Need more Groove Juice!

[guitarjamman]

Here is the deal: I have been playing for about 12 years. Know just enough theory and basics on the guitar to be dangerous. I can improvise decently and am working on becoming more fluid all around with my guitar playing. Gave up picks a few years ago and that alone both opened doors for me and made me take a step backwards.

Now here is where I start to run into trouble. I will be fingerpicking out a basic chord progression and can keep the groove going without any issue. I can play a little fill (maybe four or five notes) to transition into the next chord and still maintain that groove. The problem occurs when I try to play a little improvised bit in the scale of the next chord I was going to play.

For example, E-A-D chord progression. I start out with a head bobbin' progression that I could keep going on all day. Next time around, I will play the E and towards the time I need to transition to the A, I will play a little run that lands me right on my A chord all while keeping time. Do the same for A to D transition and all the while keep the head bobbin groove going. Lets say I do that for a few times mixing up where I play my E-A-D chords on the fretboard, so I get a chance to work on new licks all over the neck. When I play my E chord, I want to completely skip the A chord and instead play a groovy little solo for that whole measure, making sure I end up on my D chord so I can continue chugging along bobbin' my head.

This sounds simple enough when I write it out - but I swear to god, the practical application for me is brutal. I will get about 4 or 5 notes into my little A solo and just lose it. I think I am trying to over do it at first but even if I keep the groove moving along, I will either head towards the D chord too early or too late, which just throws it all off and leave me the laughing stock of the neighborhood. The goal for me ultimately is to get to the point where I don't even need to play the chords to keep the groove moving along. An 'a capella' solo that keeps the feel and mood of the original progression, using only different scales in the original chord keys with droning bass notes.

If you have made it this far, hopefully you now understand where I am at and where I would like to be - and understand how I am having trouble obtaining that next step. Are there any sort of pointers you could give me to help me along? Is this something as simple as keeping a metronome going in the background and paying closer attention to it? If so, are there any tips that I could use to incorporate the metronome into this style of playing?

Thank you in advance for any pointers that may come along. I seriously wish I had the guitar capabilities of some of you guys out there in AGF.

-Z

[BluesBelly]

If I'm understanding your post correctly you want to be able to do impromptu soloing.
My approach to this was to fire up my drum machine and play with the beat. When I stumbled I would continue to play and after awhile it all came together. There are two kinds of soloists, The player that plays short bursts and the player that can slide into a groove and go for 45 minutes without missing a beat ala Clapton.
After seeing Clapton live and observing his groove I made it my goal to be able to get into a groove and go for as long as I wanted. This works for both acoustic and electric. I discovered the key to being able to keep a steady grove no matter the genre is............learning a whole bunch of licks or phrases and stringing them together. This can be accompished by listening to alot of music and borrowing licks and also making up your own. Another important key to soloing is to be able to hear the notes in your head and soon you will automatically end on the correct note. Remember...........If in doubt always return to the tonic or root note and you will be OK. Also intersperse string bends or repeat a lick for a measure or two to give you a moment to think or catch up.
If you can score a backing track with drums, bass, and rythum and play along with it you will get a better sense of where you are in context to the measures and bars and timing it will also go along way toward helping maintain the groove.
As always......practice makes perfect.

Good Luck,

Blues