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You are here: Home / Jazz Lessons / Blues Scales / 12 Great A7 Dominant Blues Licks Lesson
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12 Great A7 Dominant Blues Licks Lesson

12 Great A7 Dominant Blues Licks Lesson

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 2 customer ratings
(2 customer reviews)

$9.99

SKU: 048 Category: Blues Scales Tags: blues licks, blues scale, jazz improvisation, patterns
  • Description
  • Reviews (2)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

The dominant chord is one of the most important and frequently encountered chords in all styles of music.  From Jazz to Rock, from Funk to Pop, learning to play over the Dominant Seventh chord is an essential requirement for any player.

In this lesson,  I show you 12 great blues licks using the Blues Scales you’re already familiar with, to create great sounding lines over a Dominant Seventh chord.  Listen and then play along with the blues licks on the PDF sheet included with the lesson.  I demonstrate each blues lick a number of times on the tenor saxophone, so that you can hear the phrasing, inflections and style of each lick.  I also demonstrate and discuss adding different notes to the basic Blues Scale to create more modern hip sounding lines.  I demonstrate how to handle the different notes of the Blues Scale over a Dominant sound.  I talk about the inherent tension of the Dominant Chord and how you can learn to create and resolve tension in your solo.  I demonstrate this concept on my tenor sax, so that you can actually hear how each note wants to resolve. I also explain what is happening in each blues lick and why different notes of the scale want to resolve in different ways.  Once you hear and understand this idea, rather than just memorizing these blues licks, you’ll learn how to create your own great sounding blues licks based upon this concept.
I also discuss my approach to practicing and internalizing these blues licks and give you ideas for making your practice enjoyable as well as productive by using play-along tracks and blues, pop and funk tunes you might have in your collection.

This lesson makes a great follow up to my earlier Blues Lessons and will really get you using the Blues Scale in a whole new way.  (30 Minute Audio Lesson)

2 reviews for 12 Great A7 Dominant Blues Licks Lesson

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    C.N. – July 4, 2009

    Wow!!!!!!!!!! Do you need some ideas to add to your blues repertoire? If you do, start right here! You won’t need anything else for quite a while. I really enjoy this lesson! (actually, I enjoy all of them) But, this one, Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Steve! C.N.

  2. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Greg – September 26, 2018

    Hi Steve
    Today I’ve been playing through a lesson that you created on A7 blues licks and it provided the missing link for me between major and minor blues. How you’ve emphasized the 4th and flat 7th brings an authentic dominant blues sound alive. I just wanted to say thank you for a terrific lesson and I’m glad you are still teaching and sharing what works so clearly.

    I’m going to buy your dominant blues book and pick up a few more brilliant ideas.

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/12%20Blues%20Licks%20clip.mp4

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Testimonials

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
I would like to say that in the last year my sax playing has progressed loads from your lessons. I have had a sax for about 20 years and dabbled with lessons from a few teachers and have learnt very little from them. As you have said in your lessons many teachers tell you to use the blues scale and leave it there, not even showing you the resolution points!!. I am now believing I can in time become a good improviser.
Thanks again,
Shane
Shane
I can see from your instructional videos that you are a fantastic teacher – one that can truly relate to all ages – humble yet very positive in approach – never coming across as superior and yet so totally capable of demonstrating the principles and techniques that you seek to impart to the students. I have gained so much confidence in my playing from “pouring over” time and again these invaluable lessons. Invaluable not only in musical content, but also in human interaction content. I am absolu… Read more
Ron
Steve- I joined your site this month and have downloaded 4 lessons and also purchased your new book and video on diatonic patterns. I just want to say I am very pleased with your approach and teaching techniques. I am getting back into playing after laying off for some time. The information you offer on your site is of great value and I am enjoying being a member. Thank you for what you are doing for the saxophone community.
Tony
Thank you so much for the great job you are doing to help further our jazz studies. Though I make my living as a repairer of musical instruments I am a student of jazz and have been fortunate enough to be involved with a big band and a combo for the last several years. As my children began to leave “the nest” I had decided to dedicate the next half of my life to a more serious study of the sax but I didn’t know exactly how I would go about doing this until a friend of mine turned me onto your si… Read more
Jon
I just wanted to write a thank you note to you for this website. I play and teach saxophone, but I have always been intimidated by the gear aspect. Your website has helped me become a lot more knowledgable. Your knowledge is staggering! I’m telling all my students about your website. Pierre
Pierre
I want to let you know that your instructional material is transforming my playing.  It is an immense pleasure to learn and play now, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am. The instructional material I got from you is by far the best of any I own (and I have over 100 books, DVDs, and what not). I literally can’t thank you enough! Deric
Deric
Hi Steve, I live in a gorgeous but rural area of Oregon-no music store within 80 miles. Your lessons are my lifeline!  Truly the best there are anywhere online. Love your playing. Love your teaching.  Thanks again. Ed
Ed Woodmansee
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
It is so refreshing to have a great player, who can provide lessons and examples in a manner which is understandable to most any enthusiastic saxophonist who is ready to improve. not just the, do this, do that, memorize this, memorize that… while all that is absolutely necessary, you go on to give reasons and examples to explain and validate why you have to do all of these things, the benefits, if you will… that is the key for me, you tell, explain, demonstrate, explain some more, you give perso… Read more
Cedric

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