Working toward improv?

[Skeelo]

I gave up guitar for awhile because I have a lot of trouble improvising and coming up with riffs and songs. I swear to god I was there once, but then forgot how!

It seems I think waaaaay too linear and I'm paying more attention to the fretboard and playing the notes than the actual mood and emotion of the lick I am attempting to create.

Help! :confused:

[Zero]

To me, it sounds as if you need a little more practice, until you are totally confident withyour actual ability to fret the note properly, etc.

After you get that, if you want to learn improv, learn some scales. check out the scales and improv sections of the main site... you will probably learn something there. :)

As for coming up with riffs and songs, thats more an issue of creativity, and I can't help you there. Learn some theory, and try to find a chord progression that you like. work from there, building a verse, intro, bridge, etc... whatever you want from the chord progression, and once you know what key the progression is in, you can make a solo using the scales that fit with that key...

Hope this helps! :D

[wild_axeman]

Try searching the forums for posts by John Prophet.He's had some really good posts on the topic and basically walks you through it.I'd read all of his posts.Be sure to click on the "and older" option when conducting your search.