Greg Howe Improvisation Guitar Lesson - www.greghowe.com/lessons 

Why is there always some idiot making comments on these types of videos about "feel". This guy is on the very tip of the spear for human capacity to master an instrument, don't try and take away from that because your plebian taste prefers the simplicity of mainstream guitar players.

Great stuff Greg, looking forward to more!

Guthrie Govan: "I’m guessing that when most modern rock players say they want to get their 'fusion' down, they don’t particularly want to learn ‘Autumn Leaves’, they want instant Greg Howe! Listen to Charlie Christian, Django, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery... listen to what those guys could do over a simple blues progression, you’ll start to absorb what’s happening harmonically, and after a while ‘jazz’ ingredients won’t sound so strange to your ears. That’s when you can start really using it!"

Notice how many guitarists with extremely advanced playing style also have quite beautifully developed speech skills and rich vocabulary. Howe and Govan are great examples. Listening to them speak is just as exciting as listening to them do their magic on an instrument.

This is a wonderful insight in Greg's approach and thinking. I attended Greg's guitar clinic almost 15 years ago and I still remember how down to earth and so talented he was on the fretboard. I find myself returning to this improv guitar lesson video for it is a treasure trove of ideas. I think it's incredible how well structured and grounded his improvisation is. It doesn't feel like notes are being played for the sake of it, but rather to convey an overarching feeling.

I never in my life have heard a guitarist/guitar teacher explain so eloquently the idea of improve and creativity in guitar soloing. Excellent, I felt a gained an immense amount of insight after watching, thank you Greg Howe.

Cool, humble and intelligent, And, of course, a freaking monster.

This guy changed the concept of playing guitar. He'll be a legend of guitar mastery. No words to define.

Is it just me or does Greg's voice sound like Steve Vai's?

I had the pleasure of taking a few lessons from Greg a couple of years ago. Great guy, great teacher, phenomenal player. When I asked him how he got his level of technique, he said he's never been the kind of guy to just sit there and do exercises for technique's sake. He would mostly jam with whatever happened to be playing on the radio or TV at the time. You can tell by his incredibly lyrical playing that he's not your typical 'technique' guy. But my gosh, this guy can burn!!!

Im a drummer and this was extremely informative to me!!! True musicians tend to explain things in a way that applies to other instrumental approaches. Some of the approaches he uses are some of the approaches i use...obviously on a different instrument. His concepts are universal to all instruments!!! Taping into the mind of a musical genius..PRICELESS!!!

The most fluid and natural guitar player on earth, great teacher!

I know Greg has been around awhile but I'd never heard or seen him speak until now. I think he just became one of my favorite guitarists.

One of the most informative video's I've seen on RU-vid by one of my favourite players. Thanks Greg :)

I'm a new Greg Howe fan since late last year. I like how he has structured licks and phrasing which are characteristics of rock, and also the "meandering" fluid flavor of jazz improvisation. His tone is very clear, not overly distorted, yet it has enough gain for my taste. His low frequencies aren't buried in the mud - I like that too. In addition to tone, his accuracy makes his playing easy to listen to. It's the product of decades of practice. Be patient kids.

Man Greg is such a good teacher, like his licks, his speaking and phrasing of the English language is also precise and intelligent.

Wow impressive. Not only r u giving an incredible improv but ur also giving the mechanix of it. Kinda unique when u think about it.

Wow! Mr. Howe, your improvisational skills and technique are face melting.

Great summary of thought!! I've came to the same conclusion in my own playing. Challenging yourself to stay out of " autopilot mode" and be more aware of the moment by moment improvisation and creating new ideas as you go. It should be an intentional expression of feeling rather than a mechanical robotic flurry of notes up and down the scales. Play intelligently and thoughtfully like you're trying to get your musical words across to the audience. Use the guitar to "speak and deliver the message" as EVH often said.

Interesting. I like how he can actually try to explain his playing.

Talking about polarity is what really helped me understand all of this.

he's cool i like his laid back approach to teaching, some other guys begin to sound too technical, with this guy i can keep my eye on the prize and not get confused!

Only discovered him recently. He is such a great teacher and obviously has monster technique. Extremely eloquent, the man seems to be a true genious, by that i mean very very high IQ.

