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You are here: Home / NeffMusic News / New Release-Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2

New Release-Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2

November 19, 2016 by Steve 3 Comments

I just finished a brand new Neffmusic book that I am very excited about.  I’ve been working on this off and on over the last seven years and more intensely over the last eight months.

In the years following my release of “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale”, I decided that a “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2” also needed to be written.  As I continued to study the solos of the bebop greats like Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley, Art Pepper, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley and many others, I noticed that there were a lot of elements and ideas being used outside of the bebop scale material in my first book.

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Click to Purchase PDF Version -Only 14.99

Click to Purchase Printed Version -Only 29.99

My goal in writing this second book is to introduce you to some of these more advanced lines and ideas in a similar approach as my first book.  These more advanced  bebop “links” as I call them, create more complex lines that weave in and out of the tonality they are being used over and make the lines much more interesting.

The added benefit of learning these additional “links” is similar to learning words when studying a language. The more words you know and understand, the better you can communicate and the more ideas and thoughts you can convey to others.  The same holds true for each of these musical “links”, the more you learn and master, the more interesting and varied your lines will be while improvising.

The book is divided up into twelve chapters, one for each key. The first half of every chapter includes 33 new bebop links that can be added one at a time to your jazz vocabulary.  These are links that I have discovered since writing book one that I think add new and interesting sounds and textures to your jazz lines.

The second half of every chapter includes what I call “Substitution Links” as well as “Non-Chord Tone Links”. These are ideas and musical words that I picked out from the great jazz soloists listed above.   They don’t fit easily into the existing bebop scale rules from book one but with a little effort and creativity, I have created some new rules for each “link” to help you add it to your existing lines.

DevastatingFrontCoverMedium

Click to Purchase PDF Version-Only 14.99

Click to Purchase Printed Version -Only 29.99

Each “link” comes with multiple two bar and four bar lines that mix the varied “links” from book one with the new content from book two.  Think of each new “link” as a new word that you are adding to your vocabulary. When you speak, you are usually not thinking of every word you are saying but rather pulling words from your existing vocabulary stored in your brain.  The goal of this series of books is to help you get to the point where you can effortlessly use any of the musical vocabulary contained within  in a multitude of ways to express yourself musically.

Although many of these lines were taken from the solos of great jazz players, these lines sound equally “great” over more modern and funky grooves.  If you are soloing over a groove in a dominant or minor key these lines will surprise and even stun your listeners because of there awesomeness!

*Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2 is 288 pages long and comes with a 39 minute video lesson on the book.  I talk about different insights I have had regarding the material in the book as well as some different approaches to practicing the material.

I hope you enjoy this book and that it does indeed take you one step closer to creating great lines like the bebop masters that came before us.       -Steve Neff

Here are a few sample pages from the book for you to check out……….

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2 Sample Pages

https://cdn.neffmusic.com/2016/Bebop2Sample2.mp3

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2 Audio Sample Clip

Filed Under: NeffMusic News Tagged With: bebop lines, bebop scale, dominant chords, Jazz Improvisation, mastering, steve neff

Steve

About Steve

Steve Neff has been playing and teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation around the New England area for over 30 years. He is the author of many best selling jazz improvisation methods as well as founding the popular jazz video lesson site Neffmusic.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatarmorgan says

    December 9, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    say I just received the book I ordered, great production value and teaching tool..
    where is the 39min video located not in book or container

    Reply
    • SteveSteve says

      December 10, 2016 at 10:48 am

      Morgan, I sent you an email. After you ordered the book you should have received a thank you email that said to email me the receipt and I would give you directions on how to get any other materials that go with the book. I think sometimes those emails get lost in people’s spam folders unfortunately. Steve

      Reply
  2. AvatarHein Reedijk says

    December 10, 2016 at 5:37 am

    Steve, you did it again! This is a great book, I’ve now been studying it for the last two weeks, and already making great progress in my playing. New doors have opened for me. Thank you very much!

    Reply

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I have been a member of Neffmusic for more than a year now and have enjoyed every minute of it! I have not only been going thru the Dominant Bebop Scale lessons and book (OUTSTANDING!) but the mouthpiece reviews, solo clips and transcriptions are very interesting. Steve approach to beginning and intermediate improv have given me many new pathways to teach my high school jazz ensemble students. Congratulations Steve, great product!
Craig

Mr. Neff,  I want to thank you for sharing your God-given talents through your on-line lessons.  My husband, Michael, is blind, but he is a great sax player and he has been enjoying your lessons for quite some time now.  It’s not unusual for me to hear “Hey, babe, listen to THIS!” – and he will cut loose on his sax, just thrilled at what he learned during his session with you.  His excitement warms my heart!  You have no idea how much you have poured into my husband.  You have opened musical … Read more

Carole B
I can’t say enough about my membership at Neff Music. Steve has taken the mystery out of playing the saxophone well and improvising both jazz and rock music. Like most struggling players I have a load of all sorts of books on my shelf just gathering dust. Books that I didn’t understand or know how to put to use…or just have the time to go threw them. Steve’s lessons really simplify things and he puts it in a way that I can understand. They inspire me to keep pushing and having him as my guide or… Read more
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Thank You Steve. I think that I will be busy for years. Thank You for your great contribution to jazz music. Your books, more than teaching “how to play jazz”, actually teach “how to speak jazz”. I wish I found your methods years ago.  

