just went through the UU soloing DVD, but i essentially knew all of it.. what now?

For the past few months i've been doing recordings of random chord progressions and improvising over them for fun and experimentation. So i decided i might aswell order the UU soloing DVD, but after going through it i realized i already knew most, if not all of, it. Basically, i knew how to do everything the DVD was talking about, i just didn't know how i was doing it or why lol but now i know, so i guess thats good.

anyway... anyone have tips on furthering my skills?

heres an imrpov. recording i did just before i got the DVD, it can be used as reference lol.

http://freemp3host.com/play:276

Well -

Try new modes - minor, pentatonic, etc. Also, try new backing tracks in different styles. Blues, samba, flamenco, whatever floats ya.

Better yet, find an open jam somewhere - jazz jams are great for learning about soloing, as are blues jams. Playing with other people is the best practice you can get.

Thats awesome that you made that much progress on your own!

The real meat and potatoes of the DVD is the seminar. the technique bits are all pretty basic but necessary so if you mastered all that right on!

The seminar is an intro to music theory and if you can master that, you should be able to develop more complex solos.

I listened to your sound sample too and i would review the technique vids for attacking the string and picking technique. take the time now to get rid of any bad habits as far as technique goes. you can get away with some stuff for basic riffs, but will be hurtin in more advanced riffs.

Best of luck,

Also feel free to email us any other DVD ideas if you have any. Mahalozzz

Thanks alot for the tips guys!

GrumpyCoyote, nearly all of my friends play uke aswell, so im always out there jamming. Though, none of them have the slightest knowledge of soloing or music theory so i amaze them wit my simple solos

Rayan, i wasnt bein serious wit that recording, thats why its so rough lol. But thanks for the advice about working on my technique, it will definately be best to get those nasty sounding plucks out of my system. I hate pickin wit slightly long nails but i love strummin wit them lol, i guess i'll have to find a middle ground.

hey i listened to your recording. for the most part it was pretty clean and tasteful which is really good. what i started doing when i was first learning improv was to memorize the different shapes for chords and then using right hand fingerpicking patterns to make things interesting. BUT instead of using regular major chords i would use major 7ths and instead of regular minors i would use minors with added 2nds. i guess the easiest way to incorporate this is to just take the chords you already use and move a finger up or down (with taste of course-you wouldn't like a F# too much when you're in the key of C) and just experimenting with the sound. with improv a cool but effective thing to do is make a line, and then repeat the line with a lil something different at the end. like for example you improved the line: e f# A B with some nice phrasing. you could then repeat the same notes and phrasing but maybe change the last note, add a note before the last note, or keep everything the same and just use it as a lead in to another melodic idea. hope this wasn't too confusing lol

Very cool recording! I would just add that it might benefit to practice to a metronome if you are going to solo to your own rhythm or backing track. It sounds like your timing is off between solo/rhythm. Keep going!