# Improvisation lab

> Interactive page: [`improv.html`](improv.html)

A solo is a **short idea plus rest**, not a stream of scale notes. This page is slow practice over a loop: hear a backing, see a box, land on chord tones. Generic cells only — no copied licks or famous riffs.

Pair with [Solo drills](drills-solo.md) · [Play along](songs.md) · [Ear](/tools/ear-training.html) · [Jazz lite](jazz.md).

On the HTML page, Play becomes Stop on the same button. Tempo follows the metronome. TAB is high e on top — [Foundations · TAB](foundations.md).

**Sources (two-check):** Berklee guitar-lab phrase habit (play a cell, rest, land on a chord tone) · Hal Leonard / rock method (minor pentatonic box 1 over a one-chord or 12-bar vamp). No transcribed solos.

## Three rules

1. **Short idea + rest.** Three or four notes, then silence for a bar (or two). The rest is part of the phrase. If you never stop, the listener has nothing to remember.
2. **No copied licks.** Invent from the box and your ear. Method-book cells on this page are raw material, not songs to quote.
3. **Land on chord tones.** The last note of a cell should be a root, 3rd, or 5th of the chord that is sounding. Passing notes are fine in the middle; the landing is the sentence period.

**Count the rest out loud.** If the cell takes one beat of eighths, count *2, 3, 4* in silence before the next idea. Same skill as [Solo exercises · three-note cell with a rest](exercises-solo.md).

## Backing lab

Pick a loop and a map. Play starts the backing; the neck shows the box for that scale. You play over it. Squares (when the engine marks them) are roots.

- **Am folk** — boom-chick on Am (root on beats 1 and 3, strum on 2 and 4). Home A.
- **E5 vamp** — muted power on every beat. Home E.
- **12-bar powers** — I–IV–V as E5–A5–B5 (four / two / two / then V–IV–I–V). Same form as [Play along · 12-bar](songs.md), powers instead of open G–C–D.

Scale choices: minor pentatonic, Dorian, major. Root follows the backing (A or E).

## Call cells

The model plays a 3–4 note cell, then rests. You answer with the same rhythm (same notes first; later, new notes that still land on a chord tone). No auto-score — listen, play, hear the model again. Same call shape as [Ear · call and response](/tools/ear-training.html).

```
e|-----------------          |-----------------
B|-----------------          |-----------------
G|-----------------          |-----0-2-0-------
D|-----5-7-5-------          |-0---------------
A|-0---------------   and    |                 +  5-8-7-5 on low E (A minor pent)
E|-----------------
```

After the rest, it is your bar. The HTML page has **I played it** as a reminder to hear the model once more.

## Target notes

Chord tones are the safe landings. Over **Am** that is A, C, and E (1, ♭3, 5). Over **G–C–D** land on the root of whichever chord is sounding — G, then C, then D — or the 3rd/5th of that chord.

```
Am chord tones (box neighbourhood)
e|-5---------------   A
B|-5---------------   E
G|-5---------------   C
D|-7---------------   A
A|-7---------------   E
E|-5---------------   A

G / C / D roots (open)
E|-3----           G
A|------3----      C
D|-----------0---- D
```

Loop a backing in the lab, then aim the last note of each cell at one of these. Jazz guide-tone version (3 and 7): [Jazz lite](jazz.md).

## Three tracks

- **Beginner** — Am folk + minor pentatonic. One three-note cell, rest a full bar. Land on A. Metronome at 60.
- **Intermediate** — E5 vamp or Am + Dorian. Answer the call with new notes, same rhythm. Land on 1 or 5. Near 70–80 when even.
- **Advanced** — 12-bar powers. Change landing when I / IV / V changes. Mix major or Dorian colour. Silence still counts. Pair with [Jazz · ii–V–I](jazz.md) when shells are honest.

Next: [Solo drills](drills-solo.md) · [Play along](songs.md) · [Ear](/tools/ear-training.html) · [Jazz lite](jazz.md).