[penz]

i've been playing for about a month, 4 lessons in total. i was wondering how long it takes to actually start to improv. and make solos. lol.. i know im far away from solo-ing and such, but can anyone just estimate

[Korruptive]

I'm still very, very new but for me, I started with scales. Once I learned a few scales, I could do some improv solos. I know a lot of people say to think outside of scales but for me since I'm a beginner, I'm finding it extremely helpful.

[knight46]

Hello penz, welcome to the forum. I think that you will find that all people progress at different speeds. Alot depends on how much you practice and how much fun you are having. Always remember that this is supposed to be fun and that it is a journey, it may have a beginning but the end is somewhere down the road. Enjoy...

[s1120]

Im at 5 months myself. I still cant realy play anything, but I am getting better at changing cords, reading music, fingers going where they need to etc... So you got a way to go. Just have fun, and enjoy the ride!!!

[Hiram]

Learning scales and chords is all well and good and they will pay off later on but I almost quit once or twice because i was so bored with them. I found a simple song in tab (a lot of good ones here) that I, wanted to play and practiced it everyday, it will sound like crap because you will be playing it slow and making mistakes along the way.

Soon you will be picking up the tempo getting the fingering and Viola! you know a song. It makes it somewhat easier to practice those chords and scales if you know a song you can play in the middle of those practice sessions. Let me caution there are no alternatives to learning those scales and chords but it will make it a lot easier.

I'm no guitar player but I know about 6 Bluegrass songs and 4 blues songs after a year, not much I know but I don't need anything in front of me to play them. It's a struggle and my old feeble mind sometimes is a deficit to me, I ordered Kurt's PT so I'm hoping new horizions will be opened up to me very soon.

Everyone wants to solo right out of the gate, it isn't going to happen unless you are guitar prodigy. But no one says you can't have a little candy now and then along the learning curve.

[Noodler]

Hi penz, and welcome.

Why do you want to improvise? I'm guessing you have already played a different instrument before? (It was well over a year before I knew what that word even meant, and then I thought it was something only jazz players did!)

Quickest way to dip your toe in the water is to learn the minor pentatonic scale 1st position (just google it, lots of free online lessons on youtube, etc). Then throw on a blues song in E or whatever, and play your E minor pentatonic scale over it. As long as your guitar is in tune, the key matches the scale (ie song is in E, you are playing E minor pentatonic), then you kind of can't go too far wrong.

As for learning solos, invest in just one proper tab book of a band you really like. For me it was Metallica. You might not be able to play the main solo, but you will be able to maybe learn some intros and some of the smaller solos. At the start of that book is an explanation of lots of guitar techniques: bends, slides, vibrato. It's pretty much "How to Play Guitar" on one page!

Hey, why not ask your teacher to teach you the "minor pentatonic scale" next lesson and play some chords or a blues shuffle for you to play over. If they oblige, you are about 2 weeks away from your first improvising/ soloing. One week to learn and practice the scale, then next lesson playing along with your teacher.