Yeah, I know I talk a lot about improvisation as a guitarist. That’s the kind of guitarist I prefer to be. That’s the kind of guitar playing I like. If you notice, I give the most respect to musicians who are good at improvisation on a professional level. That’s why you see me supporting the greats such as Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Satriani, and Neil Young. There are a lot of other guitarists that I like but those few that I listed are my heroes and absolute favorite! You see, I’m not into shred guitar much such as Yngwie or Steve Vai. Those guys are great guitarists, don’t get me wrong — I’m more interested in guitar solos that are played with feeling and with heart. I don’t care about fast notes being played all over the place. Joe Satriani maybe a virtuoso shredder, true but at least he plays with feeling and heart. Joe Satriani is great at making his shred guitar sound musical and lyrical — that’s why I respect the Satch so much.

I’m not the best lead guitarist. In fact, I believe I’m okay at it but still have a lot of work to do. I am learning though but that’s the kind of lead guitarist I want to be. I can’t stand guitar solos that are written. I prefer guitar solos to be winged out. I like the jamming part of music and that’s the way it should be, in my opinion. Also you don’t need to play a great solo by playing a bunch of fast notes… you can still play a great solo with just a few notes like maybe 2 or 3 listen to certain Pink Floyd songs as perfect examples.

To become a better lead guitarist… all you need to learn the basic scales. Learn the minor/major pentatonic scales, the blues pentatonic scales, and learn the 7 modes. If you can get all that, then you’re set — that’s all you basically need. You don’t need to be a technically skilled lead guitarist just a few scales.

To be good with improvisation… the only way to be successful at that is knowing the name of the notes and memorizing the sounds in your head of each note. Determine the song the key is  in and memorize the sound that the key the song is in then you’re good to go. To make your lead guitar solos sound musical and tasteful… practice makes perfect. Jam with as many recordings as you can. Jam to your favorite songs, backing tracks or even better practice jamming with other musicians. Practicing to your own recorded playing helps too. You also need to listen to as many guitar solos as possible which is what I do.

I’ve listened to so much Led Zeppelin live albums and Jimmy Page plays each solo differently. For example, the solo to “Stairway” @ every live Led Zeppelin show is different. That’s the way improvisation works.

I’m really working on my improvisation skills. It’s getting better and improving, I think. It seems pretty easy and not that hard.

Improvisation and ear training is the most overlooked technique in music. There are so many lead guitarists in bands out there who don’t know anything about improv — they just write out the solos for their songs or when playing in a cover band they just play the same solo note for note.

That’s the kind of music I love to listen to mostly. I love music with improvised jams. Songs that can go on for as long as 10 min. – 30 min. on stage. Musicians claim that long guitar solos are boring and it bores the audience but I totally disagree. That’s what jamming is all about. Guys get together and play some tunes and they’ll play the same song until they drop. They don’t care. They just play whatever comes out of their minds and play with feeling.

That’s why when you go see a Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert his songs can go on for like 10 – 30 minutes on stage ’cause those guys like to jam. Why do these bands play for so long? It’s because they can’t help it. The songs will stop whenever they feel like stopping. They can never tell whenever the song is gonna end when performing on stage.

I’ve always played my acoustic shows like that. Listen to the “Time Bomb/Mr. Tough Guy” stuff — perfect example. Sometimes in gigs when I’m scheduled to play a 45 minute set… I go a little overtime ’cause of my improv. I know it’s kind of unprofessional but it can’t be helped. It’s part of jamming. That’s what I do. That’s the kind of band I want to have when ever I decide to get a band going. I want us to be a jamming kind of rock n’ roll band.

Improv music is great. Nobody really cares for it anymore but thankfully Neil Young tries to keep improv jamming alive when he released that album “Psychedelic Pill” with Crazy Horse.

If you know you can improvise well and have a good ear that’s when you’ll know that you’ll be able to call yourself an actual musician. That’s my goal.

Kev