Do you struggle to integrate your skills into improvisations?
This is a common problem a lot of people experience when they first come to me for lessons.
They can play exercises and licks well on there own, but struggle to integrate those techniques and licks into an improvised solo.
As soon as they put on a backing track, they seem to forget everything they know or nothing they play seems to fit.
Playing an improvised solo to a backing track requires a lot more than just being able to play licks.
You’ve got to be able to understand how to play to the tempo of the track, too.
Something I do with students to help them become comfortable with improvising is to workshop improvisations over a progression.
We’ll first come up with simple phrases that work over the progression, then build from there. I’ve never had a student who didn’t experience huge benefits from this.