Aspiring to improvise, the 'QAP03 Learning to Improvise' is the single most important lesson I've watched for a long time. It seems so self-evident that you have to know the structure of the music that you're improvising within or around that not many teachers make that explicit.
It took me until recently to figure that one out, thinking that improvising just has to flow freely from the 'inspired player'. As that divine enlightenment never happened to me, I drew the conclusion there is something wrong with me as a player.
Having confirmed explicitly that I was actually trying to start at the end, it did set me on another course; I now start with selecting key, chord progression and timing to form a musical skeleton before using improv to put muscle and skin on. However, I do put that structure on a backing track (looper, DAW), so I can better concentrate on the details of the lead.
Thanks Tomo, it is a real step forward for me.
Here is Tomo's comment:
"Thank you so much for your post. It's easy to name scales and show diagrams, but it's really hard to teach improvisation. It requires a lot of preparation, before you can put things together. That’s why I created the Music Theory and Music Theory II videos. These theory lessons help guitar players to prepare a foundation and then use this foundation to improvise. Thanks, again, for posting this comment. I really appreciate it!"