Jean-Eric
Your lessons on playing the blues is so clear . I have been through many books on blues playing and not one of them explains as clear as your lessons . Most of them say “Play the same blues scale over all three chords of a 12 bar blues ” Its very misleading .     Thanks
Martin
Your major diatonic patterns book is great. I”m studying the first twenty patterns (first twenty pages) each day with different articulation each day and slowly increasing the tempo each week or so.  There is a noticeable improvement in finger coordination across all keys and its amazing how much more secure I feel on the difficult keys when attempting to play pieces with 5+ flats/sharps. I’m able to sort out the fingerings for these pieces now much more quickly than before, often in one or two … Read more
Geoff
Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for being you, your playing, your website and your desire to help others. I’m a professional musician in the US Army and I’ve visited your website almost every day since discovering it a couple of months ago. Your lessons are profound and easy to use. I’ve purchased most of your PDF books and now am starting to delve more into the video and audio lessons.  Thank you for being a great resource!
James
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Robert

Robert

Hello Steve,

I have not received my alto yet but have already gone through 14 lessons. I love your approach, style, knowledge and competence. I now regret so much to have stayed away from playing the sax for the past 45-50 years…(I am 65).  But It is never too late to get back to your first love. After 23 years in compuer sciences and 22 years in finances…I am now back to music for the rest of my life.

Doing some research on the net, I found this:

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?1… Read more

Claude

After reading your story I will never feel quite right about complaining about any of my MINOR health issues!!    God bless Steve and I really hope that your health doesn’t stop you from fulfilling your calling.    These books have been such a help to open up my jazz vocabulary…   Thanks so much for sharing your story and for providing these great teaching tools…   John Leclerc   Saxophonist / composer/ EWI player and professional working musician of 35 years….

John Leclerc
I’m an experienced player in the pop/soul/funk areas of music and, previously, classical.  Over the decades I’ve been playing, I’ve always felt that I could do what I needed in those styles of music.  However, recently I began to feel limited by my use of the same old licks. When I discovered Steve Neff’s website, and heard the audio examples based on the exercises in his books, I realized they were what I needed.  I purchased all of them and have been working on them since.  It’s very hard work… Read more
Paul
Thank you for all the educational information you provide.  I am a classically trained musician.  Professionally, I am a 4th and 5th grade band teacher.  I have played piano and sax for many years, but now I am starting to gig out more. I have always improvised by ear in the past. I have gotten by with my strong sense of pitch, rhythm and melodic contour. However, I want to go deeper. I want to play with a greater variety of melodic and rhythmic ideas to pull from.  I have studied to gain a … Read more
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Milton
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Steve, just a note to say thanks.

I’ve been playing a long time, but your material, laid out in such a thoughtful way, helps me to understand concepts in a new and deeper way.

You are a true gift to the jazz community.

60 lessons and going strong,

Kevin Ledbetter

Kevin Ledbetter
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 Marienthal 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. It’s sparked my interest in practicing again.   Jason
Jason Freese (sax player for Green Day)

Hi Steve,

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Kim
I want to say something about Steve Neff’s series of lessons, Beginner Jazz Improvisation. For a couple of years I tried many beginner lessons and my problem was that there was a gap between lessons that were fairly simple and ones that I was not quite ready for and my progress stalled out. That problem was solved with the series Beginner Jazz Improvisation. He guides you step by step along the way and builds a foundation for learning jazz and blues. He leaves no question about what to practice … Read more
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First, I’m really excited about your materials! This site is a vast resource for any aspiring (and maybe already inspired) jazz musicians. I’m not a sax player, I play mandolin and fiddle, but have been learning jazz and playing weekly with a quintet for the past 6 months and have been struggling with all of the issues you get into in your lessons. I bought several books and lessons and plan to continue with some others as soon as I organize my practice routine. Thanks again for a great site … Read more
Tony Galfano

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I have been teaching sax and other winds for over 20 years, and you give me that “push” to give my students more!

Mark Peotter

Mark Peotter
I’ve been a member of Steve’s site for about six months now and the difference it has made to my playing is immeasurable. The (many) benefits of this membership are that you can have lessons at time convenient to you, they work out A LOT cheaper than face-to-face lessons with a teacher of the same calibre and you can replay them ad infinitum. I don’t know how many times have I had lessons in the past where I’ve ended up covering the same concepts when really a ‘replay’ of the last lesson would h… Read more
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