Improvising with Major Scale

Hi. This is Hub Guitar.

Let's talk about improvising using the major scale.

For this lesson, I'll assume you're able to find either a friend who can play some chords for you, or a backing track in a major key.

Generally, the notes of that scale will work well with any chords you encounter. So a track in G major will work pretty well with the G major scale. However, for each chord, some notes will sound better than others when played as a melody note. We'll get more into that in another lesson.

For now, just try to remember that you want to be especially careful with the fourth note of the scale. In the key of C major, the fourth will be F and that note will probably not sound very good on the C chord. That doesn't sound good no matter who plays it. A lot of players will subconsciously avoid that note on the major chord, or play it only momentarily on the way to another note. There are actually many relationships like this where a note belongs in the key but does not fit on the chord. However, this is probably the most significant one to remember in a major key.

To practice improv we're going to put on a backing track and then play a melodic idea of two or three notes each. Then we're going to play "simon says" adding a new bit to that melody every time.

Don't be afraid of repetition. It's one of the most important parts of music. And if you came up with a brilliant melody, your chances of doing so again within the same day are small, so you might as well milk it.

So try that-- see if you can come up with a simple idea of just 2 or 3 notes, and then build on it, repeat it, and add more stuff to it.