I often say there is freedom in limits… which seems like kind of a contradiction in terms but let me explain.
You’re about to take a solo and you know all 5 boxes of the blues scale so you figure you can play any of them at any time, right?
So how do you decide where to start?
It’s my experience with students that they usually start exactly – nowhere. They tend to stare at me for several bars until they finally give up.
That is, until I tell them something like “OK, you have to play only the top 3 strings in box 2.”
That’s when I get some music because there is a specific direction.
So let’s say you have some jam tracks and you’re going to practice your blues soloing a little bit… let me make a suggestion.
Choose an area of the fretboard that you are going to work with today… or at least right now for 15-20 minutes.
Maybe it’s an area that you aren’t so good with – when was the last time you limited yourself to box 3, for example?
Or maybe you’re going to take one of your favorite licks from box 1, and move it to box 4 and see if you can still play the same notes but in a different place?
Or maybe you have to stay between the 12th and 15th fret and only on the top 3 strings and play in the key of C, can you do it?
If you just stop and think for a minute you could probably come up with a dozen “limits” to impose on yourself – all of which will get you out of the “box 1 zone” and into moving more comfortably around the fretboard because you have learned it piece by piece.
By the way, one of the best courses I’ve ever done on this concept is called Soloing Without Scales… you might want to check it out. I call it my “sleeper course” because I hardly ever mention it but I get great feedback on it from those that go through it.
So when you practice today, give yourself a limit and see what comes out… and if you like the results, leave a comment with how you limited yourself so everyone else can see.
24 replies to "Freedom In Limits"
SBBB – book a show at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi Mississippi. Great venue.
2021
Thanks again for the advice Griff!
6/20/19
ChrisGSP, love your idea for practicing phrasing! I am going to start your process today!
Thanks
Dave
Thanks again Griff I hope someday I get to meet you you’ve taken my guitar playing to another level hope you had a good Father’s Day! Go st. Louis Louis Blues!!😎😎
Hey Griff,
Great to read all the above comments and your tips. I am still going through BGU V 2 and now thinking of starting the BGU Course Soloing Without Scales.. I have diverted to learning songs for a while which gave me experience in learning my way around the fret board etc and now back in the land of Blues Guitar Unleashed.. all good.
Michael-Sydney-Australia 14th Oct 2017
Griff: Soloing without Scales is an amazing course. My ability to solo has really grown. The learning of all my root notes and then moving a lick or phrase from one root note to the next is a great way to get a ton of mileage out of something small. Like you said…thinking smaller has really grown my knowledge of the entire fret board. Thanks so much!!
I thought of something else ! In alot of your solo examples it seems like your playing something that’s good in one sense but it doesn’t sound like something i’ve heard before or something you would play with your band ? some seem “hokey” ??? I hope you understand what i’m trying to say .Is there a reason for this ?
Thanx Griff ! Great advice ,I know I forgot/forget that concept and is well worth revisiting from time to time !I find myself trying to use 4 boxes at a time and it’s like never coming up for air ! I forget to breath between licks and kinda robotic !I think it’s due to my inability to phrase well but I keep trying ! I watch “how to phrase” video’s but still a slow process ! Help !! I have improvement a little at a time.Any ideas on how to speed it up ?
Hi Stan, here’s an idea that I think might help you. Try to Sing (or hum, or at least articulate with your mouth, however it might sound) what you are playing while you are playing it, then stop playing when you have to take a breath. You know what I mean? Then start playing again when you have wind in your lungs – that gives your brain time to think about what to play next, and to get your hands ready to do it.
Cheers, ChrisG.
Thanks for the tips. I have bgu2 and soloing without scales. Have been spreading my licks around and getting more use out of the whole fretboard. Still working on phrasing because now that I know more of the fretboard to use I tend to get carried away trying to use it all nonstop if you know what I mean!
Speaking of “freedom in limits”. Someone once said that a train is the most free when it is limited to running on a railroad track. If you remove the train from its track it suddenly is not free to do what it’s designed to do.
Griff,
Started this the other day. broke my 1st string (hi e) playing your 4 note solo in A. Not wanting to quit practicing I just continued to play the 4 note solo in A by moving it down to the second and third string. Had to think a little different as it was like moving to another box pattern, but helps to become more versatile and think a little different. Thanks so much for all the lessons and inspiration! You really break it all down and make it simple and fun!
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All great ideas about getting out of the box! I’m still working on the BGU course and I am hoping that some of these techniques will be covered in future lessons. I am currently working on lesson 10 and not at the soloing lessons yet but this idea of limits is interesting. I will include this into my daily practice. Thanks!
I got that course some times ago, it’s not a magic course :”how to master guitar in ten days and that sort of stuff”, but a real progressive course giving you the way to easily break the “boxes” and master the fretboard. Give it a try, really.
Cheers.
As always, very helpful.
Keep it coming.
CB
Sorry, I guess I meant Brian Schumacher (below)…WHAAAAT???!!!
Just a note to Brian Schumacher (above)…WHAAAAT???!!
my biggest problem im working on is keeping time, being able to count my tempo and not rush the notes,, watching Griff’s stuff helps.
‘Thanks man!
Jim
Thank you Sir ,I appreciate the information…Good Day
I know this problem. I am working hard to get out of the “Box” as Craig35 stated. Working with two or three boxes is starting to work for me.
Recently I purchased JM-4 Looper. I found when practicing its song tracks many times traditional box 1&2 just didn’t sound good against the music. With that said I started to work phasing in vertical tonal ctrs, your rt side lft side concept. I usually use sting sets, I’m really happy with the outcome. It keeps the music from sounding scaly and allows me to find my own space. Each day I also find that I don’t think about boxes anymore.
I like these ideas. Recently I have gotten a little proficient with GarageBand and Studio One DAWs and have been able to set up 12 bar rhythm patterns. I have been working on coming up with a solo starting in each box and using at least two of the boxes (counting the one you start in). I guess in a way is the same idea Griff is talking about – forcing yourself to get out of the box (pun intended)