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Question: What is 'improvising' on guitar!?
I keep hearing the term, I know what improvise means, but what is it on guiotar and how do you do it!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
it's playing straight from your heart into the strings!. Sitar players in India play 'Ragas' which are improvisational structures!. You play within a specific scale starting at the bottom, going to the top, and back down again, but along the way you meander around up and down and around and that is where your artistic power comes out!. Many guitarists improvise within certain structures like this!. Whether they're moving in an unplanned fashion through scales, chords, and modes, or with electric guitar you can do whammy bar bending (youtube a Jimi Hendrix solo, those are improvised) and scratching the strings with the pic!. Some guys smash the thing on the stage!. But improvising means playing without knowing exactly what you're going to do!. It can be completely open, but often there's some kind of a structure to it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

it means that say you write a solo for a song and put it on a record then you play a gig and when you play that solo on stage you do different things than the written solo you just start playing by feeling whatever comes off the top of your head, and you usually have to be pretty experienced to do that so its just playing by feeling and spontaneity being spontaneous, and Yngwie Malmsteen is the Improv King of guitar and in guitar historyWww@QuestionHome@Com

To improvise on any instrument you must first pick a key and or a key progression!. There are many different types of progressions and within each key there are different "riffs" you can perform!. You can play with notes patterns, beats, etc within these rules to come up with whatever is in your mind hear fingers!.!. It is fun to do on any instrument and is an excellent expression tool!. Same rules apply in Jazz as well!.!.!. Just different forms of the same thingWww@QuestionHome@Com

Just playing the notes as they occur to you!.
Generally you're following a structure, (like 12 bar blues),
or even a theme, (like a specific tune), but you just pick
your notes on the basis of what you want to hear next!.
When it works, it can be great, trouble is, you can rarely repeat it,
and it's hard to stay 'in the groove` for long!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Improvising is the same concept on any instrument!. Just like what everyone said, it's ad lib, just making it up as you go along!. It does take some skill and practice to be able to play something that flows nicely!. You have to know how to keep to the same chords that sound good together and just play with it!.
Good luckWww@QuestionHome@Com

Improvising on a guitar is doing your own thing, almost like making it up as you go along!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Like ad-libbing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com