(or keep reading for other ways to access Fret Science: Improv 101)
Many guitarists view improvising over chord changes as the unobtainable holy grail of their guitar journey. But it doesn’t need to be that way. It took me 30 years to crack the code, and now that I can see the path clearly, I want to illuminate it for you.
Every guitar player can learn to improvise. The problem isn’t you—it’s the way this stuff is usually taught.
The goal of the Fret Science: Improv 101 course is to help guitarists of all playing levels understand how the guitar fretboard works and how to apply that knowledge to melodic soloing.
This curriculum is style-agnostic, but unlike most approaches to the subject, it does not involve learning jazz theory. There’s a little music theory involved, but there are no prerequisites other than the physical ability to play single-note lines on your guitar.
If you’ve ever learned to play someone else’s recorded solo, you have everything you need to succeed with this course.
The course is divided into eight modules, and each module includes six elements:
A big-picture lesson
A music theory element
A fretboard knowledge mental model
One note to memorize across the fretboard (in case you don’t already know your note names or you’d like to speed up your recall)
A set of exercises that combine the first four elements
Backing track(s) to practice along with
After completing the course, you will have everything you need to improvise confidently over chord changes in whatever style of music you play.
What’s included
55 carefully sequenced video lessons (4+ hours total)
20+ backing tracks
67-page PDF course guide, including all key diagrams and exercises
8 cheat sheets containing everything that needs to be memorized for each module (it isn’t much!)
Improv 101 is the clearest and most practical path I’ve found for learning how to actually improvise on guitar. It makes advanced concepts like chord tone targeting and one-scale-per-chord easier to understand, and makes music theory feel intuitive instead of intimidating.
Keith’s teaching style is down-to-earth and focused. He connects the theory to the fretboard in practical ways that instantly apply to playing lead guitar; he’s not interested in showing off how fast he can play or how much he knows like every other YouTube “guru”. The visuals, handouts, and animations are the best I’ve seen anywhere and finally cracked the code for me after 17+ years of just memorizing tabs.
After taking this course, I can understand my favorite songs and solos on a deeper level than ever before, and I am finally starting to write my own songs and play with other guitarists. Can’t recommend this course enough!
Shane L – 17 years experience – Hard and Classic Rock
I’ve been playing for a little over a year, mostly blues, and I’ve lost count of the number of CAGED and triad and pentatonic lessons I’ve taken. They’ve all been too complicated, with too much memorization, and I swear they’re all cribbing from the same notes.
Keith’s framework of rectangles and stacks is totally unique. It’s so straightforward, easy to grasp, and broadly applicable (to scales, triads, arpeggios, and navigating the entire fretboard). The visualizations and PDF resources are also tremendously helpful at explaining the different concepts covered in the course (they also make great reference material).
The best thing about the course for me, though, is that it’s so musical. There are tons of practice exercises for sure, but every module ends with an exercise where we take what we learned and and improvise with it over one of the included backing tracks. In fact, I improvised for the first time ever at the end of Module 1 and it was glorious – I thought it would take me years to get to this point.
Lee C – 1 year experience – Blues
I’ve always wanted to improvise along with my favorite tunes but have always struggled to do so with confidence. I’ve studied the CAGED system, music theory, various scales, etc. but have never managed to integrate those learnings into the sort of fluid, inspired, effortless playing I seek. With Fret Science, Keith provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the theory, technique, and concepts you need to improvise effectively and expressively. It all makes a lot of sense and just fits my brain. The lessons are presented in a clear, logical, step-by-step method you can do at your own pace, and review as often as you like. I’m already seeing big improvements. In short, this is the course I’ve been waiting for my whole guitar life.
Marc C – 40 years experience – Rock, Folk, Indie
I’m not a jazz cat, or even a great player, I’ve only been playing guitar for about 3 years. The Improv 101 course has given me a firm push into the late intermediate stage. Pentatonic scales, nailed it! Diatonic scales, nailed it. Modes, explained it in a way even I can understand it, wow. Chord tone soloing, nailed it. The Rectangle and Stack concept made learning these ideas so much easier, and has opened up my fretboard understanding. I have improved light years from where I started from. Am I the next super star guitar player? Not very likely, but my accelerated progress from this course is very real.
Michael D – 3 years experience – Blues & Fingerstyle
I decided to give the Improv 101 course a try and I was able to make a lot of progress in a relatively short amount of time. This course helped me visualize things in the fretboard a lot better and it also improved my phrasing a lot. I would greatly recommend this course to beginner to intermediate players that are looking for other ways to make sense of the fretboard, scales and what to play when improvising.
Isaac C – 1 year experience – Blues
Improv 101 has challenged my guitar brain and is pushing me past my “intermediate plateau”. Keith’s methodical and analytical teaching style paired with the PDFs is perfect for me. The video explanations are easy to follow, especially with the animations. I highly recommend all of the material made by Fret Science!
Fret Science 