improv help

[nopicks4me]

hello friends. i need help making my improv interesting. i recorded a song but it sounds so boring. all of my other music i wanted to be kinda boring, like coffee house music. but now i want people to be groovin...but i cant. i threw all kinds of stuff into my solo like chords, scale intervals/sequences, rhythmic stuff, i think some harmonics, if not i could have. its just that everything i play sounds so square. ive been playn for a long while and ive been into music forever and i realize that my timing is a little off, my speed isnt up to par and all that good stuff. i know of more things i could have put in, like bends, artificial harmonics, more use of the fret board (i have a 6 string w/ 24 frets)

What an I missing? http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=39036

*I recorded directly into the comp so my tone is kinda bad. and that was my first attempt at recording with this guitar and that song*

[ebe9]

Try mixing up the more traditional 1 3 5 or 1 3 5 7, with other notes in a scale or do arpeggios.

Try taking a scale such a C and then look at the notes therin and use those as other scales to belnd in with the first.

Try mixing up the lines you have written by tapping them with octaves and slapping

[nopicks4me]

i did use other scale notes in the middle somewhere which is alot more the=an i usually do. but yes i did stick with the 1357 mostly.
and will work on incorporating my slap and tap. thanks

[ebe9]

Sure thing, I also find I write a line also do the who, "this is boring".

Often I think we are our own worst critics.

[nopicks4me]

i also know that 99% of the people who will listen to my song wont listen to all 6:43 of my song. purely because its boring/not good.

[ebe9]

Are you doing this as a solo thing or as part of a band piece?

If its part of a band sometimes you need to shine and others just provide a steady groove.

I tend to find that as much as I would like to be shining on every song its not needed neccessarily.

[nopicks4me]

i can fit into a band perfectly and i can shine during that time as much as i find fulfilling. but i kinda want to be able to jam to this piece and show off. like some of the videos i have of victor jamin with carter. he makes it look easy but its hard. so it doesnt appear that hes showin off, but he is.

I know that i am not victor, nor close. but ... you got the idea?

[ebe9]

I understand, its always nice to have something to demonstrate the effort you have put into practicing.

But Wooten is a beast not just from his playng ability but he apparently is extremely knowledgable about the theory side.

[Rowan S]

I understand, its always nice to have something to demonstrate the effort you have put into practicing.

But Wooten is a beast not just from his playng ability but he apparently is extremely knowledgable about the theory side.

allthough he never uses the theory. says he goes purely on what sounds good. and sometimes uses theory

[ebe9]

allthough he never uses the theory. says he goes purely on what sounds good. and sometimes uses theory

Well whatever he does it works.

[Soulfly666]

Somethings that I would suggest is playing more of a variety scales, adding in some extra tones that don't belong to your scale to emphasize a certain note, or play whatever you're playing now in a different way/pattern. You're pretty decent at mixing up the minor pentatonic, but there's a lot of other stuff you can do, and I'm sure you know this. I also noticed that you kind of stayed in one octave the majority of the time. You have a 6-string 24 fret bass, use it. ;)

[nopicks4me]

aight. thanks. any more tips are welcome

[EADG]

While I don't condone parents who teach their children to swim simply by throwing them in the water (this happened to my brother, but not by a parent), it's a great way to learn to improvise.


Although don't throw yourself in the water with your bass, that would wreck it. It's actually a metaphor for jamming with people spontaniously. It really does work.