I have, several times, referred to "improvised feel" with the music and it would seem, from the comments received from readers, that while most people understand what this means not everyone feels able or has the knowledge to use the guitar to express himself in this way. I would, therefore, like to change tack a little with the articles and present some material which will enable the reader to be more at home with this way of playing. That is to say that I would like to discuss the structure of scales and chords so that the reader will have some ideas with which to analyse music and make his own arrangements for the guitar.

I always feel that music makes a good analogy with language. Just as a person is at home with his native language and can use it wilfully and freely, the instrumentalist, in practising his instrument and studying music, is aiming to achieve a similar liberty of expression, and it is with this aim in mind that we continue the series.

The word "improvise" contains the ideas of the unforeseen and of improving. One of the reasons musicians like to improvise is that there is, in doing it, the excitement of the unforeseen, of not knowing what is going to happen next, combined with the hope and expectancy that when something does happen it will be better than what one would have imagined!

To reach this state of immediacy usually requires some preparation. For the guitarist, it means studying patterns of melodies, chord structures and rhythms and of acquiring the ability to use instrumental forms, tremolo, arpeggio, rasgueado etc.  - A grey area for many classically trained guitarists lies in the understanding and use of the chord symbol system. Because it is such a convenient system (and is really a development out of the figured bass method) its use is now universal and I feel that it is to the advantage of every guitarist to be thoroughly familiar with it.

The chord symbol encapsulates a "sound zone". Reading a series of chord symbols allows the musician to feel general bodies of sound without being fixed to a particular "thread" of expression. It tunes him into a sound world and allows him freedom to explore it.

In being familiar with chord symbols the interpreter has a means of analysing music and of recalling it when he wills. He is equipped with terms for defining the sounds that he hears. He is able to appreciate the relationship between a particular melody and its accompanying chord structure, make other melodies from that structure and thus begin to feel the joy of improvising.

In order to avoid being confused by a mass of theory we shall endeavour to increase our understanding by working with examples from music that we shall play. I would suggest using a book of manuscript paper because the exercises will involve both writing and playing.

Our first job is to learn the following tune. Become familiar with the melody; the melody rhythm need not be exact; play it as you feel it ought to be, be your own authority for its interpretation, play it as though you had composed it yourself.

We shall use the chords of this tune for our first analysis, and, after some preliminary notes to help those who have not made any study of theory, begin the explanations in the next article.