My sister is the same as yours, a very good violinist that can read music and play very well...The problem is, she doesn't play-- at all... Why? Its boring to her, its not fun..
I'd recommend that she find other classical musicians to play with, perhaps a string quartet. There are lots and lots of non-improvising musicians who love to play. I play in two big bands. Most of the horn players in both of the bands don't improvise. At least half a dozen of those non-improvisors are career music educators, mostly band directors. And they enjoy playing in the bands (and read and play excellent, BTW). My sister - who is in her late 60s - still takes piano lessons, performs concerts/recitals, and attends week-long piano clinics. IMO she's a little too intense in trying to execute flawlessly and would sound better (and enjoy playing more) if she lightened up just a little.
I've asked her to jam and its a no go. She can't unless the music is written...
Understood. My sister and I have never jammed. She would be completely out of her element playing jazz standards, blues, rock 'n' roll, funk, or pop. And, although I do practice some classical pieces, I'd be entirely out of my league trying to play a piece with her.
I really feel music should be fun, something you enjoy. If you enjoy playing, it can push you to learn and put in some work...
Agreed.
My first lesson was with a great guitar teacher... He taught me Pentatonics. He played a chord progression and told me to move around the pentatonic scale slowly, coming back to root. I caught on fast and had a lot of fun---This one lesson, taken so many years ago, did more for me than you can ever imagine...
Oddly enough, I taught myself minor pentatonic while learning the guitar solo in "Louie, Louie" by ear.
I then realized that the guitar solos in lots of other tunes used the same scale structure, and I started fooling around with improvisation using the scale. I had no idea that it had a name. I learned what is now called "CAGED" in similar fashion: I watched a guitar-playing HS classmate play a "G" shape in a song and realized that all the "cowboy" chord shapes could be made movable by barring with the first finger. This was 1968; I first saw the CAGED acronym around ca. 2000. BTW, here's that same guitar player today:
In any case, I feel strongly that jamming--(Improvisation)--- is a great place to start in music..
I'm in full agreement. Unfortunately, it wasn't a part of my early music education. When I changed a couple notes in "Cockels and Muissels" to match a recording we had (Burl Ives), my violin teacher said, "never do that," which played a pretty big role in my ultimate loss of interest in continuing music lessons. My guitar path was the opposite of that - I didn't learn to read music on guitar for more than a decade after I began - and there were no teachers I knew of in my small town who could teach improvisational concepts.
My only complaint is that I am NOT a fan of Robben Ford...
FWIW, neither am I. That clip was the first example I found on YT of a big band playing straight blues. Of the 400+ charts in the book of one of the big bands I play in, a substantial portion are 12-bar blues. One of the charts the other band played at a recent concert is "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," a 12-bar blues.
Long story, he is an amazing guitarist (kind of) but I won't drift too far on this... I took online lessons from him----they were the worst.
While I respect what Robben Ford does as a player, I personally wouldn't look to a player like him for lessons. I've never tried online lessons anyway. I could see some significant limitations in that format, and there is an abundance of world-class guitarists who are also excellent teachers here in the DFW area.