Awesome job Greg! Playing is Awesome as usual and great presentation of ideas! Peace, Rod

Hey Greg, I love your playing, you play every time very tasteful and with a amazing tone! Thank you for the lesson! 5 stars***** Best regarts Richard

Not only is he incredibly fast but he is such a pocket player. Makes him very enjoyable to listen to. Greg you are in a three way tie with Kotzen and Govan for my absolute favorite. Your new album is perfect.

"Teach Me Greg, Teach Me." This stuff is golden.

Well done Sir..thanks for the input

He's a really bright guy in the verbal sense as well. It's great when an amazing player knows how to convey information to others. This is a great lecture...I may even add it to favorites.

My best all-time guitar legend is Steve Vai, but all I want to be is playing like Mr. Howe. Greg if this is really your channel, the only purpose of my practicing all jazz/ fusion theories is to make my playing sound like 'Five' album.

Greg’s left hand moves in a really unique way, he‘s like Wes Montgomery in that he doesn’t use the pinky that much. Lots of 3 note per string stuff.

@snowfosho2 there are e's all over the fretboard as there are every other note, As long as you know where your root note is and your pattern, you can play it anywhere on the neck....

Its all outside to me..outside of my ability that is!!!Great stuff though.

@zappainca An A minor with sharpened 7th is just called A Harmonic Minor. Changing keys refers to whenever you change the tonal centre of an already musically sound scale. Chords can be played in any key and still sound correct (As long as the Root, 3rd and Fifth aren't clashing with an unflattened/sharpened or already flattened/sharpened tone at equal time in the melody). Like playing an AM right on the same beat with the minor in the key of C; which is? :P

I really love the way u play man

Great lesson & super inspiring! Thanks! :)

Been following Greg since the very beginning & MAN what a journey it’s been! It all came around & evolved nicely!🎸 The videos are great Greg!!

How good are you at shredding the guitar? Greg Howe: Yes!

This video changed the way I listen to and play music. Contrast is an amazing concept. Thanks for posting.

Great advice and summary by Greg. One of the most influential guitarists when it comes to improvisation. My channel has a variety of backing tracks for improvisation in many styles. Give it a look, I am sure you could find something interesting if you are a musician.

This is great, Greg should make a comprehensive instructional DVD. 8-)

I'm f'in sick of people thinking Greg's voice sounds like Steve Vai's.....shit, can't you hear the difference in tone and inflection? If you can't, then I refuse to believe that you would have ANY credible statement about music.

very thank you man !!!

Venezuela te espera maestro. You are the best.

@TimeLordGuitar Actualy both you and I are incorrect. Posture should not cause tension and one should feel really comfortable while playing guitar. The most important thing is, to have your right hand in a position that enables you to swithc from technique to technique with minimum position change. I hope some beginers get what were talking about. No tension, comfort, easy switching from sweep position to alternate picking to palm muting to tapping...I had an urge to write this:) Greets from SLO

I want that guitar, I can't believe ESP did not release it as a sig model.

I find it harder to play fast without using a good overdrive, or gain...I can't really Feel my way around without it... My Axe-Fx only has like, one decent tone that I use, but it really needs tweaking for that Jazz Rock fusion tone I'm looking for... Plus, my strat (Main Axe) doesn't do it... I need a PRS or ESP Guitar with a tight Trem... Thanks a Million, Greg...I look up to You; always have... Keep on doing IT!

This is interesting !!! Nice lesson prof. Greg :) Hope to see more from you, bless Vlad

Child's play in the intro is an awesome composition!

great vid. all the best from germany.

Thanks man! Great video!

this man is the friggin master!

@zappainca It's not about whats comfortable, it's about the right way and wrong way. Think of it like typing, you can do it the way thats comfortable for you and get carple tunnel down the road, or not. And yes you are tecnically changing key if you play a melodic minor over and Am. Seeing as how if your playing the entire Am scale no notes are sharpened or flattened so playing a melodic C minor over top of it the Eb would clash with the unflattened E of the A minor scale. So there :P

No greg howe, no guthrie govan...only for that he is a legend among legends.

