Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

First I would like to say how much I love Guitar Wisdom. I really appreciate all of the effort it takes by Tomo and his staff to create such a great teaching site.

My question is regarding lesson FT 12 (006-3) Barre Chords. At about 9:45 Tomo plays an inspiring solo. I am not asking for a tab. I am asking what is it that you are creating from as you play? Does this just flow naturally for you as you play. Are you seeing the chords on the fret board, the triads, that tells you what notes to play? Are you playing this by knowing the sound of the scale degrees of the chords used? I don't understand what is happening when a solo is created (other than memorizing a tab which I am not looking to do).

Any insight, information, into how this solo is created would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

I’m a long time TFGW subscriber so I’ll try my best to help you out.

First off, you’re in the right place and you’re asking the right questions. As you go through the fundamentals you’ll start to ask yourself “what’s Tomo doing there?” And maintaining that curiosity is key.

Second, I understand Tomo’s main approach to soloing is to practice many different things carefully and then just play whatever you feel like when you’re improvising. Like a chef who knows all the ingredients and seasons everything to taste.

Finally, in this particular example Tomo is using the minor pentatonic scale, triads, the minor scale, blues bends, and small slices of arpeggios. He’s mixing them all together, again, like a chef.

Hope this helps, and as always, don’t expect too fast!

Thank you James. Very helpful. I am working patiently to "learn all of the ingredients" as you say. I am always interested in how an artist brings that all together and makes it look so easy. Will take me a long time to get there. Thanks again.

Just watched QAP03 Learning to Improvise along with some of the Theory lessons. Tomo mentions a chef learning the ingredients in order to use them (Theory 16 lesson) and the importance of starting with a song form (QAP03). For me, a place to start and let all of this start to soak in. This is going to be some journey for me. Looking forward to it.

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. when I play, I try to keep everything simple. My phrasing tends to follow the chord progression. For good improvisation, you need a solid foundation. It's like a conversation -- you need to have some previous experience with a subject, so that the conversation flows. Listen to your favorite guitar solos, then imitate and analyze what you hear. Learn to recognize intervals, triads, harmony, etc. Applying theory will help you to understand more deeply."