https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 21:14:33 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168679 Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:54:44 +0000 http://www.jam.1gb.ru/mpjam_blues.html]]> Guitar Players Discussion Kalle_in_Sweden https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168679 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168677 Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:53:33 +0000 http://www.jam.1gb.ru/mpjam_blues.html]]> Guitar Players Discussion Kalle_in_Sweden https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168677 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168588 Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:57:48 +0000 ,D and E chords).
A totally new sound compared to the Am pentatonic scale I normally use for improvisation.
A more jazzy sound. And the step up/down to/from the V chord is really nice.

A very good tip, thanks Wes.

A method I learned years ago is called target notes. You "target" certain notes that give a chord it's distinctive sound or flavor.

For instance:
E Major Chord= E, G#, and B (the 1st, 3rd, and 5th tones)
E Minor Chord= E, G, and B (the 1st, flatted 3rd, and 5th tones)

So what you do is make sure to hit the distinctive note. If you are playing over an E Major chord, make sure to play the G# note. It is especially good to start or end a phrase on this note. But you can put it anywhere.

If you are playing over an E Minor chord, you want to include the G note in your phrase.

So, determine that distinctive target note. For a Major chord it is the 3rd tone. For a Minor chord it is the flatted 3rd tone. For a 7th chord it is the flatted 7th tone. For a 9th chord it is the 9th tone.

If you were playing over an E Minor 7th chord, it is good to include both the G note (flatted 3rd) and the D note (flatted 7th).

Believe it or not, when you solo like this you can actually hear the chord progression, even if there is no rhythm guitar. The distinctive target notes will make the listener hear the chords.

This method really works and will add tremendous color to your solos. Try it. :D]]> Guitar Players Discussion Kalle_in_Sweden https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168588 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168192 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:15:44 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion kingpatzer https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168192 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168189 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:07:33 +0000
If you count rests as possibilities just like notes, you have to recognize that there's no difference between two consecutive eighth rests and a single quarter rest. So it's not like the notes, where two consecutive C notes is different from one pair of tied C notes.

Yeah, your number is larger - but just because of the extra frets. 19 is the minimum, so some of your possible measures wouldn't be playable on any of my classical guitars.]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/paged/2/#post-168189 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168173 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:58:40 +0000
That means we have 36 places to fill and (on a 22 fret guitar) 46 things to fill those spaces with, in any order, and with repeats allowable.

The ( N1+(N1-1)/N1) type formulation is for combinations where you aren't repeating notes. But a full 4 measures of nothing but middle c is allowable. You can repeat notes. So it's a straight multiplication problem.

Number of choices (43 if you use "standard range", 44 if you use standard range plus 8th rest, 46 if you use 22 fret guitar, 47 if you use 47 fret guitar plus eigth rests) raised to the number of places to fill (36).

Now, if you want to add in the possibilities of larger notes, ties, and larger rests, the numbers get a lot more complicated. But if we set the lower limit at 44^36 we're safe (although every guitar I own has at least 22 frets, but what the heck :) )

That's WAY more than the 2.72 x 10^26 you calculated. I think you did permutations without allowing for repeated notes.]]> Guitar Players Discussion kingpatzer https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168173 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168165 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:26:02 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Misanthrope https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168165 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168149 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:44:48 +0000
All guitars have at least 19 frets (that's considered the 'standard' range), which gives you 43 different notes.

Using only rhythms based on eighth notes, the downbeat of a measure can be any of those 43 tones... or a rest. 44 choices.

Now the next eighth note can be a new note or a rest, which is 44 new choices. But if the downbeat was a note (which will happen 43/44 of the time), the second note can also be a continuation of the first note - in other words, the first note might be a quarter note instead of an eighth note.

I'm no mathematician, but I'm thinking the number of possibilities for note 2 will be N1+(N1-1)/N1. Roughly 44.98 choices. That would give you 1,979 ways to write a single beat using 0, 1, or 2 notes.

So the number of ways to write 1 bar of 4/4 time using nothing smaller than an eighth note will be about 16,384,497,320,000.

Measure 2 has even more choices - because the first note could be held over from the previous measure. Here you end up with around 16,748,409,200,000 choices. Yeah, a paltry 350 trillion or so more than measure 1, but I figure hey, it's math, let's go ahead and split hairs.

That means the possibilites for two measures is about 2.72 x 10^26. Roughly 27,000 times larger than the number of stars in the known universe. By the time you get partway through measure 6 you'll have a unique melody for every atom in the universe.

But you know, lawyers are everywhere. So you'll want to eliminate all the songs already written, and it would be best to do get rid of the exact transpositions in every key. Err on the safe side and subtract a few trillion. That still leaves plenty of material to keep the average composer busy for a while.

If you're still feeling restricted, you can use sixteenth notes. Or we can look at all the different ways a single melody can be harmonized :)]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168149 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168147 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:13:06 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion greybeard https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168147 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168145 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 13:44:52 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Misanthrope https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/improvising-following-a-progression/#post-168145