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Originally Posted by ShredCow
Another way to play solos is to use your voice... hum or go lalala over the chords... improvise a humming solo, then play it out on the guitar... very easy to get started with this but the biggest problem is that you'd tend to play the same thing over and over and over again...
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This is very good advice. Ultimately, where you want to be is when the instrument is no barrier between the musical voice in your head, and what comes out from your hands. Scales, chords, theory, technique etc. are all tools for expression - not a end in themselves, but a means to an end - that goal of 'playing from the heart'. You need not know everything - all the chords, all the scales, all the modes, etc. and you can go as far as you wish to take it (one of the beauties of music) but I firmly believe that knowing and having a command of at least some of this is essential for *all* musicians who want to improvise melodically (note I distinguish between this and other avant garde types of improv which, while just as musically valid, might not be so conventionally aurally pleasing..)
By singing a line and then replicating it on your instrument, you are gradually teaching yourself to 'hear' the tune in your head and then play it. This is very, very difficult except for those blessed with perfect pitch but you can teach yourself to do it gradually. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you will get at it.
Start with small steps. Stay within some confined boundaries to begin with; maybe you want to devote practice sessions in which you play nothing but A minor Pentatonic. When you play each note, try to 'hear' within your head *before* you play that note, what it will sound like. Sometimes you'll get it right; gradually you will get better. Soon you will be able to 'think' the note in your 'mind's ear' and play it at the same time. From here, move on - perhaps expand to play all the notes within a single key - say C Major for ease and familiarity; play lines, but sing the notes to yourself internally (or out loud if you wish - some say this helps reinforce the learning). As you get more and more advanced, you can add in notes outside the current key - this is where things start to get more tough. The important thing throughout all of this (and I can't stress this enough) is that you must try to think MELODY at all times, not just let your fingers fly; this is when you will discover new things rather than just rehash licks that you learned by rote. And of course, it goes without saying that you want to start off playing SLOWLY.
This can be a lifelong journey for the musician who really wants to create spontaneous music. I can't say I'm an expert by any means, but on those rare occasions that I do manage to get in the 'mental zone' where the music really seems to be coming from some subconscious place, there really is nothing better than that.
Happy noodling.
Vern
