• 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 / Modern Improv / Diminished Blues Workout-Lesson 1
“Altered Dominant Bebop Scale-Lesson 1” has been added to your cart. View cart
Diminished Blues Workout-Lesson 1

Diminished Blues Workout-Lesson 1

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 1 customer rating
(3 customer reviews)

$9.99

Categories: Modern Improv, The Blues Tags: blues, diminished scale, modern improvisation, video lessons
  • Description
  • Reviews (3)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

Diminished Blues Workout Lesson 1 is a series of lessons to thoroughly teach you how to use the diminished scale effectively over dominant chords and diminished 7th chords. Instead of just talking about how to use the diminished scale we are actually applying it to a standard 12 bar blues and using this form to master it’s use and application. This is a great lesson series if you know your diminished scales but have always been shaky on where and when to use them.

In lesson 1, I demonstrate where in a D blues to use these scales and then show you how to construct them and think of them while you are improvising. The goal of this lesson series is for you to integrate these cool sounding scales and patterns into your existing improvisational vocabulary in a way that sounds authentic and convincing. Walk through this series with me and you will never be hesitant about where and how you can use the diminished scale again! (36 Minute Video Lesson, Diminished Blues Workout Lesson 1 PDF in C.Bb and Eb)

3 reviews for Diminished Blues Workout-Lesson 1

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Ron – November 12, 2015

    Hello Mr. Neff,
    just purchased your Diminished blues‏ workout lesson, LOVE IT!!
    Thanks
    and keep up the great work!!!!

  2. Avatar

    Dietmar (verified owner) – May 20, 2016

    Hi Steve, i purchased this lesson recently and i like the practical hints you give here.
    I am a Hobby saxophone Player. I try to incorporate Vb9 and dim chords into my blues
    playing. Unfortunately i suffer mostly when i try to use These scales together with Blues playalongs because it is so difficult for me to time These scales correctly into the corresponding beat. To say it simple i loose control during improvisation and often miss the beat where to apply the dim scale or Vb9 scale. this is much more a Problem for me compared to noodling pentatonic or blues scales all over 12 beats. 🙂

    • Steve

      Steve (verified owner) – May 27, 2016

      Hi Dietmar,
      It sounds like you need to do more practicing with lines of a certain length. For example practice just playing one measure of eight note diminished line resolving to beat one of the next measure. Do that over and over again until you don’t have to count but are feeling it. Then try a 2 measure lines resolving to beat 1 of measure 3. Once you have the 2 measure feel down it’s a lot easier to think of a blues as 6 sets of 2 bar lines or 3 sets of 4 bar lines. The key is getting to the point that you feel it. If you have to count then you are not there yet. Steve

  3. Avatar

    Dietmar floegel (verified owner) – May 27, 2016

    Thank you very much. Yes, often things are so simple and thinking complicated makes it too difficult to proceed 🙂

Add a review Cancel reply

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

Lesson Sample

Related products

  • Altered Dominant Substitutions-Lesson 2

    Altered Dominant Substitutions-Lesson 2

    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Playing Outside-A Study in 4ths-Lesson 1

    Playing Outside-A Study in 4ths-Lesson 1

    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Diminished Scale 7th Chords Lesson

    Diminished Scale 7th Chords Lesson

    $9.99
    Add to cart
  • Sale! Altered Scale Seven Lesson Package Deal

    Altered Scale Seven Lesson Package Deal

    $69.93 Original price was: $69.93.$14.99Current price is: $14.99.
    Add to cart

Primary Sidebar

Cart

Search Products

COMPLETE LESSON INDEX

PRINTED BOOKS


NEFFMUSIC PRINTED BOOKS

Testimonials

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
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

I must say again how much I appreciate all your material. Including the video tutorials. It help keep me focused and knowing what to aim for. And your laid back teaching style appeals to me too. 

Thanks

P

P
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
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
Ray
Steve’s monthly lessons are entirely valuable. Without brow beating, he tells you all the stuff you deep down know you really should be working on, instead of just relying on the same old patterns. In spite of the fact that you’re taking a video lesson, Steve’s presentation is comfortable and “real”. In a little more than a year, he’s developed a library of lessons that seem to offer any player a lifetime’s worth of practice material. I’m just glad I stumbled upon it.… Read more
Grant
Thank you for the wealth of helpful lessons you’ve provided over the years.  I truly feel as though it has improved my playing more than the 4 years I spent at Berklee… and that’s not a slight on the school as I loved my experience there.
John
John
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)
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
For anyone living in remote areas away from live jazz sax teachers, Neff is the way to go. In fact this is a great resource for anyone seriously interested in mastering the sax. I’ve never been disappointed in a lesson.
Oliver

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

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

  • John Bianculli on Les Becs d’Autan MB1 Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Thomas Lehmann on 100 Must Know Jazz Tunes Consensus List
  • Paul Millard on Les Becs d’Autan MB1 Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Giuseppe C. on Les Becs d’Autan MB1 Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
  • Ali Emmanuel on Les Becs d’Autan MB1 Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

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