Steve Neff Music Blog » Book Reviews

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale

steve — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:52:42 +0000

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.

So if you start the dominant bebop scale on a G,B,D or F and play it stepwise in any direction the downbeats will always be the chord tones. When you play the dominant bebop scale like this over a dominant chord it sounds great. The reason for this is because in jazz the eighth notes are played with a long short long short long short feel. The downbeats are the longer notes. The ear has a bit more time to hear those notes because they are held slightly longer. When you are stressing the consonant notes on the downbeats it just feels and sounds right. The up beats are the more dissonant notes but when they resolve into the downbeats it sounds great. The more you practice the dominant bebop sound the more you will get use to the sounds of the notes and how they resolve.
Each chapter of “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale” is in one key. I’ve written the book so it goes around the circle of fifths and all the jazz patterns are written out for you. Although I prefer to have students learn jazz licks and patterns by ear, having them written out can be useful if you need an idea on say a F#7 chord for a solo. You can just go to that section of the book and pick one out that you like . The first part of each chapter is to help you learn the dominant bebop scales and which notes it can be started on. Jamey Aebersold has a volume in his play along series that is just focused on dominant chords. It is Volume 84 “Dominant Seventh Workout”. It would be good to practice these along with the dominant chords so that you can hear the way the notes fit with the dominant chord sound as the rhythm section plays behind you.
After the dominant bebop scales are learned , the next step is to add the dominant bebop links. I suggest just adding one at a time and inserting it into the scales that you have just learned. After each dominant bebop link I give an example of how to insert it. Many times I also provide a “Mix” which is a line that uses many of the “Bebop links” together. As you practice these it is important that you mix them together so that you build a strong and varied musical vocabulary for jazz improvisation.
A great way to practice these is to a standard 12 bar blues. Since a blues is mostly made up of dominant chords it is a great tool to use to practice these. The last section of each chapter deals with dominant resolution links to the tonic chords. You will find these useful while playing the Blues when going from the I7 to the IV7 or the V7 to th I7. Once the scale is learned in all keys a good exercise is to play them on a blues and go up a half step every chorus until you play it through in all 12 keys. This can take weeks and months to master so take your time with it and have fun.
At the end of the book, I provide an example of how to play the dominant bebop scale through the blues form while improvising. I also have written out a Blues solo to demonstrate how the bebop scale and it’s links can be used for improvising over a blues form.
The dominant bebop scale can be used over any dominant chord but it can also be used on a ii-7 chord that is connected to the V7 chord. Many times in jazz you will see these two chords connected. The dominant bebop scale can be used over the entire measure and is a great sound while improvising.
I hope you enjoy studying the materials in this book. You will find that it is filled with many musical gems that once mastered will add greatly to your jazz vocabulary while improvising. Just click here to purchase “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale” as a pdf file or printed book. You can also hear a sound clip and see sample pages. Have Fun.
Steve

Approach Note Books and Lessons

steve — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:51:23 +0000

“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.

