. 1st position minor pent is a good place to start. It goes on for 11 minutes, so you have plenty of time to experiment.
Sunjamr Steve
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Thanks for sharing Steve! I survived it… had some fairly melodic ideas with some breathing room. Quick 12 minutes once you focus in on it. BTW, I’m finding that using small motifs helps, at least for me.
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The problem I have is to avoid just randomly noodling licks that are in my muscle memory. I’ve heard it said that once you bring a motif into the mix, you should return to it now and then during the song so that the listeners can recall it and develop a brain worm. But if you don’t plan it out, how do you quickly come up with a clever motif? Maybe it’s possible to just play some garden variety licks through one cycle, and at the same time be thinking of how to organize a more clever motif. I’ve also heard that some guitar players just think of a melody line from a famous song that fits (more or less) the jamtrack, then play it, then morph it a bit, then just keep building on it. I saw that SRV did it with “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. And that trick is common stuff for jazz musicians.
Sunjamr Steve
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Thanks for sharing Steve! I survived it…
had some fairly melodic ideas with some breathing room
. Quick 12 minutes once you focus in on it. BTW, I’m finding that using small motifs helps, at least for me.
Great! I believe the next step for you is to start thinking about why some phrases sound good while others don’t. This has been part of my personal practice for several years and really made me progress.
The problem I have is to avoid just randomly noodling licks that are in my muscle memory. I’ve heard it said that once you bring a motif into the mix, you should return to it now and then during the song so that the listeners can recall it and develop a brain worm. But if you don’t plan it out, how do you quickly come up with a clever motif? Maybe it’s possible to just play some garden variety licks through one cycle, and at the same time be thinking of how to organize a more clever motif. I’ve also heard that some guitar players just think of a melody line from a famous song that fits (more or less) the jamtrack, then play it, then morph it a bit, then just keep building on it. I saw that SRV did it with “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. And that trick is common stuff for jazz musicians.
Noodling around and tying together a bunch of worn out licks is never going to produce a very inspired solo, I agree. The basic idea of a motive (or motif) is that it is a catchy little musical statement that you keep elaborating on in various ways. There are some basic techniques that you can use for that; some are difficult to use on the fly while improvising, but others are feasible.
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For me, I’m hearing “good lines” when I’m targeting chord tones as ending notes in a phrase. Some are “final” like a period at the end of a sentence (root, 3rds). Some are “anticipatory”, leaving a desire for another phrase – think call & response, or similar (3rd, 5th, flat 7th). When one listens carefully as one plays, the ear will pull in certain a direction. Mechanism such as chromatic passing tones, enclosures around a chord tone, or slides/bends will add variety and substance. I’m enjoying a mix of pentatonic and natural minor lines, but always weaving around chord tones as a base structure. I tend to follow this approach rather than having a catalog of memorized licks, though judicious use of those is fine too. It’s definitely a learning journey, and I’m just beginning.
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