Session 22: Improvisation Workshop

Duration: 50 minutes

Break: Put the guitar down for 5 minutes at the end of Segment 3. No stretch of playing is then longer than 30 minutes.

Everything you have played so far was written down — TAB, chord charts, strumming patterns. Someone else decided the notes, and you learned to play them. Today, you make your own music. Improvisation is the art of creating melodies on the spot, in real time, without a script. It is not magic and it is not reserved for geniuses. It is a skill built on scales, patterns, and the courage to play a note and see what happens. You will play a solo over a 12-bar blues in A minor, using the A minor pentatonic scale you learned in Session 16. Graded exams test improvising in a different form (a few bars from a chord chart); this session is not practice for that test.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

Improvise a simple solo over a 12-bar blues in Am using the Am pentatonic scale
Use call-and-response phrasing (play a phrase, leave space, play a response)
Play the four starter phrases from memory, including the hammer-on phrase (Phrase C) and the pull-off phrase (Phrase D)
Create musical phrases with a beginning, middle, and end
Solo for a full 12-bar chorus over your own recorded backing, finishing as measure 12 finishes, with your last note A

Materials Needed

Your Saga SF-600C-BK guitar
A guitar pick
A clip-on tuner or phone tuner app
A metronome
A phone or other device that can record sound and play it back
Slips of paper and a pen (for the ear check after the session)
Reference: Scales Pentatonic
Reference: Scale Diagrams
Reference: Chord Chart
Reference: Glossary

Segment 1 — Warm-Up and Stretch (5 minutes)

Hand Movements

Open and close both hands loosely five times. Circle each wrist five times each way. Touch your thumb to each fingertip in turn. Shake the hands out.

Tune Your Guitar

Tune all six strings (EADGBE). Before you look at the tuner, guess: too low, too high or right? Then look.

Warm-Up

Play the A minor pentatonic scale in open position up and down at 50 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes), 3 times. Then play it once more with hammer-ons going up and pull-offs coming down: on each string pick the lower note and hammer the higher one, then pick the higher note and pull off to the lower one. On string 2 that is fret 1 and fret 3; string 2 is never played open in this scale. Then play the “12-Bar in A” chord progression (Session 8) once round (12 measures) at 70 BPM, D D U U D U pattern. This activates both your soloing hand and your blues vocabulary.

Spider crawl: frets 1-4, one finger at a time, all six strings, up and down. Stop if it pulls or aches.

Segment 2 — Technique Focus: Building Phrases (10 minutes)

What Makes a Good Solo?

A good solo is not about playing as many notes as fast as possible. It is about phrasing — creating musical sentences that have shape and meaning. Think of it like speaking:

A sentence has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Between sentences, you pause.
Some sentences are short and punchy. Others are long and flowing.
Repetition with variation creates satisfaction (“I came, I saw, I conquered”).

Guitar solos work the same way. A phrase is a short musical idea — typically 1–4 measures long — that sounds complete. Between phrases, you rest.

Starter Phrases — Learn These Four

Here are four ready-made phrases in the A minor pentatonic scale (open position). Every note in them is one of the scale’s five notes: A, C, D, E, G. Learn each one, then use them as building blocks for improvisation.

Learn them at 60 BPM. In Phrases A and B you play one note per click (quarter notes). In Phrases C and D you play two notes per click (eighth notes). A number in brackets in the Count row, such as (3), is a beat where you play nothing new: keep counting and let the last note ring.

Phrase A — “The Question” (2 measures):

e|------0---3---0-------|-------------------|
B|------------------3---|---1---------------|
G|----------------------|-------0-----------|
D|----------------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2  (3) (4)
Notes:  E   G   E   D       C   G

Starts high and comes down, but stops on G, which is not a note of the A minor chord, so it sounds unfinished — like asking a question. The last note rings through beats 3 and 4 of the second measure.

Phrase B — “The Answer” (2 measures):

e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|------0---2---0-------|-------------------|
D|------------------2---|---0---------------|
A|----------------------|-------3-----------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2  (3) (4)
Notes:  G   A   G   E       D   C

Starts in the middle and comes down to rest on C, a note of the A minor chord — like answering the question. The last note rings through beats 3 and 4 of the second measure.

