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You are here: Home / Jazz Lessons / Modern Improv / Playing Outside-Shifting Pentatonics Lesson
Playing Outside-Shifting Pentatonics Lesson

Playing Outside-Shifting Pentatonics Lesson

Rated 4.50 out of 5 based on 2 customer ratings
(2 customer reviews)

$9.99

SKU: 098 Category: Modern Improv Tags: jazz improv, pentatonics, playing outside the changes, video lesson
  • Description
  • Reviews (2)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

In this lesson I introduce a method I use with students to shift in and out of a tonality by shifting to a different pentatonic in the 4th measure of a phrase. I talk about 2 pentatonics I use often to take a line “outside” a minor tonality as well as two pentatonics I use for “inside” playing to give you more options. I talk in depth about how to practice the material as well as demonstrating everything to a play along on my tenor sax. To get the most out of this lesson I suggest you study the other pentatonic lessons first as I will be dealing with the scales I taught in those lessons.  (Video)

 

2 reviews for Playing Outside-Shifting Pentatonics Lesson

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Nigel – February 6, 2011

    This lesson is worth its weight in gold! I had already been using shifted pentatonics for a few years. However, 20 minutes of this lesson has really blown the lid off the whole idea for me and moved me so much further forward than my previous years of experimenting. Steve makes the color, tension and excitement of playing outside immediately accessible, by taking relatively simple ideas and demonstrating how to implement them with rhythm, style and conviction in a way that rubs straight off on to the listener. What I particularly like is that the lesson has changed both the way I think, and how I hear a number of notes within a given key. The result of the lesson is not that I am trying to remember a particular pentatonic scale, but that my mental map of how sounds fit together has radically changed, so when I’m improvising now I’m hearing new notes and placing them effectively in to solo lines, whereas before, I would have been avoiding them or simply deaf to their possibilities. Steve is doing much more than teaching a few tricks to make you sound good, he takes time to explain the ideas and encourages you to use them to find your own voice.

  2. Avatar
    Rated 4 out of 5

    Blease (verified owner) – August 14, 2015

    The lesson is good especially for this money – fits the LESSON DESCRIPTION (but nothing more), I add this comment because I’ve bought this lesson because of Nigel’s Review which is much much over-exaggerated.. The content of this lesson don’t dig up nothing new what you can find for free on the topic of modern impro with outside playing on youtube… Anyway Neff keep it up 🙂 I give You 4/5 stars

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/Playing%20Outside-Shifting%20Pentatonics%20clip.mp4

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Two years later I began a search for a sax teacher and happened to come across Steve Neff when I was searching YouTube for sax teachers.  I went to neffmusic.com and was very impressed with the lessons Steve Neff was offering.  The concept of selecting lessons was an approach that I thought was unique and purchased a few lessons.  I liked the lessons so much that I signed-up for a 6 month package. I was very happy with all the lessons I selected.  I also purchased Steve’s book Mastering the B… Read more
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I can’t say enough about my membership at Neff Music. Steve has taken the mystery out of playing the saxophone well and improvising both jazz and rock music. Like most struggling players I have a load of all sorts of books on my shelf just gathering dust. Books that I didn’t understand or know how to put to use…or just have the time to go threw them. Steve’s lessons really simplify things and he puts it in a way that I can understand. They inspire me to keep pushing and having him as my guide or… Read more
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Just to say thanks for your advice and lessons.  I’ve just read your amazing story.  I really appreciate what you do in regards to teaching.  I have bought a couple of your lessons and frankly they’re undersold.   I’ve learned much more with these two lessons than with 2 years of sax teachers.   Thanks so much………..
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I’m an experienced player in the pop/soul/funk areas of music and, previously, classical.  Over the decades I’ve been playing, I’ve always felt that I could do what I needed in those styles of music.  However, recently I began to feel limited by my use of the same old licks. When I discovered Steve Neff’s website, and heard the audio examples based on the exercises in his books, I realized they were what I needed.  I purchased all of them and have been working on them since.  It’s very hard work… Read more
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Thank you so much for the great job you are doing to help further our jazz studies. Though I make my living as a repairer of musical instruments I am a student of jazz and have been fortunate enough to be involved with a big band and a combo for the last several years. As my children began to leave “the nest” I had decided to dedicate the next half of my life to a more serious study of the sax but I didn’t know exactly how I would go about doing this until a friend of mine turned me onto your si… Read more
Jon

Steve, just a note to say thanks.

I’ve been playing a long time, but your material, laid out in such a thoughtful way, helps me to understand concepts in a new and deeper way.

You are a true gift to the jazz community.

60 lessons and going strong,

Kevin Ledbetter

Kevin Ledbetter
I’ve been a member of Steve’s site for about six months now and the difference it has made to my playing is immeasurable. The (many) benefits of this membership are that you can have lessons at time convenient to you, they work out A LOT cheaper than face-to-face lessons with a teacher of the same calibre and you can replay them ad infinitum. I don’t know how many times have I had lessons in the past where I’ve ended up covering the same concepts when really a ‘replay’ of the last lesson would h… Read more
Nick
Hi Steve, I can’t express just how much I appreciate your teaching. My playing has improved so much over the past year since I have been studying and practicing with your lessons. It is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, these lessons are proof! Thanks, Michael Byington
Michael Byington

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