What is the Point of Improvising [and how to get better at it]

For my Presets visit: johnnathancord... My passion on guitar and what I think has kept me interested in it every single day is Improvising. It's definitely possible to have a career in music without really ever improvising, but I think the most gratifying and fun time I ever spend on guitar is with improvising, and here's why I think you should work on it too!
/ johnnathancordy get my backing tracks and lessons here.
www.buymeacoff...
Get my PADs bundle here: www.paypal.com... (this folder will grow, and I'd encourage you to ask for different keys/songs and stuff that might suit this type of preset?)
I've decided to make it possible to grab both my Helix/HX Stomp bundles (the expression bundle with freeze presets has always been separate) together for £5 - www.paypal.com... - I will then email you a link to both bundles!
Try my general patches for Helix or HX Stomp in this bundle for £3 using this link - I will then send out the patches! www.paypal.com...
You can get my EXPRESSION patches in this bundle using this link - I will then send out the patches! www.paypal.com...
Try my patches for Pod GO for £3 using this link - I will then send out the patches! www.paypal.com...
/ johnnathancordy get my backing tracks here
www.buymeacoff... - if you like what I do and
only if you wanted, you could buy me a coffee!

[@SirMalone]

It's so wild to me that you consider yourself as just a "bedroom guitarist" you are a guitar hero man! I've learned a ton from your video's that I use out in the world. Heck I'm using your Helix patches daily lol.

[@TimJimenez_PH]

That cut deep, Jc. The coming home and just treating guitar time as meditation.

[@theelderskatesman4417]

improvisation is all I ever wanted

[@alecstone7503]

I couldn’t agree more about this. I tell my students and other people who ask about this to learn how to play actual songs, learn the scales shapes underlying the song/solo they just learned, and then learn how to apply those scale shapes to the same chord progression and improvise something on their own.

[@Xirrious]

We have the same name, and the same philosophy on guitar. Improvising is the pure form of music and it's the best

[@yzimsx]

I've never tried surfing, but I imagine it to be similar to musical improvisation. Riding the waves, riding the feelings.

[@skyhorseprice6591]

Oh man. I may have discovered this video a bit 'late to the party,' but it really resonates with me. Way back when I was a wee lad of 7, I started taking piano lessons because my parents (very musically oriented family) wanted me to. And the thing was, and _is,_ I felt music in me from birth. So. I'd go to my lesson, get a new piece of music assigned, then go home and sight read it a few times, then once from memory. Then I'd just....start .. ...playing stuff. Improvising. This is what felt so great about playing music, the spontaneous creativity of it. But make no erroneous assumptions; improvisation is a tool that will always serve you well. This was brought home to me with a vengeance when my teacher entered me in a recital. I did a pretty complex Mozart piece that was fairly demanding, and for the first half of the song I played flawlessly. Then I got to the middle section and promptly forgot _everything!_ I mean everything. There I was, my arms raised in a theatrical gesture, and I had nothing coming. Nothing. There was a several second long pause, long enough for the audience to start whispering. Nobody was laughing...yet..but I felt fear of an extraordinary intensity well up from within and threaten to carry me downstream to the Mad Waters. My hands came crashing down on the keyboard and I was off, playing a good 2½ minutes of music in a Mozart piece that Mozart never wrote! During those moments, I felt transformed, transcendent, transmuted into some sort of musical wizard who could pull powerful music out of the very fabric of the universe. Somewhere in this improvised rush of music, the ending of the piece was just _there_ in my mind as if it had never been gone. I finished with a huge crescendo, then stood up and took a bow. The audience was silent. I began to wonder if I'd maybe been less if a musical wizard and more of a failed copycat. Then it happened. Slowly, standing up in little groups of 3 or 4, the audience came to their feet and roared their approval. I had just gotten my 1st standing ovation, after my 1st performance, which was a failure as a true recital but a life changing experience as a _performance._ No doubt about it; if I had not had the ability (some might say obsession) for improvisation, my night would have ended in a much less inspirational manner. I never forgot my piano teacher's expression of utter delight as I walked backstage. I have also never forgotten the intense scrutiny pouring out of her eyes behind the 'pleased teacher' vibe. _"How did you play Mozart THAT MOZART NEVER WROTE?_ Do you realize what you just did?" Yeah. Saved my ass, is what I did. What I also did was set my life's course that night. Not long after that, I drifted away from piano because I just wasn't interested in note for note renditions of other people's music any more. I wanted that fire again. The fire of creation, of dancing on the razor's edge, _live,_ with no net. And that is what I got when I picked up the guitar and fell in love. Played in bands, and wrote a ton of music, then went out live and always wound up with improvised solos and passages woven in everywhere. To this day, how I write is by sitting down, hitting record, and playing for hours with absolutely no goal but the joy of creation. Which came first; musical scores to be reproduced by others, or people improvising music? Improvisation. First time every time. Music theory and sight reading were all developed to explain what natural musicians were doing, and it built from there. Improvisation is _literally_ how music came to be in the world.