Phrase C — “The Climb” (1 measure):

e|------------------------------3-------|
B|----------------------1---h3----------|
G|--------------0---h2------------------|
D|------0---h2--------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4
Notes:  D   E   G   A   C   D   G

All hammer-ons — smooth, ascending, building energy. Pick the note on each number and hammer the note on each ”&”: h2 means hammer finger 2 onto fret 2 without picking. On string 2, pick fret 1 (finger 1) and hammer finger 3 onto fret 3. The last note, on beat 4, is picked.

Phrase D — “The Release” (1 measure):

e|------3---p0--------------------------|
B|--------------3---p1------------------|
G|----------------------2---p0----------|
D|--------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &  (4)
Notes:  G   E   D   C   A   G

All pull-offs — descending, releasing tension. Pick the note on each number and pull off to the note on each ”&”: p0 means pull the finger off, without picking, so that the open string sounds. On string 2, put finger 1 on fret 1 before you pick fret 3, so that the note is waiting when finger 3 pulls off (p1). Nothing new is played on beat 4.

Call and Response

Call and response is the foundation of blues improvisation. You play a phrase (the call), then leave 1–2 measures of silence (the response space), then play another phrase.

Example:

Measure 1-2: [Play Phrase A]
Measure 3-4: [Silence — let it breathe]
Measure 5-6: [Play Phrase B]
Measure 7-8: [Silence]

This is already an improvisation. You do not need to fill every measure with notes. Space is as important as sound.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Soloing Over a 12-Bar Blues (15 minutes)

The 12-Bar Blues in Am

Here is the chord structure you will solo over:

| Am | Am | Am | Am |
| Dm | Dm | Am | Am |
| Em | Dm | Am | Em |

(Using Am, Dm, and Em instead of A, D, E — this is the minor blues. Dm is the chord you learned in Session 21: strum strings 4 to 1 only. Its diagram is in Chord Chart.)

When you solo you do not play the chords. You play melody notes from the A minor pentatonic scale while the chords go by underneath. This course has no audio, so you make the backing yourself.

Record Your Backing

Count the form first. With the metronome at 60 BPM and no guitar, point to each box of the chart and count the twelve measures aloud, saying the measure number on beat 1, as you did in Session 8: “ONE-2-3-4, TWO-2-3-4 …” up to “TWELVE-2-3-4”.
Record. Start your phone recording with the metronome still clicking at 60 BPM. Let four clicks go by, then strum, one strum per click: 4 measures of Am as an intro, then the 12 measures of the chart three times through, then one last Am strum, left to ring. Say the measure number aloud on beat 1 of every measure of the chart. Your voice on the recording will tell you where you are when you solo.
Check. Play the recording back with the chart in front of you: four measures of Am, then “ONE” to “TWELVE” three times, then the last Am.

If you lose your place while recording, stop, let four clicks pass, and start again from the intro. If your phone cannot record while its metronome app is sounding, listen to eight clicks, stop the metronome, and keep that beat with your foot.

How to Solo

Rule 1 — Start simple. Your first improvisation should use only 3–4 notes per phrase. Do not try to play fast or complicated. A solo with three well-placed notes sounds better than one with twenty rushed notes.

Rule 2 — Leave space. After every phrase (1–2 measures of notes), leave at least 1 measure of silence. This gives the listener time to absorb what you played.

Rule 3 — Target the root. On the Am measures, the note A (string 3 fret 2, or string 5 open) sounds particularly strong. On the Dm measures, the note D (string 4 open, or string 2 fret 3) sounds strong. On the Em measures, the note E (string 1 open, or string 4 fret 2) sounds strong. Landing on these notes at the start of a chord change makes your solo sound connected to the harmony.

Rule 4 — Vary your phrases. Do not play the same phrase every time. Alternate between “question” phrases (ones that stop on a note that sounds unfinished, such as G) and “answer” phrases (ones that come to rest on a note of the A minor chord: A, C or E).

Guided Improvisation — First Solo

Follow this map for your first 12-bar solo. The notes are suggestions — you can modify them.

Measures 1-2 (Am): Play Phrase A — the question
Measures 3-4 (Am): Silence — count the 8 beats
Measures 5-6 (Dm): Play Phrase B — the answer
Measure 7 (Am): Play one long note — string 3 fret 2 (A) on beat 1, let it ring for 4 beats
Measure 8 (Am): Silence — count the 4 beats
Measure 9 (Em): Play Phrase C — the climb (build energy)
Measure 10 (Dm): Play Phrase D — the release (descend)
Measures 11-12 (Am, Em): Play a simple phrase of your own that ends on A (string 3 fret 2)

Play this over your recording (60 BPM). The first four measures are the Am intro: count them, then start the map when you hear yourself say “ONE”. If you lose your place, stop playing, listen for the next “ONE” on the recording, and start the map again there.

