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Intro #1

Intro#2

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

1. How long have you been playing for?  How long have you been playing jazz and improvising?
2. What do you know?  Do you know all your major scales?  Do you know your blues scales?  Do you know all your major triads?  Minor triads?  Seventh Chords?  Pentatonics?  Bebop Scales?  Approaches?  Do you know some II-V-I patterns?  Diminished Scales?  Whole Tone Scales?  Altered Scales?  Chord Substitutions?  Have you transcribed a solo? Etc……….Print every  lesson category I have. You can find them here, and do this exercise for all the subjects.  Go through the list and rate your self from 0-10 for each item. (many of the lessons are listed in more than one category so be aware of that as you work through the list. I tried to put all the lessons either in Beginner,Intermediate or Advanced) 0 means you don’t know it at all. 10 means you have it mastered……(*Important! I’m not just asking if you know something intellectually  but if you know it so well that you can apply these things in a  live playing situation. For example: I’ve had many people tell me they know their major scales but then when it comes to improvising on a Db major chord they are hitting all sorts of wrong notes. It’s not enough to be able to write it out on paper. You have to be able to execute it and play it.)
3. Have you taken lessons before? What did you study?
4. Can you improvise on a jazz tune without getting lost?  Which songs are you comfortable on and which do you have trouble with?  (For example you might be able to get through Watermelon Man but get totally lost while improvising on All the Things You Are or Giant Steps”
5. What are your main goals in taking lessons?  How do you hope to change? How would you like your jazz improvisation to be different in 3 months? A year? 5 years?

Now these are the types of questions I usually ask someone who emails me  ”Where should I start?” To answer that question for yourself, you need to think about the questions above in an honest and truthful way.  Being in denial about where you’re at will not help.  If you don’t know all your major scales or  can’t improvise through a blues without getting lost then you have to be honest about that.

Now, what do you do with that information……….Well you start with the most basic level of lesson and move forward from there.  This will help you to see where you would jump in.  Look at the list you printed out above. Start in the Beginners section and work your way through. If you rated yourself a 7 or less on something then this is something you need to still work on. To me 8-10 is the level of competence that you want to have in any jazz improvisation area. 7 or less and it will most likely be a weakness and stumbling block in your progress later on.  Each of these subjects are building blocks to the foundation that you are laying to become a great jazz improviser.  If you have a 3 for major scales in all keys then this will cause major problems later on in your jazz development.

As you work through the list from Beginners to Advanced Pick 4 lessons that you rated lower. Go to the Neffmusic Store. Find the lesson and read the description and watch the sample video.  At this point you have to make a decision whether this is the right video or audio lesson for you.  It has to be something you need work on but to be honest, it also has to be something you are interested and excited about working on. (Although, sometimes you won’t be excited but you need to do what you know is right and work on the topic!)

If you are a saxophone player I would recommend 1 improvisation lesson, 1 lesson on a saxophone related subject, one lesson on a jazz tune (that you don’t have memorized and is appropriate for your level) and one lesson on ear training (If you play another instrument then you can skip the saxophone related lessons obviously).  If you don’t want to download them all at once then you also have the option to download one video lesson, work on it and then when you are ready download the next video lesson.  (One person might only need a week to master one triad pairs lesson, another person might need a month……….)

I hope this blog post will help you find the right place to start with my improvisation and saxophone video lessons.  For those of you who have been members and are reading this please feel free to add any comments and tips that you have realized that might be able to help others out there.  If I think of anymore ideas I will be sure to update this post.  If you want more information on becoming a member click here.  Enjoy the journey!       Thanks,    Steve

“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.

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 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

3. Don’t be afraid to communicate with me so I can provide more detailed online lessons for you……Some of my video and audio lessons can be overwhelming because of the amount of info I am giving you. You have to remember that I’m making these online lessons for a wide audience.  One person who gets the Dominant Bebop Lessons could be a player who has played for 30 years and can crank through the material.  Another person might only be playing for a couple of years and have a harder time.  If you are in the latter group and need more specifics and direction email me or write in the forum and I can provide more detailed step by step lessons to meet your specific needs.  If you are working on something but are having trouble applying it to a jazz standard just email me or post in the forum and I can do a online lesson on that so you can learn how to apply it.  I can’t respond to every individual email but I can provide more lessons that everyone can use. I am more than happy to provide lesson for your specific needs.

4. Don’t be afraid to post in the Neffmusic forum. This is an area that I made so that we could all communicate to each other.  You might be able to get some different perspectives from other members that are in the same place you are in or that have already worked on the lesson that you now have.  I also like thinking of this as a hub of ideas where I can go to see what you are all thinking and how you are doing.  The more we use this area the better the results for everyone.  In a one on one teaching scenario there is communication back and forth.  The student and teacher both shift and change their approaches and styles to help each other along. Even though this is the internet and the lessons are online we can still have some communication through the use of the forum so that I can meet your needs in a better way.

I hope these four steps help you with my lessons and I wish you lots of success. Thanks, Steve

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