Improvisation is an essential part of improving your guitar technique. Although it sounds a simple thing to do, improvisation can be surprisingly difficult to master. The good news is that you can boost your improvisation and therefore enhance your guitar playing skills by adding drums to your sessions.

Here are some tips on how to use drums as part of your guitar improvisation.

Real Drums or Backing Tracks

Practising is always more fun when you can play together with other people. If you have a friend who plays the drums or you can find other musicians in your area, then check if they’d have time to jam with you for an hour every week, for example.

But don’t worry – if you don’t yet know a drummer or if it seems hard to set up the time to play with others, there are other options available as well. You can use backing tracks, which are widely available online. You can find Youtube videos or even use drum-playing apps to make your own!

Try Different Time Signatures

The most important thing is you don’t just use a single backing track to play with. There are different variations when it comes to the beat, tempo and even genre, and you want to play with these – even if you are destined to be a heavy metal guitarist. You can always learn something useful from other tempos and genres!

One of the most important aspects is to improvise to different time signatures. Make sure you use drums in ¾, 4/4 and 6/8 signatures, for instance. This will guarantee you need to change your own way of playing each time – not to mention it makes practice session more fun!

Listen to the Beat

When you add drums to your improvisation sessions, don’t just start playing immediately. It’s very important to learn to listen to the music. If you use a backing track or if a drummer is providing you with a beat, take a moment to listen what the beat is all about. Start slowly and just add a few chords that you feel fit the rhythm well. As you get them fitted into the music, you can start adding more ‘meat’ (i.e. chords) to your improvisation.

It’s also a good idea to listen to famous guitar riffs and how the guitarists have used the drumbeat to come up with the rhythm. Make sure you check out guitarists like David Gilmour and Jimi Hendrix and try to find the connection between their solos and the drums.

Challenge Yourself

Your guitar skills will develop faster if you set yourself goals and challenges. Make your guitar improvisation a bit more fun as well by challenging yourself. Try to learn to improvise to a different drumbeat in a week or in two weeks, for example.

After each practice session, think how well you did and what parts you are still finding difficult. Analysing your playing will give you more tools to focus on the aspects you find difficult and it will boost your learning process. After you master a specific drumbeat, make sure you reward yourself with a new CD or even a night out in town!