Archive for the ‘NeffMusic News’ Category

The most commonly asked question I get emailed to me is “What mouthpiece should I get?”.  The second most common question would be  ”I looked at all your jazz improvisation lessons and really want to start but I have no idea where to start or what jazz lessons to get.  What do you suggest?”

To answer this question and help someone out I have to know the answer to certain questions:

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About a month or so ago I took my wife to a “Green Day” concert in Boston. She’s a big Green Day fan and it was around our anniversary…….. While we were there, low and behold the keyboard player picks up a sax and starts wailin’ on sax. Of course my wife turns to me and asks if he is any good. And I respond…….”Yeah, he’s pretty good” A couple of days later I get this email in my inbox

“Hey Steve, My name is Jason Freese and I play keyboards and sax in the band Green Day. I grew up taking sax lessons from Eric Maritenthal when I was a kid and got out of it for a long time. I ran into you on youtube while searching for sax stuff. I bought a whole bunch of your lessons and have been loving it! Thanks! Here is my wikipedia so you can see the albums I’ve played on…. thanks again!!! Jason”

I immediately told my wife and ten year old daughter and they proceeded to say I WAS LYING! Can you believe it. I had to show them the email and then go to wikipedia to look Jason up before they would believe me. At that point my 10 year old daughter looked at me with a new found respect and admiration. I know it will only last a moment but instead my old Dad that’s teaches sax I became ” My Dad teaches sax to the sax player in Green Day!” That was cool!

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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To get most out of my NeffMusic Online Lessons I would suggest a few simple ideas.
1. Focus on one topic like Blues scales, Approach Notes, Pentatonics……..etc.
In my mind it’s always better to focus on one topic at a time and master it.  Working on bits and pieces of 10 different lessons and not mastering any can be tedious and frustrating.  Read through the online lesson descriptions, watch the sample of the videos and then pick a topic that you think would be a good place to start for you. Try to stay within that topic until you feel you have a good grasp of the concept and it is coming out in your playing. If you would like more online lessons on the topic or would like to know how to use it over a specific tune feel free to email me and I can make another video lesson for you.
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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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For the past 3-4 months I have been experimenting with doing online lessons using Skype. It has been working great so far. It is amazing that you can sit down at your computer and have an in person lesson with someone on the other side of the world. Once in awhile I have run into problems with the speed of the connection slowing down, the video freezing or a session getting dropped but so far 95% of the time it has worked great. The way it works is that you need a computer with a video camera, mic, skype software(this is free) and a high speed internet connection. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this article to all my Neffmusic members to help them get the most out their lessons at Neffmusic.
In order to really get the most out of my lessons there are some skills that you need to develop. These lessons are a bit different than going to a teacher and taking one on one lessons. In those types of lessons you get immediate feedback and there is an interaction between the teacher and student. If the teacher sees the student do something wrong he can immediately correct it and teach about it. It can be tailored to the students needs at the moment. Finally, specific direction and homework can be given based off of the students abilities and level. Read the rest of this entry »

Learn Jazz Saxophone in Brookline NH!

I’ve just finished my teaching studio in my new house in Brookline NH.  If any of you live near the Brookline NH area and are interested in lessons I am now accepting students.  Brookline is about 12 miles west of Nashua and is also right on the Massachusetts border so it is a short drive from the northern Massachesetts area.   I teach saxophone, clarinet, flute and jazz improvisation.  I teach students of all levels from beginning to advanced.  You also don’t have to have a lesson every week. I have  students who drive  for an hour or two for a lesson once a month. I also have students that come up maybe once or twice a year. I am flexible.  Coming to Brookline through Hollis is also a scenic and beautiful drive. Please email me at steve@neffmusic.com if your interested in setting up  a lesson.  Thanks,  Steve Neff

Here is a list of my favorite sites on the web. These are sites i visit at least once a week if not more:

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/
This is a saxophone forum that covers “everything” about the saxophone. I’ve been coming here for years and usually visit it several times a day. A great forum to learn from or ask questions.

http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/
Dave is a player that went to Berklee around the same time as I did. His blog is one of the best jazz and saxophone blogs out there.

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/list.html?f=1
A forum about the clarinet. There is so much info on here it’s scary.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/
This is a website dedicated to sharing torrents. Once you register and get a torrent download program and player(and or convertor to mp3 if that’s what you want) your all set to go. This site is full of all sorts of live shows and radio broadcasts that were recorded. I’m not sure of the legality of it all but it’s a great resource for jazz shows.

http://www.metacritic.com/
This is the site I go to before I rent or go to a movie. I love this site for reviews.

These are the main sites I visit all the time.If you have any more recommendations for great sites please let me know. I’m always into finding new ones. I hope you like these. Steve