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

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