“Just play the blues scale!”  All across the country, you hear this advice given in every band room. Students sit with blank looks on their faces as band directors tell them to use this or that blues scale on their solo. The advice usually doesn’t go much further than that and many kids end up playing solos that they are less than happy about. What many of these students need is a jump start. A few examples of what to play and how to play it………..Here you go!

In Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2, I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use over dominant grooves on the blues, funk or rock and roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers.

These blues licks combine many of the idiomatic sequences, intervals and finger patterns, you really need to have down, if you want to get burning on the blues scale. If you are stuck playing your blues scales straight up and down, practicing these licks will soon have you playing with the technique and flexibility required to be able to play what you hear.

Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2 Dominant Chords has 127 great blues licks in all 12 keys.  It is a PDF file that you can download immediately so you can get to work.  I have also included two sample mp3′s of the G7 lines in the book.  One for alto sax and one for the tenor sax.  The alto track is 29 minutes long and the tenor is 24 minutes long.  I have had many requests for audio samples that students can listen to as they work on the book.  I think these will be a real benefit for those who want to hear how I play the licks and play along with me.

Here is a mixed sample of the alto and tenor mp3.

Thanks,

Steve Neff

This book is a pdf file and can be opened and printed immediately after you download it. The exercises are written in all 12 keys and are great concepts for any musician involved in jazz improvisation.  2 mp3′s are provided for alto and tenor saxophone of all 127 licks in the key of G7.

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This is a great tune that has a cool blues feel to it.  I show you how to navigate the changes by using a simple blues scale approach and then adding what I call “target notes” to the mix. This is a great and simple way to add some variety and spice to your solos while still keeping your lines simple and melodic.  The goal here is to progress slowly and naturally by adding one note at a time to your solo. If you apply the principles in this lesson you will be able to give new life to your blues scale usage on this tune and be able to hear more of the “notes” within the changes.  I play the alto saxophone to demonstrate the different approaches to this tune. (26 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆ 

In this series, I am focusing on improvising over a 12 bar blues form.  I start at the very beginning and teach you how to learn the chords in a blues progression.  From there we move on to improvising using one simple blues scale for the whole blues.  Once that is mastered, then we put the two concepts together so that you can create 2 bar phrases that sound good and also follow the chord changes.  I also show you how to take a melody from my “Mastering the Blues Scale” book and use it through out the blues.  This is a great lesson for those of you who want or need some new and fresh ideas to use on a blues. (30 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆ 

In this series, I am focusing on improvising over a 12 bar blues form.  I start at the very beginning and teach you how to learn the chords in a blues progression.  From there we move on to improvising using one simple blues scale for the whole blues.  Once that is mastered, then we put the two concepts together so that you can create 2 bar phrases that sound good and also follow the chord changes.  I also show you how to take a melody from my “Mastering the Blues Scale” book and use it through out the blues.  This is a great lesson for those of you who want or need some new and fresh ideas to use on a blues. (30 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆ 

“Just play the blues scale!”  All across the country, you hear this advice given in every band room. Students sit with blank looks on their faces as band directors tell them to use this or that blues scale on their solo. The advice usually doesn’t go much further than that and many kids end up playing solos that they are less than happy about. What many of these students need is a jump start. A few examples of what to play and how to play it………..Here you go!

In Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 1, I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use in your own playing over minor grooves. From slow Blues, to fast Funk, to Rock and Roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary

together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers.

These blues licks combine many of the idiomatic sequences, intervals and finger patterns, you really need to have down, if you want to get burning on the blues scale. If you are stuck playing your blues scales straight up and down, practicing these licks will soon have you playing with the technique and flexibility required to be able to play what you hear.

Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 1 Minor has 100 great blues licks in all 12 keys.  It is a PDF file that you can download immediately so you can get to work.

Thanks,

Steve Neff

This book is a pdf file and can be opened and printed immediately after you download it.  The exercises are written in all 12 keys and are great concepts for any musician involved in jazz improvisation.

Sight reading well involves a different part of the brain than improvising and creating.  It is more like mathematics and problem solving.  You have to look at a mysterious order of black notes and instantly convert it to beautiful music.  Many times, never having heard it!!

In each lesson of this series, I take you through the fundamental aspects of sight reading as well as talk to you about the importance of feeling the pulse or beat.  I start simple and work slowly through the different elements of sight reading.  I use the book “Universal Method” by Paul De Ville as a sight reading tool.  It is public domain now so I can include in this lesson for free so that you can study out of the book as I explain and work through it.  I play all the examples on the alto saxophone.  Enjoy!!  (31 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★★☆☆ 

To be honest, every time I studied this method when I was younger, I hated it.  It wasn’t until years later, as I look back, that I realize the great benefit that these studies had for me.  In this video series,  I will try to teach you this concept in a way that is appealing and understandable.

In this first lesson on 4 note grouping, I focus on taking a simple 4 notes from a chord and showing you all 96 permutations of these 4 notes.  I talk about how I went about choosing which of these I worked on by playing them and judging them on there melodic strength (this is subjective).  I show you how to work through the patterns and how to pick out the best ones for you.  I also stress the importance of thinking of these as melodic fragments rather than number patterns (which was my mistake when I was younger)

This is the first lesson in a series of lessons on this topic.  As we move through the series you will discover how to use these 4 note groupings as melodic material to use in your improvised solos.  This is a great lesson to learn about all the possibilities that a simple four notes can give you. (34 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★★☆☆ 

To be honest, every time I studied this method when I was younger, I hated it.  It was not until years later, as I look back, that I realize the great benefit that these studies had for me.  In this video series,  I will try to teach you this concept in a way that is appealing and understandable.

In this second lesson on 4 note grouping, I focus on taking simple 4 note groupings from lesson 1 and teach you how to work on them. I show you how to learn them in all 12 keys as well as how to start applying them to the tunes you know.  I demonstrate on a couple blues progressions and Giant Steps.

This is the second lesson in a series of lessons on this topic.  As we move through the series you will discover how to use these 4 note groupings as melodic material to use in your improvised solos.  This is a great lesson to learn about all the possibilities that a simple four notes can give you. (32 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★★☆☆ 

I will take you from the very beginning and teach you how to improvise just as if you were a new student coming in to my studio in person.   In this lesson I teach you the C major scale, the D dorian scale, the G mixolydian scale and the chords that these work over.  I show you how to learn them and the chords as well as how to practice them with some Aebersold play alongs. I also show you the A blues scale and talk about how to use it against C major and A minor.  Rather than just stopping there, I go a step further by teaching you how to hear the resolution points within each scale and chord and what to listen for when improvising.   Once you can hear these tensions and resolutions it will help and empower you to create your own unique and personal lines and solos.  My goal with these series of lessons is too teach you all the basic chords and scales in every key and get you improvising in a fluent way over some common jazz standards. (Audio,Video & PDF) (32 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