Improv and tone deaf

[Alduroth]

Basicly the same thing.
My band gives me the root notes. But I'm pretty tired after a year of playing in the band for root notes, since I'm still not singing.
but anyway, like the band gives me A|G|A|E|GD| (those are measures) I always do that at the band rehearsal but when I get home I have to think it over for weeks etc. and finally come up with something. I know the pentatonic scale(pattern?) but not much else.
What I was wondering, does anyone have any tips or tricks to apply this.

Also, how can I learn to identify notes from eachother? By just listening?

[Anderson81]

learn some basic arpeggios for the chords used most in your songs, to start: major chords root, third, fifth...minor chords root, flat third, fifth...play around with them, find things that sound pleasing to your ear...you can then take the scale of the song and fill some passing tones in between...this is a fairly simple approach, but effective. good luck =]

[derekd]

I sure like Todd Johnson's modules for this sort of thing. Particularly when you don't have any pet lines/licks to fall back on. A module is a 4 note combo that covers each chord for one measure. So for one bar you say you are play just the root over A.

So in Todd's language that would be RRRR. The next step would be to approach from a half step above or below, so ARRR, or BRRR. Still 4 beats. From there maybe RR55, then ARR5, or BRR5. From there you can throw in 3rds, octaves, and 7ths, etc.

Having a number of these modules under your fingers gives you the liberty to deal with any chord progression and play as much or as little as you like. You can play'em straight or mix and match. Here is the link to the vid if interested. Vol 1

http://www.toddjohnsonmusic.com/

[Anderson81]

Originally Posted by derekd

I sure like Todd Johnson's modules for this sort of thing. Particularly when you don't have any pet lines/licks to fall back on. A module is a 4 note combo that covers each chord for one measure. So for one bar you say you are play just the root over A.

So in Todd's language that would be RRRR. The next step would be to approach from a half step above or below, so ARRR, or BRRR. Still 4 beats. From there maybe RR55, then ARR5, or BRR5. From there you can throw in 3rds, octaves, and 7ths, etc.

Having a number of these modules under your fingers gives you the liberty to deal with any chord progression and play as much or as little as you like. You can play'em straight or mix and match. Here is the link to the vid if interested. Vol 1

http://www.toddjohnsonmusic.com/

NICE! i like this alot!