Man do I miss him being 10 minutes from my house!!haha..Greg is an AMAZING teacher!!!

its not even funny anymore how every other guitarist seems to be ridiculous compared to greg howe... dayum...

What a smart guy!

Amazing.

greg is amazing!!!!!!!

great stuff, thanks for the reminder!!!! you rock nice gat too

What a great guy, and a fantastic talent!

Underrated Wizard! I was blown away when I heard the introspection album!

Great lesson Greg. I've been trying to incorporate more outside playing lately. Been stuck in the run of the mill scales and licks for a while and trying to break free. Thanks

when you go 'outside' what notes are you playing relative to the key given? i like the sound of it

it s really magnifique......so personnel !!!( it s marvellous..!! bravo!!!

@ojideagu balls to say it? hehe man... If it was a matter of having balls to say it I would have had hope for this genre! The sad part is not that people don't have the balls .. but that THEY DONT FUCKIN HEAR IT!!!! They really honest to got are genuinely impressed with his speed and his harmony. THEY SEEK No story telling, no motivic development, no continuity, no long-term solo curve thinking, they seek no qualities that make improvisation be worth listening to!!! Thats why the silence!!!

@ojideagu I like his "house of mirrors" tune. and several other songs.. and mainly I like bits of his harmonic language.. most of his fans are Dream Theatre fans...!!! and that really does say everything about what his music really contains and communicates. and mostly about his own musical value system - whats IMPORTANT TO HIM in the music.

@ojideagu you're right.. and i can sort of see WHY he would be mentioned as a jazz player but man... if we really really strip it down.. the DNA of all that shit, the core values of it is PROGRESSIVE ROCK... really.. theres no continuity in his playing.. no motivic development,. rhythm is absent all together... how is this jazz?? NO STORY TELLING!!!!

That's just a string damper, to eradicate open strings noise while playing legato or smth. When Michael Angelo Batio plays his double-neck guitar, he uses similar thing, cause it's impossible to mute strings without second hand.

@ojideagu well in all honesty, if there was actual CONTENT to his improvisation.. actual narrative compositional content to his solos -- i wouldnt mind bending no bending etc.. to each his own, u know? BUT CONTENT -- thats something no one gets a pass for Not Having. Sorry.

i would like to see an uncut version of this

I've only recently become more aware of Greg Howe. He really is an incredibly thoughtful and articulate speaker and player.

I've often thought he has a really similar talking voice to steve vai! Anyway Howe's an amazing player

Pretty awesome.. I've been focusing on getting out of my "autopilot" so this helps put a lot into perspective. What's that music at the end remind you guys of? Castlevania maybe?

If anyone is interested, I transcribed the "playing outside" solo portion of this video. You can check it out on my channel. I also have a PDF of the transcription available.

were can i find backing tracks as beast as this!!!!!!

I think its pretty cool that oyu speak alot like Steve Vai, not only your voice, but also you mannarisms and vocal phrasing. ironiccaly though if you put the two of you together we get jeff beck lol. ROCK ON!!!!!!

to me improvisation and organized are opposite.. at least to a degree. This need for utter clarity and mistake free playing is sterile. Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page and any blues legend pretty much improve. and the mistakes here and there just come out in that pursuit. Just my opinion

you know I was just thinking this now for the first time even though I've seen so many vai and howe videos

@jay2xtremefy For it to really be considered "outside playing", it also has to resolve back into the key eventually. The point of outside playing is to use "wrong" notes to accentuate the right notes. Hope that helps.

Can anyone tell me what is that yellow thing on his guitar arm (10:06)?? And why do he put it on the guitar?

I really hope that you read this comment greg. You might want to include a link to jamstudio)(com for creating your own baking tracks it's a really great website. Also can you tell me what guitar you're using?

@analduct by working out everything you possibly can by ear. only when you improve your ear can you hear notes before you play them

no thats one reason. the other i said earlier was that it just generally doesnt sound good to me most of the time.

@TheDisturbed11 absolutely. You can never have enough knowledge about a subject. Not to mention that your goal should be to become a good "musician", not just someone who can play the guitar. Music theory will transfer to any instrument or vocalization.

Guthrie and Greg are so good at teaching.

