0-1 · Welcome to Fret Science: Improv 101

A quick welcome and the big picture: what Improv 101 covers, how its eight modules build on each other, and the kind of player you'll be by the end. No prior music theory needed — just bring your guitar.

Improv 101 is structured to help guitar players at all ability levels learn to improvise melodic solos over a wide range of chord progressions in any style. Each module contains six elements:

1. A big picture lesson
2. A music theory lesson
3. One note to memorize across the fretboard
4. A new mental model to apply to the fretboard
5. Fretboard practice exercises
6. Improvisation exercises with backing tracks

The videos are presented in a carefully chosen order, so that each video builds on the previous ones.

The Fret Science methodology is built on the rectangle and stack visualization method, which integrates the most commonly used triads, arpeggios, and scales into a unified whole. In this course, you’ll master the major and minor pentatonic scales, the major and minor blues scales, and the six commonly used modes of the major scale. You’ll learn how to find all of those scales under your fingers, no matter where your hands happen to be on the fretboard. And you’ll learn two powerful methods for easily finding great-sounding target notes right under your fingers.