For me, jazz improvisation was never something that was scary. Partly because I didn’t know much about it, and partly because It just seemed cool to be able to play solos… so that’s what I wanted to do.
I was also really lucky – my middle school jazz band director strongly encouraged everyone to improvise… so it was just a normal thing for everyone in the band to do.
I was also lucky to have a great jazz guitar teacher who didn’t overcomplicate things. Lessons on improvisation were less about giving me information and more of an apprenticeship.
We would play songs together and he would give me feedback and pointers after every round. It really gave me a feel for what improvising was all about.
Jazz improvisation can be overwhelming, and even scary for a lot of people though.
There’s endless information about all of the things you need to know and be able to do in order to play a “good” solo. Endless scales, modes, arpeggios, playing the changes… just an overwhelming amount of skills it seems like you need to develop right now.
But most of it is unnecessary, especially for people just starting out with jazz improvisation.
I’ve identified a few big wins that I go over with all of my students, and I want to share them with you today.
These are 3 simple things that anyone can focus on to improve their soloing right away. Check out the big wins below, and see how easily you can start to improve your own solos.
3 Big Wins for Jazz Guitar Improvisation
Play the scale you meant to play.
One of the biggest problems I find with beginning improvisers isn’t a matter of skill or knowledge at all.
It’s a matter of nerves, adrenaline, or excitement.
For some reason once it’s solo time, all of the practice you‘ve done goes out the window – and you just wiggle your fingers hoping something good comes out.
We’ve all done it – it’s not a big deal.
The first big win that will improve your soloing is simply to make sure you’re actually playing the scale you meant to play.
That’s it. Nothing special.
Take a breath, and make sure your fingers are actually going where you want them to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a blues, or a more complicated jazz standard with key changes.
Play the scale you meant to play in the first place, and you’ll sound better.
Leave out the filler.
There are some things that beginners get taught to do in an effort to simplify improvisation, or take away some of the fear of having to come up with things to say.
Neither of these things are wrong – they’re legitimate improvisation strategies and can sound good if you mean to do them.
Where students go wrong is when they lean on these tools either to avoid having to play more notes/learn their scales, or use them as a filler to buy time while they think up the next thing they want to play.
The two biggest sources of filler notes are repetition, and long notes.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with either of these techniques if you’re doing them on purpose – but they end up getting mindlessly used to buy time while you think of something else to play. And that’s when they become a problem.
The solution is simple – just stop playing.
If you don’t really want to play a long note, just let it be short and leave some space.
If you don’t really want to play that note again, then don’t – be quiet for a beat or two while you figure out your next move.
Get comfortable with not playing instead of using filler notes – you’ll sound better. It’s very simple, but not that easy to do. A lot of us tend to be uncomfortable with silence, and we want to fill up that space. It takes practice, but you can do it.
In fact, I’ve had a few students who seemed to “level up” immediately once I pointed out their “filler” notes.
Play good rhythms.
Focusing on playing solid jazz rhythms is another great way to give your solos a boost. And the best part is you don’t have to do anything special to work on this.
The tools you need for developing good rhythms are usually right in front of you.
You can take rhythms out of your written music and re-use them in your solos. Whether it’s guitar parts for a jazz band, etudes you’re practicing, or melodies from the real book… grab some rhythms you like and put them to work.
Another route is to listen to great players to come up with rhythmic ideas. Whenever you hear a phrase you like, try to play something similar to that in your next solo.
It doesn’t need to be the same notes or anything – just try to play something similar (whatever that means to you).
Conclusion
These are some very doable, very simple big wins that can help you improve your jazz guitar solos and gain more confidence in your playing.
And the best part is, you don’t have to be doing anything too complicated or fancy to get started.
Start out by picking one of the strategies in this article to focus on, and try to make it happen in your playing.
This will help you build a solid foundation in improvisation without getting overwhelmed, and make it easier for you if you do decide to dive into more detailed approaches down the road.
How comfortable are you with improvisation in your solos? Let me know below.