Go through and outline chord tones - first just the root, then the root and third, then the triad - all the way up to the full chord, just with a metronome. This will help the form sink in, plus train your ears to know the harmony better - if you do it enough it almost seems subconscious. Finding safe, shared chord tones can be good too. It's a longer process than just whipping out some scales but I think it'll help you better in the long run. You'll also memorise it if you do it right. Scales are great but use them as colour ideas rather than the go to things. Can't go wrong with chord tones Plus once you understand the chords you'll better understand what Cannonball and Coltrane are doing. Give that a try for a week or so, and I'm sure your improvising will open up way more

 

Thanks, I'm going to try what you suggested

 

How have you been going with it so far?

 

Listen to the song. Create counter melodies in your head as it goes along. Then play them.

 

This might be a case where you could try cheating: over the altered chord, just play the exact same thing you did on the preceding chord, only up a half-step...


And to get away from the blues scale a bit: MIXOLYDIAN!!!

 

Do you have any suggestions for improvising this song, NOT only using the blues scale only? This 1 bar with the alteration is very challenging. Of course you can listen to Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane on Kind of Blue, but what they're doing is insane.

It's a 12 bar blues in 6/8 time. So play through the changes: I7 and IV7 in the usual place, V7alt in bar 9, bVI7alt to V7alt in bar 10. You can actually play a 'normal' dominant line on the V7 and bVI7 chords as well. I suspect what you're having trouble with is that bVI7 chord. It only lasts for the first half of bar 10, then returns down a half step to the V7 chord in the second half of the bar.

That all sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Again, think 12 bar blues with a bVI7 (#V7--a 1/2 step up from the V7 as saxmanjack pointed out in his post above) in the first half of bar 10 and you've got it. You can use the blues scale also, but think of it more as 'spice' and use the changes as the 'main ingredient.'