by Gilbert Isbin
Improvising solo fingerstyle means you will have to be able to play 3 voices simultaneously at certain moments. The 3 voices are the melody (upper voice), the accompaniment (middle voice) and the bass (lower voice). Here are some steps I use to get a grip on this rather complex material.
When you want to improvise over a tune:
Play the chords in as much possible positions. Play them as closed or open voicings, and try to combine open strings and fretted ones. Keep the ground note in the bass, unless a slash chord is given.
Play the melody (single notes) in or around the chord sustained by the bass note of the chord. Keep it simple at first, using one bass note at the beginning of the measure. Playing the melody is often overlooked. That's why a lot of players don't sound melodical or musical. Too much emphasis is taken to play 'great chops'.
Add notes to or leave notes out of the melody. Play these new melodies with a one note bass at the beginning of the measure.
Add here and there in the middle voice, whenever you think it's needed, a short arpeggiation, a chord part (double stops, triads), or just one note.
When you feel comfortable (it will take some time to feel at ease, don't get impatient), try to get some movement in the bass. For instance, play 2 bass notes with half note duration with a melody only. Or play these bass notes together with a middle voice. You can also incorporate a fixed rhytmic bass figure (start with 2 note figures, then try out 3, 4, and 5 note bass combinations) throughout or during a part of the piece.
Keep in mind that when you are improvising you should not feel obliged to play all the voices together!
You might want to play a melody, an arpeggiation, a chordal part(s), a bass figure during a certain amount of time only and then continue with a melody and bass figure, or an arpeggiation that leads to a small melodic fragment, followed by the melody and accompaniment and bass part simultaneously.
Now what about spicing your 3 parts or one of them, with slurs, slides, vibratos, bends, here and there a little percussive attack, a pizzicato, etc. As you'll notice, there's a wealth of beauty to discover!
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