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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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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
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Steve,  Just want to say thanks for all you are doing for all of us. I’ve learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.

If you can give some tips on One Note Samba, Ceora, and Wave… that would be cool.  I really like learning how you apply your concepts to actual songs!

Have a great year,

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I've learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.
I just joined Neff Music last month. I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to be able to pick back up on lessons. I’ve been in a rut and you got me out! I’ve especially appreciated the Lesson Path section. It was so clear I knew exactly where to jump in and start. Many many thanks!
Karin
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 want to thank you for your “Ultimate II-V-I Primer”  which has sent me off on a much better path to improvisation.  The primer and the four bound books I have will keep me busy for a long time.  I like your lessons for two reasons.  The lessons work and THEY ARE FUN.  Thanks again.

Robert

Robert
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 just started looking at my lessons and I have to say, dude you are awesome.  I ABSOLUTELY will learn from you!  I started the tenor about 1 ½ yrs ago and have since picked up an alto, and more recently a soprano.  I spend most of the time on the tenor, followed by soprano, and have only gotten to the alto a few times.  I think I’ll be sticking with tenor.  I’m having a great time and hope one day to play well enough to get regular gigs.  I’ve been playing keys for about 35 years (… Read more
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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
Paul
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Alfred LaBella

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