Impressions-Beginner Improvisation Lesson for Tenor Sax

Description

This is a great lesson for a beginner improviser (1-3 years of improvising experience) that needs help with the standard Impressions by John Coltrane.

In this lesson, I teach you some of the things that I wished someone had taught me when I was younger about playing over this modal tune.

Topics such as:

-the best way to think about the form

-playing in 2 and 4 bar phrases to make it easier to keep your place

-using the dorian modes and blues scales while improvising

-resolving your lines to the home notes

-using minor triad pairs while soloing

This is an essential lesson for any of you who find yourselves getting lost on modal tunes and are not sure how to improvise over them. I play all the examples on the tenor saxophone although the principles can be applied to any instrument. (34 minute video)