Best II-V-I Patterns Lesson 1

Description

The II-V-I progression is one of the most common progressions in jazz.  A number of years ago, I wrote my popular  “The Best II-V-I Patterns”  book.  This book is a collection of the best II-V-I patterns that I have come across in my 30 years of playing and teaching. While there has been much praise and accolades for the book since it’s release, many beginner and intermediate students have not understood how to work out of the book for the most benefit.  I have received many emails asking how to use the book to become a better improviser and jazz player. I released my “Best II-V-I Overview Lesson” to address many of these questions in a short 33 minute lesson but at this time, I feel it would be good to go into more depth with the book and how I study and teach out of it.

In this series of lessons, I show you exactly how I work out of the book myself as well as teach from it.  I cover all of the steps and tips that I can think of on how to best practice and master the material in the Best II-V-I Patterns Books. I play through each of the patterns in the book and then teach in depth about how to think about the patterns as well as the best ways to practice them. These are great companion lessons to my “Best Major II-V-I”  books.  I recommend getting the books in order to get the most out of these lessons.

I play all the examples on the tenor saxophone. In lesson one of this series, I teach you the importance of learning a jazz vocabulary based off of II-V-I’s as well as tips and strategies to best learn from “The Best II-V-I Patterns”. I teach you the importance of learning to vary and change the patterns as you master them so that you can use them while improvising in a fluid and dynamic way. (33 Minute Video Lesson)