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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