Musical Improvisation Basics - Four Strategies For Playing Wrong Notes

While it probably doesn't seem like this would help - let's face it - if you are unwilling to play a lot of wrong notes, you're never going to learn how to do anything hard. And improvising is hard! It isn't something that you can do safely, with the assurance that you will look good while trying to get good at it. You won't look good. You won't sound good -- and the sooner you realize this, the sooner you will be able to do something of real value.

Strangely, we are from a culture that reinforces the idea that we should always look good. I mean there are actually people who think you should look good when you're sick. When you get up in the middle of the night. Or when you haven't slept for 36 hours.