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You are here: Home / Jazz Lessons / Scale Studies / The Diminished Scale: Lesson 1
The Diminished Scale: Lesson 1

The Diminished Scale: Lesson 1

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 2 customer ratings
(2 customer reviews)

$9.99

SKU: 045 Category: Scale Studies Tags: diminished scale, jazz improvisation, jazz theory, video lesson
  • Description
  • Reviews (2)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

The Diminished Scale is a fantastic sound that provides endless opportunities to the jazz musician. This is the scale that defined the post bebop era and is now an integral part of the jazz language. In this first introductory lesson on The Diminished scale, I teach you the 3 diminished Scales and show you how to utilize them over both diminished and dominant chords. I discuss various ways of conceptualizing the Diminished Scale, so that you can move on past simply trying to understand the scale and start getting this fantastic sound under your fingers and into your playing. I explain and demonstrate how the three Diminished Scales can be played in a variety of ways, from the patterns that all players utilize, to a more intervallic approach that will make sure you need never sound cliched.
I explain and play numerous examples for you as I discuss how I practice these scales over the different chords and use them on tunes. I show you how you can start to really get these scales down and how, by doing so, the whole language of modern jazz starts to make a lot more sense. When you understand and become proficient with the Diminished scale, all those Bird, Stitt and Coltrane solos start to make so much more sense. A command of the Diminished Scale will give your playing that hip, more mature sound you hear from all the great players. This lesson comes with a PDF sheet that includes the three Diminished Scales, as well as the various patterns and progressions I demonstrate. There’s enough material here to get you started and keep you going for quite a while as you discover a whole new world of sound.  (Audio & PDF)

2 reviews for The Diminished Scale: Lesson 1

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    C.N. – April 4, 2009

    Steve! I have never been able to understand and get a hold of the diminished scale. Until now! Once again, your explanation, demonstrations, and pdf. file has cleared the way for me to develop my use of the diminished scale. You have the gift of Outstanding Performance and Superb Instruction! Thank you Steve! C.N.

  2. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jay Richardson – December 10, 2009

    Steve, I’ve purchased four of your lessons and have thoroughly enjoyed and learned from them. My schedule is hectic, but I’m able to listen to them while I travel and I’m about to order another. So far I’ve purchased:
    – II V I Licks
    – 1 Bar blues
    – Triadic Pairs 2×2 (Maj & min)
    – Diminished Scales

    Great stuff please keep it up!

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/Diminished%20Scale%20Lesson%201%20clip.mp4

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Hey Steve! I hope you and your family are well.  I’m just writing to say thank you so much for all the resources you have made available to the saxophone community. I have been using your material for many years and I always come back to it… in fact I just took a break from practicing to write this…( reviewing “CreatingModern II-V-I Lines with simple pentatonics”.) I am, and continue to be, one of your raving fans! Blessings to you and your family this holiday season! Wishing… Read more
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I want to say something about Steve Neff’s series of lessons, Beginner Jazz Improvisation. For a couple of years I tried many beginner lessons and my problem was that there was a gap between lessons that were fairly simple and ones that I was not quite ready for and my progress stalled out. That problem was solved with the series Beginner Jazz Improvisation. He guides you step by step along the way and builds a foundation for learning jazz and blues. He leaves no question about what to practice … Read more
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Anthony
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
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