4 Steps to Melodic Improvisation

4 Steps to Melodic Improvisation Backing

This lesson was commissioned by Tyler Correll. I met Tyler many years ago in this place called the internet. Now he is having a series of guest lessons on his site. He then requested Mr. Fastfinger to do a lesson. His lesson series has a challenge to stay within 4 measures. Aaargh, I couldn’t do it! I simply had to do 6 bars to express my ideas properly with the mini solo. And this was the point when I really got carried away…

Theoretically speaking I’m swpping between the tones of A mixolydian and E dorian modes (both from D major scale) but please read the actual lesson for further written explanations. You’ll also find tablatures and audio at Tyler’s site: http://tylercorrell.com/sounds-of-the-soul/
It will be there very soon for you.
Please check it out in order to better understand the whole concept of these 4 steps!

I hope you will enjoy this one. It’s one way to approach improvisation. Atleast this works for me. Thank you to Tyler for making me do this lesson.
Also thank you to Thomas Törnroos for the Drum beats.

Give this approach a try!
Look forward hearing feedback from you.
Also questions are always welcome,
Mika

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Ocean of Aeolian (Magic Carpet Tour)

Here’s a much requested backing track to the Ocean of Aeolian from the Guitar Shred Show game Magic Carpet Tour.

Calm down with C-Major

This is solo backing from Creatures of the Midnight (“The way of the Exploding Guitar”). Very nice and mellow track to improvise over I’d say. C-major scale works beautifully over the whole progression.

Creatures of the Midnight (aka Mr. Fastfinger Turns Mark Knopfler)

…Well, for a while maybe:) Happy to let you know that Mika wrote a guest column for Guitar9.com. It’s about mind game methods for creating the right solo for the song…

Go to Guitar9 for the whole story, transcription, audio and analysis on “Creatures of the Midnigt” solo.

Big Trummors – The power of five chords

5 chords aka power chords are absolutely beautiful. They leave more options on what you play on top of them. As you probably know 5 chords are made of just the root and the fifth note. No thirds to make it major or minor. Some people say 5 chords are not really chords at all, it’s just the interval of five. I love power CHORDS!

Here’s a funny thing that happened with the solo of Big Trummors (from Mr. Fastfinger’s album). When I was working on the solo I automatically started playing on Aeolian mode / minor scale together with minor pentatonic scale ( with perhaps a hint of blues pentatonic).

Wax on – Wax off

To celebrate the soon to be released Mr.Fastfinger album. Here’s “Wax on – Wax off” package with backing track + Tablature.

“Better learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good. Balance bad, better pack up, go home” Mr. Miagi

waxkit.zip

Mode changes: F Lydian – Ab (G#) Lydian

Here’s a new mode change to play with. It’s a nice modulating tone, the changes between two lydian modes in different keys, F and A flat. This jam will get you flying!

Secret Ninja Techniques II – Multi scroll Jutsu

This special “Multi Scroll Jutsu” is used when a ninja wants to fool his enemies and not let them know which direction he’s heading next. There are several ways to do this technique. Study these examples. But pay attention to the left hand fingerings.

Mode changes: B Aeolian – Bb Lydian

Here’s a very nice backing track for soulful solo improvisations. Thanks to the looping machine, one can enjoy jamming this for hours. And maybe some more. But before we begin let’s take a look at the actual modes we are using here.

Secret Ninja Techniques I : Slides

Sliding from note to note is considered easy: Just pick a note, keep pressing the string while sliding the finger to another fret. Good! But sometimes even the most experienced guitar players land on a wrong note when doing this “Basic Slide”. A real ninja never fails to slide into the right note. He practices this technique in the dark.