A number of years ago, I was frustrated with my jazz improvisation over static major and minor grooves. It seemed like I always ran out of ideas and the ideas I had were stale and unoriginal. At that time, although I could play in all keys, more often than not I was held back to the same old diatonic patterns and licks I had studied as a kid. Besides this frustration, I felt like there were many keys with which I just wasn’t comfortable. As a solution, I decided to come up with a comprehensive method (Approach Note Velocity) using approach notes that I could use to systematically solve these perceived weaknesses in my playing. I started by writing out every approach I could think of in every key. For about 4-5 months, I worked on these approaches while playing along to Jamey Aebersold’s Volume 24 “Major and Minor” CD. As I worked on, and added to, my collection of approaches, I saw the positive results in my performances. Not only was I able to play faster over tunes, but I was feeling a confidence that I could start an idea on any note and find a way to resolve it and make it sound good. As I worked on them in depth, I began to notice that my confidence in every key was improving. Also, the method I was using was helping my ear to more easily hear key centers, and something cool was happening to my time concept. I was starting to play ideas in odd meters against 4. I wasn’t tied down to the 1,2,3,4 groove, but was playing across the bar lines while improvising. I really believe that working on “Approach Note Velocity” has helped my playing immensely. I hope that you get as much out of these exercises as I have and that they will improve your improvisation also..
To get the most out of these exercises, I highly recommend that you practice them the way I did. I bought Jamey Aebersold’s Volume 24 “Major and Minor”. I would practice every exercise while playing the background track in that key. Some of the approach note patterns can sound a bit dissonant on their own, but when playing them with a background track you can really hear the approach notes and their resolutions. You can also easily hear when you make a mistake.
Although many of the exercises are written in different time signatures, it makes no difference in regard to playing them over a 4/4 groove. If anything, it varies your phrasing so you’re playing 3 against 4 or 5 against 4. The tempo and rhythm isn’t all that important either. I found that these patterns were great when playing quarter notes, eighth notes or as a variety of triplets or sixteenth notes. As I practiced them, I would speed up and slow down where I wanted, and this created a certain freedom of time for me that was liberating musically. Although most of the approach note patterns are written in eighth notes; don’t feel you need to be held to that rhythm. When I practiced them I would start with quarter notes then move to quarter note triplets. Once I felt comfortable, I would go to eighth notes, then triplets,sixteenth notes…… My goal was to master the approaches, but also come up with new and fresh rhythmic ideas. I also had a lot of fun looping the approach note patterns. If a pattern is in 3 and you loop it over and over, it resolves on different parts of a 4/4 beat. Let your ear and imagination guide you as you play through these.
I would also like to add that I received the most benefit from these when I was systematic and thorough. I spent about 4-5 months working on these patterns in every key; usually about 1-3 hours a day. When I felt I had really mastered a pattern in one key, I would put a check mark next to the exercise and move on to the next key or approach note pattern.
Note that near the end of the book, I’ve included some pages for beginning improvisers who still need to learn their major triads. It’s extremely important in studying these exercises that you have a firm grasp on all your major and minor triads in all the keys.
You’ll also notice that in exercises 9-30, the exercises are only 4
measures long and usually written within one octave. I recommend playing these throughout the range of your instrument and if you can even into the altissimo range. Also, it is valuable to play them not only forwards, but also backwards. I would also play them jumping every other measure. So in exercise 10, you would play measure 1, then measure 3, then measure 2, then measure 4 and so on. You would also do the same thing backwards through the exercise. Measure 4, measure 2, measure 3, measure 1 and so on.
The real gold mine in these exercises are the combination’s I’ve written and the ones you come up with yourself. These are what will help your playing sound less like a pattern and more random or improvisational. The ultimate goal is to get to a point where you are creating combination’s on the spot and coming up with new and exciting ways to play these approaches as you improvise. The best feeling is when you are improvising and these approach note lines are flowing and being created by you in a random and unpredictable way. When you can do that you will be amazed at the lines you can create on the spot.
Lately, I have been adding detailed online lessons to my site with step by step instructions on how to master this material. Each online lesson is about half an hour and I assign you homework from the book to work on for that week or until the next lesson. I demonstrate how to work on these concepts and utilize them in real playing situation. You can see a sample video clip of each online lesson to get a feel of what it is like. Just go to the “NeffMusic Lessons” tab of the site and do a search for “Approach Notes” to see all the online lessons available. These are one of the best concepts that I have worked on over the years and I hope you can join me to become the best player you can be.
Thanks, Steve

The Ultimate II-V-I Primer

steve — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:32:48 +0000

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.

Learning these fundamentals and getting them mastered will help a musician to improvise in a more creative way. Below is a sample from the book. What I’ve tried to do is make the exercises very systematic and progressive. If you go to my Lesson on “The Ultimate II-V-I Primer”, the book is included when you purchase Part 1 of the audio lesson.
This book is also an excellent resource to use while improvising through tunes that you are memorizing. Playing these exercises will force you to really internalize each chord and it’s upper structures. Once you can play through these exercises it will make my “Best II-V-I Patterns” that much easier to master and learn. I hope you enjoy it. Steve
the-ultimate-ii-v-i-primer-sample

Chris Potter Transcription Book

steve — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:22:18 +0000

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. Especially where it differs from mine. If I can understand a tiny bit of that concept I find that I can adapt it to my playing which is really cool. Thanks AJ for the great book. Steve

Contra Dance Music

steve — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:49:13 +0000

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! The thing I love about them is that I have never played anything like them before. On their website there are audio clips so you can hear what the music sound like. It’s adding a dimension to my playing that I’m looking forward to mixing with my jazz playing. Check them out!

The Serious Jazz Practice Book Review

steve — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:24:02 +0000

“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”.