Improvisation Shortcuts to Learn NOW!

But in the real world , sometimes you have to make choices very quick and you don't have time to make all of those assessments .

Now , if you're really good at it and you've got it figured out , that's awesome , but what I want to talk about today is what to do when you need to come up with something very quick , and so what we're going to do is we're going to use D major as our example , and it's going to be pentatonic , but it can be diatonic too , depending on what you add to

it . So let me show you what I mean . Let's say , for instance , we start with the most basic thing , which is going to be what most people would view as the first position of D major pentatonic .

Okay , so , basically , what I'm going to do you can call this anything you want , but I'm going to put my pinky on D here , on the 10th fret of the sixth string and I'm going to play the major pentatonic scale right here and I'm gonna play the major pentatonic scale right here .

Now that position's really important for a number of reasons , but it's great because if you know where your Ds are inside there again , I'm playing in D , but we'll be able to move this into any key , any chord . When we get done with this

we can make simple , simple phrases connecting to those roots , those D's that are sitting around there , and I don't want to get into licks and stuff like that , so that's a whole other conversation . What I want to do is just talk to you about shortcuts of movement and connection . That's what I want to talk about .

We can always add the other stuff in as we keep going . So I'm seeing this right here . I'm thinking about the root in this case , which is the D , and where those are and how I could direct myself to those notes . But let's expand this a little bit and try and see this in a different perspective .

So what I like to do when I try and teach this is let's start with exactly what we have right here , but instead of going to the D or the root down here on the sixth string right there , let's just put that note for the time being right here , which means when I descend , it's sitting right there .

Now , what's really nice about that is I can start implementing a little bit of this sliding , where when I was playing it in the other position , there really wasn't a lot of opportunity for that .

So all of a sudden I get more of this human sound to what I'm playing , this vocal sound , being able to slide in and out of that instead of just playing it that way , I get a completely different sound . Okay , so that's the first step , and then what you could do is , as you start learning this , you know , move it somewhere else if you want to .

If you want to go to C again , c would be right here . Else , if you want to , if you want to go to C again , c would be right here . But instead of playing the C here , we're going to put it right there , you know , and so on . So just so you understand that . Okay . So let's move back to D and keep talking about this .

So what I want you to start recognizing is when you play . Either this is when you play , either this or connecting down here . When I go down here , right to this note , right here , I actually have my D major fifth string bar chord sitting there as well .

So I want to start visualizing that , especially what's happening right here , because those are the notes that I want to try and target when I'm improvising . Those are the notes of the scale that I'm playing , as well as the chord . So I've got my root . That note , that note , that note , those all become really important notes that I can try and target .

So if I can learn to visualize that chord sitting right there and then the scale that's connected to it , and then , of course , start exploring movement and licks and whatever else that you'd like to do with this phrasing , all that kind of stuff , but learn to see that . And then over here , and then over here

. Okay now . This is where we're going to start , kind of adding this shortcut , if you will , and then I'm going to put together some other pieces . I think that you'll find this really interesting . So let's do this now . We just created this new note down here , which is the D down here , but we just put it in a different spot .

So now what I want to do is I want to start cutting across the guitar this way , so I'm gonna go , and then , right here , I'm gonna do the same thing right there . So I have , so I'm playing the same octave twice , okay , but what I'm doing is I'm kind of slicing through multiple positions as I do this .

Now , if I look at the notes that I'm playing , it's the same notes , it just looks different and , of course , has a bit of different approach . Because now , okay , now this isn't the note that I'm looking for . I want this note because it's part of the D chord . That's what I want . Now we can even put a top on this right here Up there .

Now , if you've ever played the second position , you know you've got these guys right here and this up here , this upper extension that you can do stuff with . Well , that's what I'm doing is I'm connecting to that , and when I play in this direction , it gives me opportunity to make what I'm doing sound different .

The notes aren't any different , but because my approach is different , I have more opportunity to make this sound different with all of the sliding that's happening . Okay , so what I want you to start thinking about is using both of these positions . And Okay .

And again you could move it to C and do exactly the same thing and you could learn how to do that . I wouldn't start moving it all over the fretboard until you get comfortable with this one place first . But we're not done . There's a more important reason that we're doing what we're doing here , and that's what I want to show you next .

So if I took this D major pentatonic that I just played and then I started learning how to play it at an angle , like I just did , and then I started learning how to play it at an angle , like I just did , now what I want to do is , on top of this , I want to give you three chord shapes to think about .

So , for instance , right up here is our 6-string bar chord . This would be D , sitting right there on the 10th fret . What I want to focus on right now are the first three strings , these guys right here 10 , 10 , and 9 . Those right there Okay

, I'm not going to worry about everything else , I just want this for now .

Okay , now , because we've built this thing moving at an angle , sitting right up on top here , is that chord , and it's nice to know that , because maybe you move up there and you're not just playing in a scalar sense , but you're trying to play more of a melody with the chord or the triad sense .

