Studying the modes is a good way to start, but it is not an end-all or be-all situation.

ANY way you can "view" them will work as long as you end up playing the right notes over the chord. This is simply a matter of perception.

The real purpose of these kind of drills is to keep working with the thing until you start to internalize the sound, the "taste" of the mode over the given chord. Once you do that, the thing becomes more like a "macro" where you won't be thinking about it in the same way at all. It becomes a pallette of possibilities that you can choose from in realtime.

It takes time working with the modes a little bit each day for all this to start sinking in.

Don't neglect a bit of daily Ear Training drills along with the modal practice. Pick a key and try to play every simple melody you can think of in that key for about ten to twenty minutes a day, trying to play the melody all the way through without a mistake and if you do make a mistake, stop playing and start the melody again from the beginning until you can play that simple thing with no mistake. Always count and always try to make these simple melody drills a musical as you can as you play them, don't ignore that critical component. When practicing, "Always. Make. Music." of the thing. This means counting, playing evenly, applying dynamics, phrasing, etc.

It is a great idea to make yourself a list of these simple songs as you think of them so that you don't have to be concerned with that part when doing the daily drill.

There are online lists of these ditties for the searching, jazz improv sites and the like have them and can get you started. I'm talking about ANY simple melodies that you've known "forever" from childhood but likely haven't attempted to PLAY without mistakes.

The above drill, along with your modal drills, can really open up the improvisational skills.

--And those songs will infuse your pallette with those musical "quotes" while soloing, as well as train your ears and muscle memory to be able to play lines that you hear in your head as soon as you hear them.

Formulas may derive the "right" notes, but by themselves will not translate to a musical sounding improvisation.

If you work with it long enough, you should at some time discover that there is no such thing as a "wrong" note when soloing. There are only musicians who do not know how to resolve a misplaced transitional note. --"Redemption is always only a half-step away."


--Mac

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