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Four Solo Lesson

Four Solo Lesson

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

$9.99

SKU: 043 Category: Jazz Standards Tags: audio lesson, Four, jazz improvisation, jazz standards
  • Description
  • Reviews (1)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

In this lesson I go through a 2 chorus solo that I wrote over the changes to “Four” by Miles Davis.  This is a jazz standard that all serious jazz players and students know.  I talk in detail about the tools I used to create the solo.   I also take you through the process of how I create motifs and build on them throughout a solo. This lesson is a great overview of many of the topics I cover in other lessons but here you can see first hand how I put them into practice.  Composing solos and writing them down on paper is a great way to test your improvisational abilities at a slower pace.  You can take your time and see what kind of ideas and lines you can come up with over the songs chord changes.  This process is also a great way to reveal your weaknesses.  If you get stuck on a certain chord , can’t come up with something that sounds good or can’t write lines that flow and are interesting over the changes then you have revealed something that you need to work on.   If you can’t do those things when you have all the time in the world then chances are you won’t be able to in the moment while playing either.  There’s a lot to be learned from this solo.  The lesson comes with an Eb and Bb version of the solo both for alto and tenor saxophones.  Enjoy! (Audio Lesson 27 minutes)

1 review for Four Solo Lesson

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jim Baynor – February 2, 2010

    Got your solo for FOUR. It was excellent. Really musical and uses your ideas with the Approach notes.

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/Four%20Solo%20clip.mp4

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Testimonials

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
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

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
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’ve been downloading your lessons for 4 months now (20 lesson) and I have noticed tremendous growth in my playing thus far! I’m so happy that I stumbled upon your site!
Bob

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
Just a brief note to compliment you on your teaching skills and in particular for the honesty of your lessons.  I am a returning alto sax player in my 50’s and I was looking for a no nonsense, straight to the point kind of guidance. I had intended to email you with a few questions regarding the use of the bis key but then I noticed that there was a lesson on that specific topic and after viewing it,  all my questions were answered. I once took a group lesson with a well known professional sax … Read more
Patrick

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

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
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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