That very progress IMHO is the best way to train your ear and to get into inprovising. Thats how i learned it - i never ever concerned myself with learning a bunch of scales and the theory that tells me which scale to use ver which chord progression. I know its pretty hard in the beginning and you just can't seem to find the right notes. But with time you will be able to just hear a song/chordprogression and instantly start soloing over it without wasting a thought on anything else. It is a very rewarding experience.

I´m not saying "don't waste your time on theory at all" - don't get me wrong. Some basic knowledge of about how chords are built and some basic scales DOES help. But i´m not a fan of the big theoretical way.

Let me end this post with a quote form a long lost Bruce Lee interview that summs it up very good i think. It was something along these lines:

"On the one hand there is instinct. On the other there is control. If you got one to the extreme you'll be very unscientific. If you got the other to the extreme you´ll become all of sudden a mechanical man. You have to combine the two in harmony. Be water, my friend."

:)