[@sinnertrain7405]

I may improvise too much, but it has helped me develop as a songwriter and for coming up with guitar parts (both rhythm and lead). You can't enter into "the zone" without improvisation, particularly when soloing. It's very spiritual. I couldn't live without it. Thanks for focusing on this aspect of being a musician.

[@101xaplax101]

When I improvise something’s the stuff that comes out is so surprising I’m reduced to tears

[@GlennMichaelThompson]

I've always naturally leaned towards improvising. your approach makes complete sense to me. I was lucky enough to have my first guitar teacher base his lessons on improvisation. Been an improvisational based guitarist for over 45 years now. It's what I've been hired for playing in bands from fusion, gospel, and even cover bands. I'm given the freedom to play parts on the spot. I couldn't play in a group that copies recordings note for note.

[@Homermad81]

This was an absolutely amazing intro. I am so glad to have found this channel.

[@BobRossa]

I have been living this for decades. When I started playing guitar I hardly learned any songs the first 5 years. I just played whatever came into my head. I start every morning improvising on guitar. Being in bands eventually made it necessary to learn actual parts and be able to replicate them and that was really good for my musicianship too but underneath is always this foundation of improvisation. This is where the real fun is

[@chrishandley]

Couldn't agree more! Although for me I wish I'd learned more complete tunes when I was young. As now I struggle to remember them and get distracted whilst I'm playing them...

[@Herfinnur]

As a bonus, you've become a better melody writer than most songwriters

[@tomandmarley]

Great lesson. Come on, show/tell us how you're changing chords with the feet :)

[@Uncanny_Silence]

This is such a great video; really enjoyed it. I think guitar improvisation is all about giving voice to your guitar playing. Many people think of soloing as technique but it's actually about feel.

[@stevelogan1699]

Once again, John, I think that what you’ve offered here is exceptional. Most people watching your channel are familiar with your style of improvising and wonder how you do. It’s so gracious of you to slow the whole process down and talk about the Fmaj scale, demonstrating how you think of it across the neck. Also great is your emphasis on the need to do this a lot but do it via something you enjoy. The whole ‘lesson’ felt easy and natural but full of real learning. Thank you.

[@thehumblepundit9790]

Brilliant advice! I've been playing 32 years now, and am teaching my 14 year old son. And trying to impress exactly this on him. I have a studio set up in our basement and encourage him to just play along to backing tracks. Even though he's only at the beginning of his journey. Ideally playing with others is how to progress very quickly, but especially now, getting with others is difficult. Keep up the great work with your channel, brother. It's the best one out there!

[@bagongxm4064]

You are one of the most underrated top guitarists I have ever known. I learned so much from from your videos. I'm so happy I found you.

[@Mr_Bollie]

Amazing, how that setup picks up radio broadcasts in your intro jam. :D

[@daver2156]

I have only been playing for 18 months and this is the only thing i do l... I put a backing track on and just work on improvisation. Most backing tracks give you what key they are in and just go from there. And i am convinced thats why i play every day and my playing has come on heaps.. great video john. P.S i have just purchased a line 6 stomp xl too... Off the back of your videos help me choose.. thanks buddy 👍

[@georged9615]

The point of improvisation (for me) is to express yourself through music. How to get better at it is where your advice and teaching is so valuable and appreciated. Thanks, John!

[@Brandontsmith85]

Great video, John. Improvisation is what keeps me playing guitar and I love to hear how other people approach it.

[@craiger2399]

I keep saying this in the comments, but these videos are really unlocking a lot for me about how to practice, and why. Thanks so much!

[@christopherjbutler]

This inspired me to stop noodling.. I sat down with a tone I iked, and figured out "Something About You" (Boston) from memory mostly and a quick google search for the basic chords. Found that I was able to break out of a rut, and could find the fingerings and play melodically outside ofthe boxes I anm normally stuck noodling around in... Getting back to figuring out songs I like.. what a novel idea.. :) Thanks again...

