rationalskepticism.org

John Platko wrote:

Adco wrote:I love blues. I am a hacker when it comes to technical skills but I am able to keep up with a jam session. I just need the key, which I normally pick up quickly. I use box shapes from all over the frets board to improvise. My favourite is YouTube Blues Backing track in any key. I can jam to that for hours on end, always coming up with new licks to suit the various styles.

Typical session for me. Choose a sad song backing track, have a puff of inspiration and loosing myself for an hour or two of blues heaven.

I wish I has enough connections and/or money to have a live band waiting in a studio so I could jam whenever I wanted to.

Nice. Maybe you can suggests some licks at some point.

How did you learn the box system and how do you go about improvising?

Not good enough to make any suggestions that are different from what is out there. This is my level; Give me almost any backing track, preferably slow blues, and put me in a pub or restaurant and I will make you happy with background music. Just pleasant listening. Normally I sing and play Golden Oldies type music in pubs or restaurants for the fun of it.

I learnt the box system, if that is the name for it, from trial and error. When I saw an tutorial on the net, I thought Hey! I do that. So it seems like a natural progression. If you play enough, you will stumble across it.

My improvisations are my own playing to backing tracks. I have a feel for the music and indulge a bit. Like getting lost in your mind for a while. Nothing else matters. If I'm brave enough on day, I'll post a recording.

I don't know all the notes on the fretboard of by heart. A lot but not all. I do know all the chord position up and down in the different shapes and I know most of the box patterns for any key. I am not interested in learning notes. Better things to do.