The most important approach to improvising – this applies before you start going down the improvisation route, it’s a simple technique to learn and stick with it for the rest of your life.

It’s not my idea, but it’s a tried and tested approach.

See – the musical scale in your mind (mentally visualise it)
Hear – the musical scale in your mind (mentally imagine hearing it)
Play – the musical scale on your sax

See – Hear – Play this applies to modes, chords, intervals etc

If you start working with say the G major scale.
See it in your minds eye (G A B C D E F# G)
Hear in your mind the letters you just visualised
Play the sax what you just visualised

Repeat this process, but go up and down the scale mentally visually imagine hearing it and play it.

Repeat the process for modes in the G major scale.

Repeat the process for the G major Chord (G B D F#)

What this does is training you to imagine seeing some notes in your head and at the same time imagine hearing those notes you’ve visualised and finally playing them on the sax. So later on when you play a backing track you can automatically play what you imagine in your mind.

ex see a Riff, Hear the Riff, finally play the Riff

It also helps if you can hum what you visualise.

You can practice without a sax.
hold a ruler in both hands, imagine the ruler is your sax, use the same finger positions as on the sax , play the ruler like a sax, but imagine hearing the exact note you play on the ruler.

It’s quite natural to listen to a backing track, and hum or imagine in your head along to the track, and then pick up the sax and play what you’ve heard that sounds nice in your head. This is more creative than putting on the backing track and picking up the sax straight away and then trying to find and play along some sax notes that sound good

Absolutely.

You will come across music book backing tracks and music teachers in lessons with a learner that will practice the “Call” and “Answer” technique.

The teacher or backing track plays a riff in the 1st bar, then the student answers by playing a riff in the second bar. If you ignored what the teacher just played and just played anything on the sax in the second bar – it wouldn’t make sense to you what you just played.

However if you listen to what the teacher just played you can train your mind to follow on from what the teacher played in your mind and in split seconds play back what you just imagined in your mind.

If someone stops mid sentence, you can imagine what they are going to say afterwards similarly if they speak a sentence or ask a question you can imagine what the next sentence might play out.

The call and answer process is worth using with improvisation.

The 1st time you try out a call and repeat backing track, just listen to the call being played and visually imagine in your head what you might play back in your head. Run through the backing track several times to get a clearer imagination [practice the See Hear] then play along to the track later on.

After a few days you can start with a new track and instantly hear and play in response without having to listen to the track several times.

Common sense is also applied in bands and orchestras, you very rarely hear an improvised solo played at the start, it’s usually played somewhere in the middle – ie the solo player is responding to what he’s heard played in the band, If the band opened with a solo player, then what follows has to be related to what the band plays and vice versa.
This forces you to see/hear and play.

good luck – improvisation is a long and winding road, you never stop learning

that’s a GREAT routine sx!!

mode 6 – you speak to Aliens in aeolian
mode 7 – you speak to Locals in locrian

example of songs to listen to in different modes,

Happy Birthday 1
What shall we do with the drunken sailor 2
Remember Tomorrow 3
Giant Balls of Gold 4
You really got me 5
God rest ye merry gentlemen 6
Army of me 7

i’ll spend another week on lesson 1. You can’t rush these things!