I share all your pain, and your joy when you get those AHA moments. @stitch, I resemble that remark! When I first started simple improvisation off major scale arpeggios and the major pentatonic, everything I played sounded Catholic mass hymns and Christmas tunes.
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Hello Stuart,
Some good info here already.
Here’s something super beneficial I’ve done pretty much from the start, and still do today, very often.
Practice improvising over a one chord vamp. There are countless ones on YT, with varioius rhythms.
Here’s one I use to get you started.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUgRU1ZOJSOLo0uHZtM7fqWuCO3qQPm9O&si=4BhDQScbPMwsAa2-
I can’t stress just how beneficial this is.
Firstly, it removes all the stress of the chord changes. You want total concentration here on being creative, and becoming musically familiar with your scales, or some new bit of musical knowledge you’ve attained ; the added stress of the chord changes is going to interfere with that focus, at least at the start.
In any learning environment, guitar or otherwise, I believe that laser focus on one smaller item is the most efficient way to progress to more complex tasks.
If one can’t relax into improvising over one chord, then one can’t expect much success over a 4 chord progression. It’s too much too soon.
So, you just relax, and concentrate on playing short little melodies over that one chord. Use your currently learned knowledge about scales etc, and play around with the notes, and most importantly, the phrasing and rhythm.
And because you only have one chord, its easier to remember the 3 notes in the chord, and target them.
Put in on a loop for 10 minutes to give yourself time to ease into it.
You will be very surprised at just how musical you can be over one chord: there is infinite variety to be had. And as your knowledge and musical toolbox grows, so do your musical options.
Now Im no expert, but I’ve been at this improv for a little while now. Whenever I learn something new, like a chord voicing, or a cool little pentatonic line, lick, riff etc, I invariably start playing around with it over a one chord vamp. I believe it THE exercise to start with;
it’s been a real bedrock for me. Hopefully you’ll find the same.
Cheers, Shane
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Thanks to all that replied. A few responses below.
I have but it’s still difficult making it sound musical!
That’s the bit I don’t understand. Why do I need to know the chords (or tones) I use as a BT? Are you sating I need to know the notes I am playing when, say, using the A minor pentatonic scale?
Same here!
I certainly hope so.
That’s the problem for me. I couldn’t listen to a piece of music and tell you what notes have been played. Tabs give you a place to start.
Agreed.
I hope so.
Unfortunately I wont be in a position to partake in an Blue Immersion Course.
Thanks, I’ll give it a go . but …
As noted above I don’t see the relationship between chords and improv. I have used a YT BT and noticed that it showed the chord changes and have no idea why! It can be playing in the background and I’ll be trying ‘playing’ something but never really hear the chord changes.
See above! This just feels totally beyond me at the moment.
I’m guessing that I’m doing this all wrong (but didn’t know that I was) so looks like I’ll have to go back to basics. It’s the whole keys, chords, notes thing that I don’t get (and have posted about this on other threads) and not sure I will.
I suppose Stuart, that I’m not really sure what you mean here. Whether you "physically’ cannot hear a chord change between say A major to D major, or if you can’t translate that change musically on the guitar.
Improv, lead playing etc, all about the chords. The notes you improvise over the top of these chords with, just accentuate these chords, and provide movement between them.
I think the one chord vamp I described is perfect for you. You can even do it very slowly without a backing track.
Play a C Major chord. Then play the notes C-E-G in differing orders. That should kickstart a connection between the 2 in your ‘musical imagination’ as Justin puts it.
Cheers, Shane.
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Stuart
Following from Shane’s comment about playing over a one chord vamp to get you started. Thought I’d knock up a quick suggestion which you can build on, just a little cluster of 5 notes which in this case make up the A7 chord.
Each of these notes are chord tones and will not sound wrong. Play them one beat at a time and just get used to where they are and how they sound. Then experiment with the timing of each pick, just play about and see what you can discover. Hold some notes long than shown, play them mixed up. Play alternate notes - up 2 back 1 up 2 back one.
Once you have some fun with this, try adding notes that are outside of this pattern and see how they sound. Some will be alright some will be not so good. When you hit those sour notes move to one of the notes you now know is sweet cool and on the money.
Then try the same with the 1/8 in the last 4 bars.
So using a slow backing track in A, something like this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzbYs1pJU9o just take your time and see what comes out.
Don’t be in a rush, experiment slow and deliberately.
Hope that helps.
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I know you have frequently asked about and described your struggles with understanding the relationship between scales, chords, keys etc on a theoretical level. You do not need that understanding to sound musical but the analysis such knowledge brings can perhaps explain why you are not sounding musical. It is an after the fact analysis though.
You have also commented a number of times that you struggle to hear chord changes and more and have struggled with playing / improvising to backing tracks. Backing tracks question - grade 3 improv with C major / A minor pentatonic. Am I doing it right?
You have had some guidance on improvising over a one chord vamp: One Chord Vamps - #4 by Stuartw
All of this is in the abstract.
When you say you are not sounding musical, it is abstract for anybody who is trying to help you. And it is subjective.
Honestly, I think the best thing you can do for yourself and for garnering better support from the Community is to record an audio (it need not be video) of you doing the thing you want help with - playing the A minor pentatonic scale over a backing track. Share it and allow people to have a firm basis for offering their guidance.
