Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category

Mastering The Dominant Bebop Scale
The Dominant Bebop Scale is a scale that can be used over a dominant chord. It has both the major 7th and the flat 7th in the scale so in the key of G the scale would be GABCDEFF#G. The reason that the dominant bebop scale sounds so great is that when it is started on any of the dominant chord tones (G7 would have the chord tones of G,B,D or F) the downbeats of your lines will all be chord tones.

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“Approach Note Velocity” by Steve Neff

Approach Note Velocity is a book that I created for myself so that I could master all the different approach notes in every key.  I have divided the book up into sections by key and have written out the exercises so that you can practice them and read them if you need to. I added the word velocity to the title because as I practiced these approaches I found that I could play faster and faster over chord changes. Below is the intro to the book and a little more detail into it’s genesis and creation.

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This is the title of a new pdf book that I have written. Basically, it is a step by step introductory approach to learning all your major 7th, minor 7th and dominant 7th chords. I take you through the basics of playing just the roots and then add the 3rds, 5ths, 7ths, 9ths………. The goal of this pdf book was to give my students a starting point where they could start to really learn their chords. Once the chords are really memorized then the student will have the freedom to improvise in a greater way. In the same way that an extensive vocabulary will help a person to communicate better.

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While i was searching the internet I stumbled across this site. AJ Kluth has put out a transcription book of Chris Potter solos. I’ve been working on transcribing a few Potter solos so i know first hand that it is an insane task and very time consuming. I just received the book today and am excited to look through it and work on some of the solos. The most important thing for me when dealing with transcriptions isn’t learning a solo note for note per say but rather to gain an understanding of an artists conception in playing. Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago a soundman and good friend of mine ,Dave Fagan, played a CD through the sound system that immediately caught my attention. It sounded great and I asked him what it was. He said it was “Contra Dance Music” I had never heard of it before. After talking more about it he recommended these two books.
They’re called the Portland Collection. I’ve been working out of them over the last few weeks and love the style of music in them. They are filled with reels and jigs…… Great melodies! Read the rest of this entry »

“The Serious Jazz Practice Book” by Barry Finnerty. I buy many jazz books. As soon as I see a good ad for one I usually give in and am usually a bit disappointed. This book was a huge exception. I bought this from Jamey Aebersold’s site because of the great reviews by professional players. When I received it in the mail I immediately played through the entire book and I was blown away by the new and innovative patterns in this book. I’ve studied many patterns and studied with some great teachers over the years but many of these patterns I have never seen or worked on before. This book is great! I’ve been working on it for the last couple of months and will continue to for many years. Every serious jazz player and student should have this “Serious Jazz Practice Book”.