Video Question: Scales and Improvisation

October 10th, 2007 - KevinT says, "HI, I checked out Brads scales lesson and have a question. I always warm up with minor pentatonic 1st position so I know it blindfolded, I am working on the others. My question is that when I just start messing around with improv it always ends up still sounding like scales. How do I get away from that? Thanks" Return to Video Q&A Listing


Length: 2.72 | Instructor: Matt Brown Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Strumming - February 5th, 2008 (2 minutes, 57 seconds)

Erk1024 says, "Hi, After trying out several other teaching web site, this is by far my favorite! When you are strumming up and down, do you turn your hand a little bit on the up-strums? It seems like my down strums are OK, but when I up-strum the pick seems like it wants to catch a little bit. It seems to work better with a thinner pick. Do you roll your hand a bit so the pick is at an angle to the strings, or do you always keep it perpendicular? Thanks! Eric" View Response

Guitar Action - April 23rd, 2008 (3 minutes, 40 seconds)

Jdemail78 asks, "I hear a lot about guitar action but I'm not really sure what is good or bad. I had purchased an acoustic guitar that I believe had very low action (strings were very close to the neck of the guitar) and it was very easy to play but it ended up having some issues with fret buzz and other ringing sounds that I did not like and could not get corrected at the local guitar shop. I've since replaced it with a little bit better guitar and I no longer have any fret buzz nor do I have any ringing sounds but it seems like the action is higher (strings are much higher off the neck of the guitar) and therefore, for me as a beginner, it is harder to play. My question is when it comes to an experienced guitar player (which I am not...yet...) is it good to have a guitar with higher action or lower action? What would one typically prefer? Do really nice expensive guitars come with very low action making them easy to play but don't have any buzzing issues or is it a case where as you get better, higher action is ok because your better at fretting chords and notes? My curiosity with this comes from a hope that the guitar I have now, with it's strings higher off the fret board, will slowly become easier to play as I get better and I'll become ok with the higher action because it does sound better and cleaner than the one I had with the lower action. Also, please correct me if I have the "high action" "low action" descriptions backwards." View Response

Vibrato - October 31st, 2007 (4 minutes, 20 seconds)

Robearle asks ": I'm not doing too badly with vibrato with the 2nd & 3rd finger because I can use the 1st as some sort of anchor point or brace. But I'm having real problems with the 1st finger. I've watched brad playing, and he does it perfectly, he makes it look real easy, but I just don't seem to able to get the hang of it. Any suggestions that might help? Cheers, Rob. " View Response

- July 17th, 2008 (3 minutes, 13 seconds)

Stirlingc asks, "Dave, I recently saw your lesson on alternate picking. When i went and tried it on my guitar...it seemed as if my pick would "catch" on the string. When i kept trying to pick upward...i had to force it to come up all the way. Is there something I'm doing wrong when alternate picking? I've been trying the way you hold the pick and it doesn't help much." View Response

expensive guitars..? - April 1st, 2008 (2 minutes, 26 seconds)

Teewii asks, "hi there! im a beginner guitarist, and i bought an electric guitar from a friend for about 220$(including amp, so it was kinda cheap) even i can see that its not the best guitar in the world, but i guess its more than great for a beginner. but anyway ive been looking around the net at sites where they sell guitars, and i see many that are sold for more than 2000$ (some even more expensive). i was thinking, as i get better, i will get a new guitar, and in that case i was wondering; is there a lot of difference between expensive and "cheaper" guitars? what is different? is it just the sound? and what makes a guitar worth paying 2000$ for? please explain what a good guitar is. hope somebody can answer me. btw, this site is so great =) thanks." View Response