• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Website of Steve Neff

  • BLOG
  • SHOP
  • MY ACCOUNT
  • RAVES
  • CONTACT

Search Neffmusic

You are here: Home / Jazz Lessons / Practice Habits / A Practical Practice Routine Lesson
“Improv Toolbox for Funky Grooves-Lesson 1-Minor” has been added to your cart. View cart
🔍
A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 3 customer ratings
(3 customer reviews)

$9.99

SKU: 120 Category: Practice Habits Tags: jazz improvisation, learning an instrument, practice routine, video lesson
  • Description
  • Reviews (3)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

In this lesson I take you through my practice routine of the past 20 years. This lesson has to do with one of the most asked questions i receive by email……..How do I practice? What do I practice? I talk about the 5 elements of the routine and how I focus my practice time on specific goals and areas for each practice.  The areas I focus on are Tone, Technique, Tunes, Sight Reading and Ear Training.  I talk about how I divide my time and how important it is to focus on one specific thing. i hope you will get some great tips that will help you in your practice. Enjoy!  (Video)

3 reviews for A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mark – November 23, 2010

    I recently downloaded the ‘practical practice routine’ this gives great focus to the areas that you need to develop, it identifies issues of information overload and encourages you to highlight an area of improvisational technique that requires improvement. There are five key areas including tone, tunes technique, ear and eye training, this is a lesson that could be easily missed but should form a crucial part of a players toolkit, Steve also talks about the importance of ending your practice on a mental high. I love the way these lessons all integrate with each other, every lesson containing part of the big picture, this is probably the biggest reason I like to source all my learning from Neffmusic.

  2. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mark Crowley – May 10, 2011

    For the longest time I felt overwhelmed with how much information one must consume when learning a musical instrument – let alone learning jazz theory. My practice sessions felt unorganized and I wasn’t sure what I should be concentrating on. In this lesson, Steve really puts things into perspective and gives you an organized and focused road map on how to practice the jazz saxophone effectively. He explains how to break up a practice session so that you hit all the important areas (technique, theory, repertoire, etc.). I found this lesson to be very helpful!

  3. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Vincent – April 30, 2015

    I must have these tips of Tone, Technigue, Tunes, Site Reading and Ear Training right near or on computer. There are so many times where I have no plan and practice has been bad becomes a waste of time. This lesson is essential to moving forward. Thank you.

Add a review Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Lesson Sample

Video Player
https://public.neffmusic.com/A%20Practical%20Practice%20Routine%20clip.mp4

Media error: Format(s) not supported or source(s) not found

Download File: https://public.neffmusic.com/A%20Practical%20Practice%20Routine%20clip.mp4?_=1
00:00
00:00
00:00
Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Related products

  • New Approach to Learning Tunes Lesson

    New Approach to Learning Tunes Lesson

    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Improv Toolbox for Funky Grooves-Lesson 1-Minor

    Improv Toolbox for Funky Grooves-Lesson 1-Minor

    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Mastering a Hard Pattern Lesson 2-Lick 19

    Mastering a Hard Pattern Lesson 2-Lick 19

    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Memorizing Jazz Standards-Lesson 1

    Memorizing Jazz Standards-Lesson 1

    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
    Add to cart

Primary Sidebar

Cart

Search Products

COMPLETE LESSON INDEX

PRINTED BOOKS


NEFFMUSIC PRINTED BOOKS

Testimonials

1 2 3 4 5
Hey Steve! I hope you and your family are well.  I’m just writing to say thank you so much for all the resources you have made available to the saxophone community. I have been using your material for many years and I always come back to it… in fact I just took a break from practicing to write this…( reviewing “CreatingModern II-V-I Lines with simple pentatonics”.) I am, and continue to be, one of your raving fans! Blessings to you and your family this holiday season! Wishing… Read more
Gerry Aylward
1 2 3 4 5
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
1 2 3 4 5
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
1 2 3 4 5
Thanks so much for putting all this great learning material out there. I don’t often have the time to take a lesson with a teacher, so the ability to download lessons is really invaluable. My playing has improved enormously (I think :)) – and the lessons are so varied there’s always something to be inspired by. Incredible value too!
Roger
1 2 3 4 5

Steve,  Just want to say thanks for all you are doing for all of us. I’ve learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.

If you can give some tips on One Note Samba, Ceora, and Wave… that would be cool.  I really like learning how you apply your concepts to actual songs!

Have a great year,

Kevin Ledbetter

I've learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.
1 2 3 4 5

Never really had lessons before just kinda worked things out on my own. Was in a rut but your lessons are really helpful in opening melodic possibilities. Ur an awesome resource to the saxophone community. Thanks for sharing. 

Anthony
1 2 3 4 5
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
1 2 3 4 5
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
1 2 3 4 5
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
1 2 3 4 5

Your material is great! I got your New Altissimo Lesson 6 months ago and I have learned more from that than in all my 44 years of playing! I appreciate your down to earth teaching method and I really appreciate the heart that you teach with. I have been a subscriber to your lessons for the past 6 months and I have learned a great deal. Over that period of time I have had some questions and you have never failed to respond. Thanks! I have already recommended your lessons to a number of players in… Read more

Michael Byington
Start
Stop
NextPrev

Featured Lessons

  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $19.99 Original price was: $19.99.$14.99Current price is: $14.99.
  • The Secret to Modern Outside Jazz Lines Lesson-Minor The Secret to Modern Outside Jazz Lines Lesson-Minor $9.99
  • Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson
    Rated 4.91 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you about before) Lesson The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you about before) Lesson
    Rated 4.75 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Lesson Series Deals-Save Big on Select Lessons

Product Categories

×   Practice Habits  (23)

Recent Reviews

  • Bebop Scale-Altered Scale II-V-I Practice Lesson Bebop Scale-Altered Scale II-V-I Practice Lesson by Noah
  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) by Andy
  • Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Dominant Pentatonic Sound over a Blues (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Russ
  • Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson Creating Modern II-V-I Lines with Simple Pentatonics Lesson
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Timothy

Top Rated Products

  • Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $14.99
  • The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1 The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99

Footer

Recent Comments

  • Steve on Revisiting a Lamberson J7 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Thor on Revisiting a Lamberson J7 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Perry on Will the Real Michael Brecker’s Sax Mouthpiece Please Stand Up?
  • Steve on Will the Real Michael Brecker’s Sax Mouthpiece Please Stand Up?
  • Perry on Will the Real Michael Brecker’s Sax Mouthpiece Please Stand Up?

Top rated products

  • Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book) Mastering the Major Bebop Scale & Sound (Digital PDF Book)
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $14.99
  • Tune of the Week-Softly as a Morning Sunrise Lesson Tune of the Week-Softly as a Morning Sunrise Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1 The Style of Dexter Gordon-Lady Bird Lesson 1
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson Tune of the Week-Days of Wine and Roses Lesson
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99
  • Tune of the Week-Invitation Tune of the Week-Invitation
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $9.99

Product tags

alto sax alto saxophone approach notes audio lesson bebop scale beginner beginner saxophone blues blues licks blues patterns blues scale blues scales diminished scale dominant chords ear training fundamentals II-V-I improvisation jazz improvisation jazz lines jazz patterns jazz sax jazz saxophone jazz standard jazz standards licks Mastering the Blues Scale Michael Brecker modern improv modern improvisation online lesson patterns playing outside practice habits reading music sax basics sax lessons saxophone scales smooth jazz steve neff tenor sax tenor saxophone video lesson video lessons
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • SUPPORT

Neffmusic © 2005–2025