[subatomicsatan]

Kind of a silly question as the likely answer is "both," but I'd be interested in hearing how others approach soloing in a song. When do you find yourself composing a solo versus improvising? Do you tend to start off improvising to get ideas and then expand upon them?

I find that if I try an off-the-cuff type of deal, I fall into old, comfortable ruts. So, I am preferring the compositional route to break out of them. I feel this will not only help the musical piece, but also improve my improv in general.

Thoughts?

[Eric]

I agree on the ruts part of the improvising... I do what you mentioned: Get ideas then expand on them until I end up with a memorized peice for the slot I'm trying to cover. Then after I get bored with it I usually twist it up a bit.

[distressed_romeo]

I have the reverse problem; when I improvise I can kind of 'let go' and play things that are totally new to me, whilst if I try and compose a solo I slave over it too much and the right side of my brain begins to dominate the proceedings.
Improvisation is kind of my 'thing'. I don't really consider myself much of a composer at all.

[Bound]

Not that I'm a great soloist or anything, but I like to track down riffs in stretched out timings, and then see what kind of melodic ideas I can come up with.

[subatomicsatan]

Originally Posted by distressed_romeo

I have the reverse problem; when I improvise I can kind of 'let go' and play things that are totally new to me, whilst if I try and compose a solo I slave over it too much and the right side of my brain begins to dominate the proceedings.
Improvisation is kind of my 'thing'. I don't really consider myself much of a composer at all.

That's interesting...I am that way when I improvise in fingerstyle. Especially in an altered tuning.

I fall into ruts when I improv single line solos and that's where I am incorporating more composition.

[distressed_romeo]

That's one of the great things about altered tunings...you can't fall back on familiar patterns unless it's a tuning you know inside out.

[subatomicsatan]

Originally Posted by distressed_romeo

That's one of the great things about altered tunings...you can't fall back on familiar patterns unless it's a tuning you know inside out.

Exactly. They are also great for stimulating creativity; whenever I get in a creative rut, I head over to altered tunings.

[distressed_romeo]

I used to make cassettes for my ex-girlfriend where I'd tune my guitar to a totally unfamiliar tuning and improvise short songs totally out of the air.

[distressed_romeo]

One of the things that really helped me was when I got into fusion and started learning how to play over changes. I stopped thinking of music just in terms of scales and block chords and got more interested in phrasing and harmony, which I was totally oblivious to before. If you learn to follow the chords, then your solos will automatically be as different as each progression you play over. This'll improve your ability to sustain interest over a one-chord vamp as well, as you'll be able to think more in terms of implied harmony than just playing things relative to the tonic.

[All_¥our_Bass]

Originally Posted by distressed_romeo

I have the reverse problem; when I improvise I can kind of 'let go' and play things that are totally new to me, whilst if I try and compose a solo I slave over it too much and the right side of my brain begins to dominate the proceedings.
Improvisation is kind of my 'thing'. I don't really consider myself much of a composer at all.

What David Gilmour sometimes did for his solos was set up the backing stuff and just record your improvised soloing. Then he went back and picked out the pieces of teh solo that he thought sounded the best.