But you're trying to play more of a melody with the chord or the triad . Now you can see the other notes sitting around it because we've been working on the , you know . Maybe you know the second position or you've been learning what we're talking about right now . Whatever they're all intertwining with each other . But it's my approach .

So everything that I'm doing doesn't just sound like I'm playing up and down a pentatonic scale , but I can really start trying to isolate some of the notes of that chord to make it sound a little more melodic , right , and you can hear right there , as soon as I drop back into that , it sounds more pentatonic and that's fine . But I can think about that .

Now you'll notice I am adding other notes , like I'm adding this note right here . For now that is not a pentatonic note and if all you know is pentatonics , that might , you know , throw you off and I'm not trying to do that .

I'm just saying when I play there's other notes that exist outside the pentatonic that eventually I want to become aware of and I might use those as well . So I've got this template . You know I could add a blues note in there .

You know , whatever it is I like to do outside of that structure that we're building so I can move this way , I can move this way , and when I move this way , up on the top , there is where I've got this melodic spot sitting that I could start trying to engage in .

Maybe I play some you know the notes individually or maybe I play them collectively you know something in there and then drop back . So the next one I want to show you is the fifth string bar chord , the D that's sitting right here , which we were visualizing when we started this sliding pattern .

We were looking at the notes of that D sitting right there , which is great . We want those for sure , so we can see those . What I want you to see is the first three strings here right here that are sitting there , so I could be playing something and drop into that as well .

What I love about this shape is the fact that I'll often use the sus sound , which would be five , five and seven . That sound right there . So I won't use the pinky here like you'd normally have . You'd be pressing on that note right there . I'm not using that . I'm using that sound .

You don't have to , but it just sounds really nice because I can always use this note and I can see how it's attaching onto this next position here , which then attaches onto this , so I can make different position , movements or keep it more melodic by just playing more of the notes of the triad itself and then drop into something Okay .

So we've got the fifth string shape sitting right there , ideally that sus4 sound or sus2 sound . That I think is really cool . We've got the six string bar chord sitting right here , and again , the first three strings are ideally what we're looking for , not that you can't add more , you can do whatever you want .

And the third one is the D shape itself , which would be sitting up here as well . The octave of it would be up here , and I wanna show you that because I want to show you how I connect it to the rest of this . So , as I'm playing in this spot right here ,

if I look up here , I see the D sitting right up here and I can slide right down on that third string and now I'm connected to that or that , whatever I want , just by moving that , that third string down . Now I can move any other string . I'm just showing you an easy way of getting a kind of an exit strategy .

So I'm seeing 14 , 15 , 14 , and then I've got that 17 up on top there too , and notice how now , all of a sudden , it sounds more melodic and not just pentatonic , so I'm not having to learn the entire fretboard . What I'm doing is I'm looking for this pentatonic position but turning it into kind of a little slide pattern that would cut through .

That's really all I'm doing with the scale . And then I'm trying to see three main visual triad or chord pictures on my fretboard using the sixth string , the fifth string , bar chords and the open chord which is D . Okay , the D shape , I should say right . So that's what I'm seeing as I'm playing . So I move from here .

Now again , you can fill in the spaces of some of these other notes if you know them , and if not , don't worry about those right now . You can always add that stuff in Right now . We're not as worried about the larger musicality aspect , because that's a whole other conversation , although we can see where the potential is .

What we're worried about right now is just learning how to see some shortcuts . So if I was to take this entire thing now and move it to C , let's take a look at that . So I'd have this and this . But expand that out . I'm going to expand it out and be able to visualize that right off of this chord .

Okay , and then I've got the triad sitting on top the bar chord right there that I could make into a sus2 . I could connect right to that On the top right up here . That's where the six string bar chord would be sitting . Okay , and then I've got on top of that coming all the way up here .

That's where the D shape of the C chord would be okay , and I can visualize that if I want to . Right off of this note . However , it works for me , see . So you could do that for anything . Now we're not talking about minor chords right now .

We're just talking about major chords and being able , you know , like your 1-4-5 , for instance , just being able to chase those around as needed , and you don't have to do all of this all of the time . It just gives you a nice quick way of being able to grab an idea .

So if you were playing from D and you did something , and then it went to C and then went to G , you could find really easy ways of just being able to cover over each one of those chords , and again , it doesn't even need to be as much as I just did . It could be something very simple . The shortcut to the

minor for now is , if you get a minor chord , just play minor pentatonic . So let's say we were playing D major and we did something , and let's say it went to C . So again , I ended up here . So now I'm going to stay there , connect to the C , and then it goes to A minor . Let's say A minor fits in there .

Well , I'm sitting right here so I could just do an A minor pentatonic thing of some sort and then let's say it goes to G after that , okay . Again , however , I want to see G . There's a million ways I could see G , but I could simply run into something like that .

So you have to explore it a little bit , but it's a great way of being able to basically cover yourself whenever you're playing a major chord , and when the minor chord comes up , just throw something kind of bluesy , kind of melodic in there . Maybe do a little more bending on that one , for instance . Here comes G D C . Here comes G DC A minor .

G , you know , whatever it is that you like .