Connecting the Dots: Improvisational concept of moving from one point to another, based on harmonic progression of Blue Bossa

Vienna-based guitarist Micky Lee presents an improvisation method built around pivotal melody notes rather than running scales and arpeggios. Using the simple harmonic progression of Blue Bossa — just tonic, subdominant and dominant in C minor and Db — he shows how to take one small fragment at a time, explore every variation within it, and paint the bigger picture step by step.

What's covered

• Why a vast number of melodic choices overwhelms inexperienced improvisers, and how restricting them helps
• The chord changes of Blue Bossa, walked through bar by bar
• Basic voice leading: keeping a common tone (the note C) through the changes
• Treating one note as a revolving point that other notes resolve toward
• Approach notes: all the diatonic and chromatic ways to reach a target tone (B, D, Db, Bb to C)
• Using rhythmic freedom to make even a single note interesting

Scales and arpeggios still play a role here, but sparsely. Intermediate and advanced players will come away improvising more thoughtfully, with more fluent solos and phrases that connect naturally to one another.