Encouraging students’ creativity promotes their self-actualization (Rogers 1994) and a good relationship with music (Kurkela 1993). However, without thoroughly studying their musical roots, students could be reinventing the wheel. Moreover, the sense of belonging to a music tradition can be psychologically meaningful to a student (Björk 2016: 66). Therefore, the benefits of both the music tradition and students’ innovations are obvious. I suggest that both promote inclusion. This session discusses a frequent topic in popular music education: how could these two be balanced most fruitfully?As a philosophical premise, I suggest that the process of learning music can be analogous to the principles of academic research. In academia (see e.g., Garofalo 2023), original research does not exist without fundamental awareness of previous studies. Conversely, repeating previous research can never suffice but original research problems and results are self-evidently crucial. I apply this thought to popular music pedagogy as follows.For practical implementations, firstly, I present my (2022) pedagogical design called Student-Centered Musical Expertise (SCME). Secondly, I explore a pedagogical application of the acknowledged practice method for improvisation called Imitation-Assimilation-Innovation that is often credited to Clark Terry (see O’ Donnell 2011). Both models emphasize the close connection between music traditions and learners’ creative efforts. I have conducted design-based research that involved testing my pedagogical approach and video-documenting electric guitar lessons with my students. I employed the video-stimulated recall method to include my students in the analysis process.My research results suggest that the students progressed considerably in learning from the musical roots that were important to them. At the same time, their studies facilitated their own creative skills. Thus, the connection between music traditions and students’ innovations was successfully actualized. This was personally meaningful for the students while it also involved ambitious learning outcomes. Furthermore, I discuss how I will, in forthcoming studies, apply these results to my most recent (2025) pedagogical design that emphasizes a holistic view of popular music learning.In conclusion, I argue that, optimally, a music tradition and students’ innovations can feed off each other. A music tradition is like a language; our students must learn to speak it in order to have a conversation and say something innovative. As an implication for music education, I suggest that my pedagogical models presented here offer readily applicable tools for actualizing inclusive, innovative, and connected pedagogies in the everyday classroom.