Before starting lessons, I had very little, if any, foundation in improvisation. I discovered Alessandro through a live stream, and right then I said, “Holy sh**, I want to play like that!” hearing his version of Falling Up by Allen Hinds.
So I started studying everything related to improvisation on my instrument, which can sometimes be peculiar compared to other instruments where players tend to have a clearer awareness of what they are playing.
Because of this, Alessandro always had me work on awareness through foundational, transversal material that many guitarists overlook because they consider it “basic”: triads, seventh chords, arpeggios, diatonic and non-diatonic cycles, Drop 2, etc.
A true teacher isn’t someone who teaches you a scale to memorize, but someone who gives you the tools to work on your own; a teacher isn’t an ATM. It often happens that you take lessons from someone and remain at the exact same level, simply because you didn’t work the right way.
Technique-wise, I feel noticeably stronger than average (not to brag), but I practiced technique intensely during high school, and now I feel confident tackling any passage I want with ease.
It is crucial to know how to draw tone, timbre, dynamics, and phrasing out of the notes, another hugely underestimated area that I worked on extensively, and another massive advantage.
