Originally Posted by: Rumble Walrus

Here's a thought on working with a scale - how about taking a lead section from songs you like and identifying the scale/intervals used in the lead?[/quote][p]This is great advice. This is how a lot of "unschooled" players learned. Learn the songs & licks that inspire you, reverse engineer it & reuse it for your own playing.

This is exactly how I learned. Whenever I learn a solo or musical passage I'm thinking about how & why it works. How it's integrated, how it fits, with the parts before & after it, with the overall structure.

This is how I teach students. This is the essence of my improvisation tutorials.

[quote=Rumble Walrus]Why do you like it?

Exactly. And you can even go further. If there's a song or lick you don't like, figure that out to learn what to avoid when you play.

Thanks for the post!