Without such a useful tool, it is all just a question of linking back to Justin’s lessons or repeating advice and suggestions that have been written many times over the years in the Community.
Question - you are using the A minor pentatonc … are you using it to try to play something in the blues style? A 12-bar blues? Or are you using a backing track that is described as being in the key of A?
If the latter, that could be at the heart of the problem. Please let us know which backing track(s) - which exact ones and where to find them - you are using.
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That’s great Toby, thanks very much for putting this 
together
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@TheMadman_tobyjenner @sclay Thanks Toby and Shane for your helpful advices , especially Toby for creating the worksheet!
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@Stuartw I have just come up with this. It is two successive 12-bar blues in the key of A minor.
I have over-emphasised (for demonstration purposes) playing a lick repeatedly across the full 12-bar sequence.
This can complement the advice @sclay gives. Shane suggests one chord backing tracks to reduce the complications. This suggests one lick over a three-chord backing track, also to reduce complications.
In real life you would not repeat a lick this often or this many times. But forcing yourself to play it over and over and over again is a fantastic way to start. And the fact that you are doing it multiple times will eventually force your ears and fingers to seek small variations to the lick. Perhaps tweaking the last note, or adding in a little flurry of notes or changing it some other way.
I have deliberately excluded any need for string bending as I’m not sure how you are with that technique.
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I like the analogy of music as a language. It isn’t about hearing words, it is that notes (like a letter or small letter group) are small fundamental phonemes that can be put together into “words” or “phrases” of sound that fit into a larger structure.
To be creative as we build that larger structure, we need to be pretty intimate with the base phonemes and how they relate to each other.
By copying others music learning riffs, licks and songs, we are practicing these phonemes and how they fit. By exploring and playing around, we slowly build our own sense of these relationships and our ability to transition between them.
Remember, you did this learning your first language. Music is a little like learning a second language, but much more complex, really. Maybe like learning a very different language like Chinese where the phonemes are radically different while at the same time having to learn a complex series of tasks to produce the sounds.
So, cut yourself some slack. This will take a while for most of us. I still suck at picking out simple times on the fretboard. I don’t seem to connect with the note sounds particularly well at all. But I am also not pushing the need to improvise. I do noodle around to learn, because I think that will slowly build progress, but, to the horror of Clint (@CT) , I mostly play music already created by others and I am still happy with my journey. 
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@Stuartw
My apologies Stuart. I initially thought my question was in the same vein as yours but the replies are taking us off in two different directions. I’ll leave you to it.
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No apologies required.
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I can probably hear the chord changes if I concentrated on the BT but tend to have the BT at quite a low volume so that I can hear what I am playing.
I can play a C major chord, But ( and this may be a daft question) why on C-E-G, when the chord has 5 notes?
Thanks. I’ll give it a go!
To answer your question it’s the latter as didn’t know that the A minor pentatonic was just used for 12 bar blues! I have been using this track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq8cApzOdy8 as a BT although, as I have told Shane, it plays in the background (at low volume) and at some times I forget it’s there!
Thank you. I’ll give it a go!
To be honest this thread has left m feeling a bit depressed about this at the moment and will probably take some time off. I was quite happy in my ignorance!
Stiart those 5 notes are
C E G C E, you play C and E on the B and e strings. So those notes are doubled.
At this stage, because your connection and understanding of the links between scales, triads, chord notes and chords in a key is not secure I would urge you to play blind. Do not spend time trying to dissect what notes the chords have, what notes the scale has, and where they overlap. Just use your fingers and ears, not your intellectual mind.
Turn it up.
Let the backing track be heard - and it can inform the notes you play.
It has wider uses and can be applied in more than a 12-bar blues context. But that is the most common and accessible place to start.
Your backing track is in the key of A minor. And I have provided resources also in the key of A minor.
If you want to use the licks that Justin teaches, you will need a 12-bar backing track in the key of A major, not A minor.
If following Shane’s advice, play very, very, very simple phrases (short ones, tiny licks that repeat, or just single notes, pairs of notes and little else that repeat) from the A minor pentatonic scale over a one-chord vamp of an A7 then a D7 then an E7 chord.
A7] https://youtu.be/nzbYs1pJU9o?si=mWgUXJA48j9bzg2B
A7] https://youtu.be/l_ZKOgZnvJo?si=-KR0NsTL0Rehr40I
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I’ll try this but conscious not to have it too oud as that’s what caused my hearing loss in the first place! 
OK, but, and this may be a daft question, why not one BT that cycles through the A7, D7 and E7 chord if I’m using the same A minor pentatonic scale. I’m essentially playing the same very simple phrases (short ones, tiny licks that repeat, or just single notes, pairs of notes and little else that repeat) for each chord?
I’m guessing I should have known that!! I don’t know the names of the notes for the various chords as can’t recall Justin saying that we should know these as part of the beginners courses. Perhaps he should have. Would have saved me the embarrassment.
Its more about timing and feel than what notes you are playing
You could play 1 note well and make it sound a lot more musical than randomly plucking all the notes of a scale
I would try the 1 finger/1 string technique first over a backing track or loop and make sure you have timing down well, then expand to working on motif’s etc. These dont have to be big 2,3 4 note repetitions you can then explore from and come back too
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