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 (gospel), and so I’m following you perfectly with the theory and stuff. Just awesome. Keep up the great work.
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
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
Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for being you, your playing, your website and your desire to help others. I’m a professional musician in the US Army and I’ve visited your website almost every day since discovering it a couple of months ago. Your lessons are profound and easy to use. I’ve purchased most of your PDF books and now am starting to delve more into the video and audio lessons. Thank you for being a great resource!
First, I’m really excited about your materials! This site is a vast resource for any aspiring (and maybe already inspired) jazz musicians. I’m not a sax player, I play mandolin and fiddle, but have been learning jazz and playing weekly with a quintet for the past 6 months and have been struggling with all of the issues you get into in your lessons. I bought several books and lessons and plan to continue with some others as soon as I organize my practice routine.
Thanks again for a great site and some of the best jazz lessons I’ve ever seen on the web. I’m looking forward to getting it together with your stuff!
Tony
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,
Kevin Ledbetter
I can see from your instructional videos that you are a fantastic teacher – one that can truly relate to all ages – humble yet very positive in approach – never coming across as superior and yet so totally capable of demonstrating the principles and techniques that you seek to impart to the students. I have gained so much confidence in my playing from “pouring over” time and again these invaluable lessons. Invaluable not only in musical content, but also in human interaction content. I am absolutely loving your latest book Devastating Lines for Jazz and Funk Soloing.
Hello Steve, I’m getting so much out of your lessons and books, amazing how much one may think one knows, there is always a new frontier or new way to view something you think you had somewhat down. You have taken it all to a new level and am so grateful. Your lessons are so down to earth and understandable and clear! Thanks so much Steve! Cheers, Eddie
Hello Steve,
I just want to say thank you so much for your unbelievable work, it is just mind opening, thanks for sharing it.
Wolfgang from Berlin
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………..
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 player in London when I worked there. He was a great sax player but his teaching skills were so bad that the other students and I had to revert to teaching ourselves and exchanging information, knowledge and ideas. In fact, we had booked a total of 10 lessons with him and he was so bad that he didn’t even show up for half of them.
So I would like to compliment you on your knowledge and teaching skills and in particular for the honesty in which you impart that knowledge.
You will be pleased to know that I now have purchased all your books and that I have signed up for a 1 year subscription.
All I need now is the time to put all this knowledge and information to good use.
Well done to you Steve.
Best regards
Patrick (Dublin, Ireland)
Hi Steve,
I have been shedding your materials for quite a while now and I love them! They are extremely well organized and presented and there are tons of ’em! I really appreciate your methodical approach and find myself referring students to your resources often. Thanks so much!
Your material is great! I got your New Altissimo Lesson 6 months ago and I have learned more from that than in all my 44 years of playing! I appreciate your down to earth teaching method and I really appreciate the heart that you teach with. I have been a subscriber to your lessons for the past 6 months and I have learned a great deal. Over that period of time I have had some questions and you have never failed to respond. Thanks! I have already recommended your lessons to a number of players in my area. Again, THANKS! Your lessons have been a real blessing!
Sincerely, Michael Byington
Hi Steve,
First, I want to thank you for all of your great lessons. They are like a “For Dummies” version of all the books on my shelf. The lessons break things down into manageable pieces, and give me the confidence that I’m practicing the right pieces. I’m starting to make progress. Thank You, Kim
Steve,
I have played for many years and have enjoyed going “back to the basics” in some of your lessons! You have such a gift for explaining concepts. As I have gotten older, some of the basic things have gotten muddled because I just play, not knowing why. As I refresh myself with “why”, it increases my confidence and expands my playing. Thank you so much for using your gift! You are a blessing!
I want to thank you again, because, not only are you an inspiration to listen to, you are a fine teacher!
I have been teaching sax and other winds for over 20 years, and you give me that “push” to give my students more!
Mark Peotter
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
Your lessons on playing the blues is so clear . I have been through many books on blues playing and not one of them explains as clear as your lessons . Most of them say “Play the same blues scale over all three chords of a 12 bar blues ” Its very misleading . Thanks
I have been a member of Neffmusic for more than a year now and have enjoyed every minute of it! I have not only been going thru the Dominant Bebop Scale lessons and book (OUTSTANDING!) but the mouthpiece reviews, solo clips and transcriptions are very interesting. Steve approach to beginning and intermediate improv have given me many new pathways to teach my high school jazz ensemble students. Congratulations Steve, great product!
I’ve been having ‘ online’ lessons with Steve for a few months now. Being a teacher myself I had had some reservations with the idea at first and the practicalities of it . Let me just say that my playing has taken a huge leaps forward while studying with Steve and continues to do so.Steve studied with some renowned player/teachers such as Bergonzi and Garzone– this in itself is invaluable but Steve teaches from his own books, which cover a a vast amount of jazz language. Steve has some important qualities that are rare to find in a teacher anywhere these days- he’s a great player, great teacher and a great guy.”
DAVID WRIGHT Musician and Educator
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 Blues Scale that contains 100 licks or patterns in all 12 keys. I quickly selected the lesson for the overview of the book and the lesson where Steve demonstrates all 100 licks. Hearing them played by Steve was great, since you can hear the various articulations which makes a great difference to the sound of the licks.
Using the book and corresponding 2 lessons made a dramatic improvement in my soloing that is incredible to say the least. Even my wife and daughter said my playing has improved and they rarely make any comments about my sax playing. My daughter even picked out 3 licks that are her favorites – Unbelievable!
I strongly recommend to any one who wants to learn to play sax or play better to try a few of Steve’s lessons. You will not regret it.
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.
Your major diatonic patterns book is great. I”m studying the first twenty patterns (first twenty pages) each day with different articulation each day and slowly increasing the tempo each week or so. There is a noticeable improvement in finger coordination across all keys and its amazing how much more secure I feel on the difficult keys when attempting to play pieces with 5+ flats/sharps. I’m able to sort out the fingerings for these pieces now much more quickly than before, often in one or two sittings when in the past I would have been lost until I did a significant amount of slow practice on the piece.
Your going to do really well with this book. Keep up the good work. And the idea of putting patterns into single key also great. Thanks, Geoff
Love your lessons! I have been using your lesson packages for many months now, and am learning a lot. It is so perfect for me with a very busy adult schedule and difficulty in taking jazz/improv music lessons from reputable instructors who live and hour or more away from me.
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