Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hi Tomo,
Eventhough I've been playing for a while, I struggle to make any improvisation sound musical and melodic. I've looked at many of your lessons on arpeggios, triads and using these notes to lead the melody, but I find that thinking or instinctively finding interesting rhythms for melody is quite challenging.

I've been trying to listen to more of what I want to be able to do for inspiration and learn some guitar solos of this style. However, is there anything else I could do to improve on my improvisation in this sense?

Thank you for all you do!

I suffer similarly trying to improvise. I tend to start very randomly and only occasionally does a "happy accident" happen.

Moving with the underlying groove seems to help a little bit; it seems to enable a sense of flow, and keeps too much "brain thought" from getting in the way of play.

One other thing that has helped me is to start phrases on the "and" of a beat and to try to keep them succinct. Beyond that, anything good that happens is purely luck for me.

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. Here is my general advice: (1) Practice chord progressions -- especially R 3 7 Swing Groove, so that you hear chords fully. (2) Listen to your favorite music, and pay attention to your favorite musicians' influences. So, if you like SRV, listen to SRV, then Albert King, and B.B. King, and T-Bone Walker. (3) Record your playing, so that you can understand how well you play, and how comfortable you are with improvisation. (4) Study solos that you love. Copy and analyze them. (5) Don't underestimate triads. Test yourself often, to see how well you know them."