Free Improvisation

Now do it without the roadmap. Play any Am pentatonic notes in any order. Follow these principles:

Play a short phrase (3–6 notes).
Rest for 1–2 measures.
Play another phrase that responds to the first.
Use hammer-ons, pull-offs, or slides if you like: they are welcome, not required.
End each 12-bar chorus on the note A.

Solo for three complete choruses (36 measures): all three times through on your recording. If you run out of ideas, play a single note and hold it. A held note is a perfectly valid musical statement.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Song Workshop: Blues Improvisation Performance (15 minutes)

Performance Structure

Create a complete blues improvisation performance. Sessions 23 and 24 list this piece as “Blues in A minor with your own solo”:

[Chord intro — strum Am for 4 measures with your recording, one strum per click]
[Solo chorus 1 — guided improvisation (12 measures)]
[Chord chorus — strum the 12-bar progression with your recording (12 measures)]
[Solo chorus 2 — free improvisation (12 measures)]
[Ending — hold Am chord, single strum, let ring]

Total: 40 measures and the ending, at 60 BPM (the speed of your recording): about 2 minutes 40 seconds.

How to Perform This

Step 1 — Start your recording from the beginning. It already has the shape of the performance: four measures of Am, the 12 measures three times through, and a last Am.

Step 2 — Start with the chord intro. Strum along with the four measures of Am. This sets the mood and the tempo.

Step 3 — Solo chorus 1 (guided). Follow the roadmap from Segment 3 over the first time through. This is your safety net.

Step 4 — Chord chorus. Return to strumming, along with the second time through. This gives the solo context and provides a break.

Step 5 — Solo chorus 2 (free). No roadmap, over the third time through. Use everything you know. Play notes from the Am pentatonic, leave space, and add hammer-ons, pull-offs or slides if you like.

Step 6 — Ending. A single Am chord, strummed once with the last strum on your recording, let ring. Simple. Definitive.

Check Your Solo

Record one solo chorus and listen to it once with the chart in front of you, counting the measures. (If your phone cannot record while it plays the backing, play the backing on another device. With one device only, record the solo without the backing: with the metronome clicking, or, if your phone cannot record while its metronome app is sounding, listen to eight clicks, stop the metronome and tap your foot loudly enough to be heard on the recording. Count the measures on playback from the clicks or the taps.) Tick:

I finished as measure 12 finished.
At least three measures had no notes.
No phrase of my own was longer than six notes (the starter phrases count as they are).
My last note was A.

Four ticks is a pass. If one is missing, play the guided map once more, then record another chorus.

Performance Notes

Rhythm is more important than note choice. A wrong note played in time sounds better than a right note played out of time. Keep your foot tapping or head nodding to maintain the pulse.
Repetition is not boring. If you find a phrase you like, play it again. Repeat it with a small variation. Blues is built on repetition.
Mistakes are discoveries. If you hit a note that sounds “wrong,” hold it for a beat and slide to a nearby pentatonic note. This turns a mistake into an expressive gesture.
Your first improvisation will feel awkward. That is normal. Improvisation is a muscle — it strengthens with practice. Every time you improvise, you get more comfortable with creating music in real time.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

Four starter phrases for blues improvisation (Question, Answer, Climb, Release)
Call-and-response phrasing
How to record your own backing for a 12-bar blues in Am and solo over it
Free improvisation using the Am pentatonic scale
Performance structure: chords → solo → chords → solo → ending
A four-point check for a recorded solo

Common Mistakes

Playing too many notes — Less is more in improvisation. A solo with space and phrasing sounds more musical than a barrage of notes. Leave room to breathe.
Never resting — Silence is part of the music. If you play continuously for 12 measures, the listener has no time to absorb your ideas. Rest after every phrase.
Ignoring the chord changes — Even though you are playing pentatonic notes that “always work,” landing on the root note (A over Am, D over Dm, E over Em) when the chord changes makes your solo sound connected to the music.
Playing the scale up and down — Running the scale sequentially (A-C-D-E-G-A-G-E-D-C-A) sounds like a scale exercise, not a solo. Jump between notes, skip strings, play phrases — not scale runs.
Being afraid of mistakes — There are no wrong notes in improvisation — only notes you did not mean to play. If a note clashes, slide to the nearest pentatonic note. Confidence matters more than perfection.

