Hi Bob,
I’m in Johnny’s Killer Blues ebook right now–I have been since November. As you probably have already gathered, there’s A LOT to take in. My wife at first thought that it was a “small” book….until she looked at the contents in detail. Of course we have to Memorize/commit to memory Johnny’s exercises…but if you really wanna get the full benefit from his book then take the time to really analyze what Johnny is showing us v.s just “memorizing” a few exercises and then “fool” ourselves into thinking we know this stuff. It has to go beyond that….our goal should be take what we learn from Johnny’s book and apply them to any of the Scales that he shows, at will, and be able to Improvise with them. We gotta make this stuff “our own” so to say. Johnny’s licks/riffs are a fantastic way to get up-and-going, but once we’ve done that then we can start creating our own solo ideas, in any of the scales, and be able to use them with a band.
I hear you about Improvising being intimidating in the beginning, and it’s for the exact reasons you mention. Guys out there on youtube and what will demonstrate what the scales are, but virtually no one will break it down/show us what to do with it; we we just don’t know where to start or what to do. Attached below is a video I uploaded in the blog for Member’s Videos about a month or so ago–it was my first time to Improvise, on my own, by applying Johnny’s lessons from Killer Blues. The Improvisation is in the middle of the song and towards the end. While it’s far from perfect and Johnny gave me some valuable points that I’m working on applying right now with another Improvisation project that I’m doing, it was enough to “get my feet wet” and to see what I was doing right/wrong. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s progress.