Rory,
I have an audio lesson on my site and I talk about how I practice ii-V-I patterns and give examples playing them through. For me it's all about repetition and internalizing the pattern to make it my own. You have to get it to the point where you don't have to think about it so much. I tell my students that they have to learn it so well that they don't have to think about it. That way you can use your brain power thinking about creative directions and how you want to play something rather than what note to start a lick on......
I use a combination of thinking with numbers but also using my ear. I try to get the lick down in one key and try to play by ear in the next key. i don't really think about numbers but at the same time I'm usually pretty aware of what chord tone or tension I'm on during playing. A good exercise I do with my students is I'll play a chord on the piano and then we play this game where I yell out a number and they have to play it. We run through all the numbers. Ex. I'll tell them I'm going to play a D7 and yell out b9. They have to play an Eb as quick as they can.....This is a good test to get to know all your chord tones and tensions pretty quickly. Of course youu have to do it in all keys. I usually just do one key a week and test them to make sure they are aware of the notes. Good Luck.
I have an audio lesson on my site and I talk about how I practice ii-V-I patterns and give examples playing them through. For me it's all about repetition and internalizing the pattern to make it my own. You have to get it to the point where you don't have to think about it so much. I tell my students that they have to learn it so well that they don't have to think about it. That way you can use your brain power thinking about creative directions and how you want to play something rather than what note to start a lick on......
I use a combination of thinking with numbers but also using my ear. I try to get the lick down in one key and try to play by ear in the next key. i don't really think about numbers but at the same time I'm usually pretty aware of what chord tone or tension I'm on during playing. A good exercise I do with my students is I'll play a chord on the piano and then we play this game where I yell out a number and they have to play it. We run through all the numbers. Ex. I'll tell them I'm going to play a D7 and yell out b9. They have to play an Eb as quick as they can.....This is a good test to get to know all your chord tones and tensions pretty quickly. Of course youu have to do it in all keys. I usually just do one key a week and test them to make sure they are aware of the notes. Good Luck.