[@bryantwalley]

Yeah. Puppies! 🐶

[@Takianagi]

Lots of feel here! This is sick John! 🔥🎸😁

[@tonystartup3817]

I probably do this too much to the exclusion of all else. I don't have lessons and am largely self taught. When someone showed me pentatonics and how they relate to blues and rock I've basically just shoved on songs and tracks to improvise along with ever since. Consequently though I struggle to think of the guitar in anything other than one note at a time. I have learnt three notes a string over the last few years and thanks to spending a lot of time at home playing guitar over the last couple of years - I mean working from home - I am starting to become as familiar with the whole scale as I am with the pentatonics. I have noticed that this has helped in being able to repeat melodies that I hear but I'm still at the feeling that cracking it is just around the corner rather than I've cracked it. What I really need to learn is how I can add multiple other notes as the same time to create chords rather than just my (mostly) single notes.

[@yolerhymenstein3866]

Really inspiring message and playing. For a while now I’ve been trying to write a song every day and learn a song, from start to finish, preferably every other day, but at least once a week. One thing I practice is making up a very vocal melody, by singing or whistling or whatever, and then building a song around it on my guitar. Fretboard visualization was definitely key to becoming a better improviser (as was playing along to Hendrix and Zepplin records). Helps playing over the changes if you know enough theory to know what the chord tones are, and where to find them all across the fretboard! You’re inspiring me to work on chord extensions and speed runs, and to rely less on pentatonics though! Thanks :)

[@BadMofoMusicCritic]

keep doing these videos please!

[@sergeyromashkin7876]

This vid is pure gold!

[@nikkomina6313]

I spend a good chunk of my practice time improvising, and your playing is currently a big inspiration on how I approach my phrases. Thank you and keep it up!

[@shay.online]

Love listening to your solos bro. 👌🏾

[@grahamg9811]

Some really interesting thoughts there John. My personal thought process is to learn the major scale patterns but focus on how many sharps or flats I’m playing in. This helps me with remembering how to change modes easily. I often let the low E drone and move through the modal spectrum starting with Lydian (5 #s) and taking one sharp off each time until I reach Phrygian (no #s). This was a complete game changer for me.

[@MeanMaoriMean555]

Nice! I just finished a course that just teaches it as ‘frame work’ It being the one pattern and really helped me big time! Thanks for sharing this. So it all makes sense now.

[@97guitarzan]

Really well said...I'm sending this video off to one of my students.

[@finlayfatknees]

really digging these videos, my man.

[@johanndaart7326]

I've failed many times to learn how to improv and be creative at guitar, I'm a noob playing the same songs over and over, feeling stale, so I usually can't relate to the advanced stuff that you talk about. But this lesson is really informative for me. Your path seems to be learning the framework (of major and pentatonic scales), then spending lots of time copying records by ear. I wonder how you approach chord tones, from the perspective of scales. (For some people, it's chord tones that seem to be the framework or a "map" of a fretboard). Thanks :)

[@rorylisbon4723]

I am glad to have found your inspiring channel and focusing on melodies and improvising. Being able to translate my memory bank of melodies onto the fretboard has been my lofty goal. Chord Melodies in particular and creating new arrangements. Edgar Cruz is one I always liked what he did. I've had embedded in my brain from years of listening tons of materials to draw from. But, lack of consistency and discipline has been my stumbling block.

[@sefishalev1704]

You play so f***ing good

[@hawkhead418]

Brilliant lesson. Music wants to live.

[@ianwheeler8764]

Excellent! Thanks John, for the advice and awesome intro and outro music.

[@duartefaria7134]

I always improvised, 17 years doing it, i do not know music theory, i do not know the notes i am engaging i see the fretboard in paterns, i do not know where the notes are, but i visualize old experiences and i just know that there is the note i want, if i fail i can correct and give other meaning, but i do not know what i am gonna play, i just have an image on my mind and a feeling and i work from there. I can't explain. Many times during improvises i just have a image of my fingers moving before they even do that part that i do not know i am gonna do. This makes sense? It's hard to explain.

[@willv2747]

At 9:09 you start a backing drone and then seem to use a foot switch to advance to the next backing chord, almost like you’re generating backing on the fly using an organ pedal. Is that a prerecorded loop you put down, or is it happening in the moment? And if it’s generated by the guitar, how do you get it to sound so even? Thanks, and great video, btw.

