I'd like to start a conversation

[Mr_G]

Western Civilization is really the only civilization that has always shunned “musical improv”. Other cultures and societies encourage improv starting at a very young age. There was an awfully long dark period in music where I think everything was in C Major. That’s the least “sexiest” one of them all. Western Civ is pretty much Sunday Catholic Mass…not even close to close to the sounds coming from a small African-American Southern Baptist Church in Mississippi on a Sunday.

Not sure I totally agree with this… in the Medieval age, much of the chanting was improvisational in nature, using a form of what we would now call the “D” Dorian mode (the real scale ended up being D E F G A Bb B C C# D). Nothing was written down, and it was passed on orally. As things settled down into what we now call the Major/Minor system (Late Medieval/early renaissance) and written music became more sophisticated, there was still a great deal of improvisation… there would be piano or organ duels between noted players of the day. In fact, many times when we see the term “variations on a theme”, it was a transcribed improvisational moment. Mozart was pretty famous for that. Somehow, though, improvisational playing in what we would now call the classical world has slowly shifted to playing strictly by rote. Improvisational playing has never really left us, though. Troubadours of old made stuff up all the time, traveling from city to city, singing the news of the realm. Then Jazz showed up in its various forms, and improvisational playing started making a huge comeback in rock, country and all other forms of popular music. We have always had improv, for which I am grateful. Today, as a guitarist, I truly believe Bluegrass and Metal are the two genres that are pushing guitar improvisational playing to its limits… I love it!

[Mike_R]

I truly believe Bluegrass and Metal are the two genres that are pushing guitar improvisational playing to its limits