Self-Check Questions

Can you play each of the four starter phrases (A, B, C, D) from memory, three times in a row with no wrong note? If not: play the phrase that went wrong from the page in the Starter Phrases row of the practice plan for two days, then try again from memory.
Can you record the backing (four measures of Am, the 12 measures three times through, a last Am) without losing your place? Check: play the recording back with the chart in front of you; you hear four measures of Am, then “ONE” to “TWELVE” three times, then the last Am. If not: do step 1 of “Record Your Backing” again (count the form aloud with the metronome and no guitar), then record again.
Record one solo chorus over your backing. On playback: did you finish as measure 12 finished, and was your last note A? If not: practise measures 9 to 12 of the roadmap in the Guided Solo row of the practice plan for two days, then record another chorus.
On the same recording: did at least three measures have no notes? If not: play the map under “Guided Improvisation — First Solo” once more, counting its three silent measures (3, 4 and 8) aloud, then record another chorus.
On the same recording: was no phrase of your own longer than six notes? If not: in the Free Solo row of the practice plan, keep every phrase of your own to three or four notes for two days (Rule 1 under “How to Solo”), then record another chorus.

Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides are welcome in your solos, but they are not part of this check. And one question that is not a test: did you enjoy making your own music?

Practice Plan for Week 22 (each practice day, 30 minutes)

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	3 min	The warm-up from this session’s Segment 1, then tune. On practice days that means the hand movements, “12-Bar in A” once round and the spider crawl; the A minor pentatonic scale has its own row below
Am Pentatonic Review	3 min	Scale up and down 3 times at 50 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes); from the third practice day, at 55 BPM. Then with hammer-ons and pull-offs. Repeat until the time is up
Starter Phrases	4 min	Play each phrase (A, B, C, D) 3 times at 60 BPM (A and B: one note per click; C and D: two notes per click). Then chain them: A → rest → B → rest → C → rest → D. Repeat until the time is up
Guided Solo	5 min	Over your recorded backing, once through the recording: the roadmap on the first and third times round, strumming along on the second. Then practise measures 9 to 12 of the roadmap (Phrase C, Phrase D, your own ending on A) until the time is up
Free Solo	6 min	Over your recorded backing, once through the recording, no roadmap (three choruses). Focus on space and phrasing. Then record one chorus and tick the four checks from Segment 4
Concert Pieces	5 min	Your three concert pieces (the ones you wrote down in Session 19), all three in a row, from memory as far as you can; check the page afterwards. If the 5 minutes are up before you reach the third piece, stop there and start with that piece the next day
Weakest Four Measures	4 min	Find the weakest four measures in today’s three pieces. Play them at half tempo 5 times, then once at full tempo

This is your plan for the whole week. The end-of-week check is in Weekly Plans Phase 3 4, Week 22.

Tempo: keep the backing at 60 BPM this week. When all four checks are ticked on two practice days running, record a new backing at 65 BPM. The course target for this blues is 70 BPM.

Optional extra: if you come across a slow 12-bar blues backing track in A minor, you may solo over it for fun. Check it against the chart first: a found track may use different chords, above all in measures 9 to 12, and a different speed. Your own recording is the backing this course uses.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

When improvising, you will naturally explore different parts of the fretboard. The A minor pentatonic scale you know lives in open position (the open strings plus frets 1 to 3), which is where you spend most of your time. But as you gain confidence, you may want to try playing the same pentatonic notes higher on the neck for a different tone colour. Notes at fret 5–7 sound warmer and rounder than the same notes in open position. The cutaway on your Saga makes the frets above the 12th easier to reach, giving you room to explore. For now, stay in open position — but know that the fretboard above fret 3 is waiting for you when you are ready.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

The ear recording below is extra to the 50 minutes of the session. Allow about 3 minutes more today for it.

Record: this week’s ear check. Mark it on any later practice day. This week it is the recorded card test (Session 6), Tests 1 and 2. Test 1, major or minor. Ten slips: E, A, D, G, C, Em, Em, Am, Am, Dm. One down-strum per slip. Answer “major” or “minor”. Pass: 8 of 10. Test 2, 4/4 or 3/4. Six slips: three marked “4/4”, three marked “3/4”. For a 4/4 slip strum Em for two measures, D d d d, D d d d; for a 3/4 slip strum Em for two measures, D d d, D d d. No metronome. Answer “4/4” or “3/4”. Pass: 5 of 6. (3 minutes)