Improvisation enhances musicianship by opening up your ears and teaching you how your instrument functions, fundamentally changing how you play music.

I find that collaborating with different musicians helps me think about instruments in new ways, especially since a significant portion of my music features guitar.

Musicians with strong improvisational skills have been able to create interesting results using our primitive sequence generation tools, turning it into a collaborative game rather than just a tool.

Recording myself forces me to make decisions and improves my performance by allowing me to critique my playing.

Artistry begins with exploring how far you can push your interpretation of a piece, rather than staying within a tight sphere of traditional interpretations.

Adding elements like vibrato and rubato can infuse personality into the melody, making it more expressive and engaging for the listener.

When improvising, I often focus on the Dorian, Lydian, and Mixolydian modes, as they frequently arise in my teaching of improvisation.

Amplification is crucial for guitar performances with orchestras, as it allows the guitar to blend well with the larger ensemble without losing its character.

Singing while playing can help you feel more confident and understand where the notes are in the melody, and to strengthen your melodic playing, it's important to identify where you breathe in the music, as it helps form the line of the melody.