Good advice here...!!! Rock on Brother...!!! Lehigh Valley, PA. Sunrise, Florida.

@MrRuggo I agree. But- just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should. (Music is considered to be a highly individualized artform,so I get your point.) Players are free to hold the instrument any way they wish. For example- a guitarist could put the end of the guitar on the ground with the headstock facing the ceiling like a cello. Don't expect to play "sounds and notes" like Chet Atkins or Greg Howe,however,with the guitar in such an individualized playing posture.

This is in regard to an old comment that criticized how Greg holds the guitar that annoyed the heck out of me. Django Reinhardt,Merle Travis,Chet Atkins,Al Di Meola,Paul Gilbert,Vinnie Moore,Tony MacAlpine,Jason Becker,Marty Friedman,Danny Gatton, Eric Johnson and Alex Skolnick all sit/sat with the instrument on their right leg as Greg does. Just because the latest cookie-monster rocker holds his 9-string guitar on his left leg when sloppily sweep-picking doesn't mean you should do it.

@cmacinnis That's not true. That would mean that only the harmonic section can change keys. When your playing an A minor you can play A dorian on it, but when you start superimposing A Melodic minor, you as the improviser switched keys. the song is still in A minor, that doesn't change, however you as the improviser do switch keys. That's the whole point, you're playing dissonant notes so technically you as improviser switch keys. No one thinks like that though (thank goodness)

I like what he's trying to explain... But it's almost like he assumes people watching this don't know a thing about music... Outside inside... He could just say changing key, and polarity is playing to or from minor/major... His picking technique and where he plants his guitar will come to bite him in the end, proper posture and keeping that thumb between the index and middle finger is so key... Don't believe me, just watch a video of Bucket Head or Batio. Secrets!

yea but not all of them are pure improv. u do one improv, maybe u only like a certain bit of it, u keep that bit, change the rest around...etc. the reason im against pure improv is cause im just terrible at it, i can get a sound in my head, over top of a rythmn guitar, but i dont know how to execute it. so i hit random notes hoping it will be the way it sounds in my head. with my eyes closed i wouldnt be able to identify two notes played together, and how far apart they are rom each other.

you seem to assume that every solo is improvised. why? did it ever occur to u that guitarists work on solos, like oli herbert for example, it took him a year to finish the "it dwells in me" lead, and 6 months for "for salvation". and i typically dont like solos, i prefer the rest of the song, solos are usually just fillers for me. lots of them are boring with the exceptions of beautiful ones like: not alone, machine gun majesty, needelfeast...etc.

im getting in on this 2 months later. dude in all metal theres always that section where the guitarist solos. except for maybe black metal, shit metal like Bring me the horizon or somethin. Listen to songs like Tornado of Souls, Seek and Destroy, Black Sabbath, War Pigs, and tell me theres no solo area. In fact Black Sabbath was pretty much the band that created (or discovered) metal. And they have solo sections in almost every song. You like metal, but you dont like solos. that makes sense

yea but i still prefer doing it only in bursts. like bar by bar. like ill fiddle around with one bar then stop and think of where i want to go next. maybe ill like a certain section of my improv that i will take out and forget the rest. i just find you can craft better when u take ur time instead of just going at it. its easier, for me. my problem is i dont rlly know what a note will sound like before i hit it so i hit random notes and just hope itll sound right.

great lesson thanks man. but i have a question, alot of fusion shredders i see like greg howe and all these russian dudes and japanese shredders on youtube, and even like guthrie govan all have these bands at the end of thier guitars.why?

Marvelous, Greetings from Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

Check out the users "coffeebreaksongs" and "quisttv". They've got a bunch of awesome and free tracks.. Else check out david walliman. He has his own site with cheap and awesome backing tracks :) happy jammin' mate!

great lesson!..can anyone of u tell me that in outside playing are you supposed to play some specific notes which would make it sound like an outside playing??..otherwise it would just sound like an off scaled improvisation..

@zappainca A dorian with a sharp 7 is melodic minor ;) You do need to get out of key when playing outside Harmonically. It depends on the progression, G min 7b5 actually IS outside in A dorian. They don't share the same notes. You're playing one semitone higher which is about as outside as it gets! F# minor 7b5 is the "inside" arp.