Improvisation: visualizing the musical shape before playing it?

[dexter3d]

Dear bass colleagues,

I'm the amateur bass player from Lithuania, this is my first post here, I hope there was no similar thread already
I'm kinda learning how to improvise on e-bass, and I found Bob Taylor's 'The Art of Improvisation' method extremely useful, but I don't understand one thing, I hope somebody will make it clear for me
So, Bob Taylor suggests the S.H.A.P.E. method - See, Hear, and Play Expressively. I don't have problems with understanding the last two components, but I cannot get the 'see' part. I will quote what he writes on that:
'*SHAPE is “See, Hear, And Play Expressively.” This
means you see the shape of the flexible scale, then
hear how it sounds, then play what you see and hear.
You don’t usually see a long ways ahead of where
you are – just enough to set you in the right direction. *The vision part of your brain will see where to go
next, and the computer part of your brain will turn that
vision into notes.' <...> '*When you “see” a musical shape before you play it, it‘s easier to hear it correctly; you can sense (see) the right notes to attack'.
Is anybody using this technique? Does this mean imagining the notes, that is, kinda graphical view, of what you are thinking to play next? This should be damn difficult..
Thanx for comments!

[Scalestein]

He may mean see as in a graphical view, but I think it is probably different for everyone. He says vision, which I think is a better word than 'see'. When I am improvising I do visualize the notes, but it isn't like I see a music staff with notes on it or anything. It is a very abstract thing, something that words can't describe, which is why I use my guitar. The 'see' part is just the idea of what you want to play, the very first concept of your musical idea.

This book sounds pretty interesting, are you enjoying the other aspects of it?

[DocBop]

I am leery of graphical approaches to playing, people tend to not think outside the box, or get in a situation where the visual pattern doesn't fit and have to jump around to a location the pattern can be played.

First you need to develop your ear to recognize intervals, scales, and chords. Part of ear training is singing lines and idea either in your head or out loud. Then learn how scales are constructed. The key is you want to know some standard fingering pattern, but you also want to be able know enough to make your own when necessary on the fly. That isn't as hard as it sounds. Next is just practicing soloing. Record yourself singing solo. Now transcribe what you sang and play it. Hear a solo or a riff you like, learn to sing it, then transcribe it. Doing that process you will develop the relationship between ear and your fretboard. Then whatever you can hear/think of you can play.

[Pete C]

I just practiced playing and improvising straight up. One day it just clicked. The first poster described it best, it is extremely abstract.

[dexter3d]

Originally Posted by Scalestein

This book sounds pretty interesting, are you enjoying the other aspects of it?

Yeah, the book is really cool (I have it in a lot of PDF's). A lot of things there are based on virtual practice method and singing, step by step. There is also a good system of checking your progress. The guy is a trumpet player by the way, but the method can be used for any instrument.