[Niels]

Definitely enjoyable.
Great flatpicking, @JulieI 😀

[Niels]

Great job, @Marisa 👍

Perfect blend of voice and guitar, and the open chords in the Drop D tuning sound gorgeous 😀

[Niels]

Thank you @Bill_Brown , @charlie_d , @Jonathandavid , @marisa , @Guy_h , @danb0509 , @DavidScoggins and @Lange22 for your kind words.
Much appreciated 🙏

This is my 37th improv since I started doing improvs back in September 2020.
It was interesting to do it “the proper way” this time.

I still prefer doing it my normal way: Look at the scale, do a chord analysis (looking for usable double stops, mostly), noodle around on and off about half a day, sleep on it and then record the next day.

This one was fun, but I have already forgotten everything about it 😂

[Niels]

Nice ones both, @DavidScoggins
I also prefer the second – it is like your musical ideas have crystalized in this one 👏

[Niels]

Very smooth and relaxed improv, @Jonathandavid
Great job 👏

[Niels]

Nice use of drone strings.
Great job, @aastrum 🙂

[Niels]

Nice job, @lange22 👍

[Niels]

Nice one, @loraine 👍
Weird background track though 😂

[Niels]

Great performance, @Fly
It is not an easy piece with all the hammer-ons and pull-offs 👍

[Niels]

Voice from the engine room for the theory nerds – the rest of you: please skip 😀

I had serious problems with the C#m chord in the backing track.
It works fine where Tony plays it, but in the higher frets it sounds very weird – not accidental – just ugly.

I realized from the Fretboard Wizard that in a major scale the seventh chord is a vii dim, not a vii, so the chord used should have been a C# dim (no b5) instead of a C#m (no 5).
It is the difference between the 5 and the b5 that causes the problem higher up the fretboard.

I then remembered that Tony often uses a V7 instead of the vii dim, so I imagined an A7 every time Tony wrote the C#m – and it sounded nice – I think 🙂

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by  Niels.

[Niels]

Thanks, @Dan D# 🙂

[Niels]

Thank you, @Fly
I am glad someone caught on 😀

[Niels]

Thank you for stopping by, @jonathandavid

The guitar is a Yamaha SLG200S TBK, originally bought to practice scales on while watching TV with my wife.
But because it is really easy to record with (no fussing around with microphones and no background noise), I use it a lot for improv and lesson videos.

I can record it directly through my audio interface, and it sounds nice, but I love to play with my toys, so this time I ran it through my Hx Stomp multi-effect pedal, using the standard preset VintageGD with the following blocks turned on:

• Tube compression
• Marshall JTM45 amp
• Room reverb

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by  Niels.

[Niels]

Thank you @Loraine

I really had fun with this one – even if it was not a real improvisation.
It was more a study in how to match the scale double stops with the chord progression (but the noodling in the midddle was improvised) 😀

[Niels]

Thank you @Bill_Brown for your kind words.

Glad you liked the voice from the engine room 🙂
I was a bit in doubt whether to mention it or not, but the substitution was a great improvement for me.