[@willv2747]

Okay, I see, Helix Pads. They seem like a fantastic improv helper tool.

[@jfo3000]

@@willv2747 You don't have to purchase a Helix to do that. There are stand-alone pedals that provide that functionality. EHX Freeze is one, for example.

[@christopherjbutler]

@@jfo3000 will the freeze allow you to step through a predetermined chord progression?

[@jfo3000]

@@christopherjbutler As I understand the Freeze it only holds one sound (chord or note) until you give it another sound to replace it. Loopers and DAWs are more for chord progressions.

[@christopherjbutler]

@@jfo3000 Gotcha. What he was doing with the HX freeze apparently allows you to have individual frozen chords you can step through, without needing a loop. You can do the chord changes when you feel like it. You can hear John stepping on the pedals at each chord change in the synth pads he is playing over. That is a phenomenally useful tool for someone who is working on getting the solo lines under their fingers for each chord without having to wait for the loop to come around again... That really is a feature that would pull me toward the HX XL or Stomp over the Boss GX-100 I am leaning toward (being in the market for a modeler anyway, this is a windfall feature)

[@wallqvistphotography4937]

Oh very nice beginning! Thought of Bon Iver :)

[@jessenicholson1777]

Was that an Imperial probe droid I was hearing in the background at the beginning? I love a lot of the stuff you play but the stuff at the beginning was really great. Keep it up!

[@loudspider316]

BTW, did you come to love the K-Line tele more than you did initially? It sounds fantastic and from this looks like it allows you to play what you want to play in the way you want to.

[@nickcelej7201]

One of your best videos easily. I'd like to know a bit about how you come up with the harmony stuff in the intros too.

[@ehsanhaq155]

Dude! What do you call that effect where you start playing and it sounds like an ambient keyboard is playing constantly in the background???? When you played the F major stuff. Insane sounds!!

[@1jennifer]

John, Levi Clay on his channel talks a lot about proactive vs reactive hearing in that practicing to “hear” in our minds in advance what a note is before actually playing it is very helpful. Do you do that in your improvisation? Or maybe something that came subconsciously over time and practice?

[@bassantiks]

Brilliant stuff

[@thomasschwarzl5971]

Hi John, love your videos. Beautiful playin. Wanted to say it is really great that your mic quality improved :-).

[@Jdizzle503]

Love your content john 👍

[@paulcaley6298]

Live and Dangerous has a lot to answer for, in a good way!

[@johnnathancordy]

What an album!!!

[@paulcaley6298]

@@johnnathancordy Do you have a favourite track?

[@nealpike6611]

Just started focusing on improvising and i feel my playing improve

[@narrowonflow]

how is he making a drone chord progression as he plays? some sort of freeze pedal looper combination?

[@overthoughtmusik772]

What's your foot setup for triggering the underlying chords?

[@williamnichols6253]

Were you changing your accompanying chords by pressing buttons on your pedal?!?!?! Please teach me this.

[@jasonwilloughby9704]

What is that tele. It looks as amazing as it sounds

[@johnnathancordy]

K Line Truxton!

[@jasonwinn4541]

dude!what is the pedal that pedals a tone at the beginning of each phrase?lovely

[@johnnathancordy]

Helix!!

[@brandonroberts4130]

Can any of my Positive Grid Spark homies tell me how to get that sound??? I'm broke and can live like you Helix people.

[@miguel.ferreira]

what pedal are you using to change the backing note ?

[@101xaplax101]

How is it that you have a different guitar in every video?

[@loudspider316]

John you should definitely do an album, get some of this stuff up on Spotify. Just do the stuff you do here, but longer and edited so it has beginnings and ends...Avoid the trap of thinking that an album should be something more complex/polished, I've seen too many players whose magic feels constrained on 'studio' albums. Just do stuff like this. It's as true today as it was in the days of Wayne's World: If you record it, they will come.

[@walangpakealam]

Wth im hearing a man in the background, is that radio signal being picked up by an effect?

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

The point of improvising it to be able to come on the same stage with a different hat every night and keep the drunks thinking the club does not rely on one single act. True fact of real music life ;)

[@johnnathancordy]

haha! Yes

[@timsellsted521]

I'm just here for the comedy. :)

[@jaemyung5280]

You call yourself a 'bedroom guitar player'.. that's pretty funny 🤣

[@johnnathancordy]

I'm in my bedroom most of the time!!

[@JakeLoosemore]

First