[starsailor]

Originally Posted by scorpius

At least I am relieved.

But please don't get me wrong 'cause I have nothing against improvisation (I want to improve my guitar-playing actually). If I do an improvisation today, for instance, what will be the chance that I will be playing the same notes again, for the same song the next time around? I am comparing this to the adlib / riff of a song which is already "fixed" by the original players.

My final point will be, shall I just learn the adlib / riff for that song or shall I do the improv?

Or thinking back again, I might have to do them one at a time?

I hope I am making sense here.

I think if you feel that you can add something to the song by improvising it's good to do it, it won't always work but it will be good fun trying, if you think what you've done sounds good and you want to keep it, just note down the chords/notes you used, if you're playing with other guitarists etc. you may want to use your modified version of the song so they'll need to know where the changes are, if you're solo no such worries unless you're worried about audience reaction. I Think music is all about free expression as is any Art, doing things by rote all the time would make the world a very boring place.