> Any tips from musician hacker types here on how to get past this kind of 'improvisor's block' ?
I've been a pro musician before being a programmer and here's my advice: look someone else's playing, that's it. Of course you can do it the hard way and painfully learn to play chorus from recordings, but it's really tough. However, you can learn a lot simply by observing someone playing on your instrument.
The latest trick I learnt this way is incredibly simple, really the kind of slap-my-forefront discovery: to play be bop tunes (Ornithology, Billie's bounce, Night in Tunisia) on solo piano, a good way to play both the bass and chords is to ditch the classic be-bop triads described in this article (7th-3rd-11th, 3rd-7th-9th and the likes) and simply play 1st-7th-10th (yes, a good ol' 7th chord) with the left hand, which provides both enough bass and enough harmony, while keeping the right hand free :)
I've been a pro musician before being a programmer and here's my advice: look someone else's playing, that's it. Of course you can do it the hard way and painfully learn to play chorus from recordings, but it's really tough. However, you can learn a lot simply by observing someone playing on your instrument.
The latest trick I learnt this way is incredibly simple, really the kind of slap-my-forefront discovery: to play be bop tunes (Ornithology, Billie's bounce, Night in Tunisia) on solo piano, a good way to play both the bass and chords is to ditch the classic be-bop triads described in this article (7th-3rd-11th, 3rd-7th-9th and the likes) and simply play 1st-7th-10th (yes, a good ol' 7th chord) with the left hand, which provides both enough bass and enough harmony, while keeping the right hand free :)