Mondola, as you prolly know, I've been taking lessons non-stop for over 4 years now.
I can't believe how much they have paid off in terms of being able to improvise on the run and conform to just about any style.
My teacher gives me the tools to do all osrts of things. In fact I'm running out of time to study all that he's giving me. But it's a rush for instance to one day understand how and why you can or should play a
harmonic minor run over certain chord prgs and so on.
I remember getting a hard on the first time I went through the harmonic minor scale and it sounded so exotic and evil!
Keep it up, bro and make sure you apply what you learn. Work on your scales up and down the neck in each box pattern while you watch TV with the wife instead of twiddling your thumbs.
Also think of working first on the things you're not familiar and comfortable with, moving on the stuff you know, as a reward and not the other way around. Look who's talking! I wish I practiced what I preach! [img]images/smilies/icon_lol.gif[/img]