Peter T, I was just over at your thread on G sharp minor in an open tuning, and realized how far, far beyond "play the box" you are. Please accept my apologies for the lame post a couple above this. So . . . here's some slightly deeper thoughts on soloing:

1. When you solo, or improvise, you're telling a story.

Every song, every audience, is a different story.

Your job, as an improviser, is to find the story that best fits the song, the audience, the band at that moment.

2. The most basic story IS the melody - think of the original musical instrument as being the human voice. Playing the vocal part, with every note in _just_ the right place, can be an incredible "improvisation".

3. If it fits the song, a really fun thing that many r&b sax players do is play a nursery rhyme at the head of their solo, and vary that in the second phrase. Nursery rhymes are melody that is (a) familiar to the audience, so you hook them, and (b) familiar to you, so you can play it easily.

4. Two great inspirations are Miles Davis and Lester Young. They have many lessons to teach, but first among them is: Take your time. When it's time to solo, don't jump in right away. Think about the feel of the song, where you'd like to go, how you might get there, and where you're going to start. When you're ready, go get it.

5. It does help to practice patterns. Having "canned" riffs that you can build on is useful, and very basic to many solos. DANGER: speaking from personal experience, you can get to the point where, because it doesn't require thinking, you end up playing solos composed entirely of set riffs.

6. It's all about what you want to say. The most important things are to swing (so the audience digs it) and to have fun (so you enjoy it).