The Beginning Jazz Improvisation Course (Price Range: $6.95-$39.95)

Description

This 8-part course is for beginning improvisers that have basic (or better) skills on their instruments and want to start playing jazz with a structured approach. It’s also great for anyone new to my lessons. Lots of play-along tracks and I Play-You Play practice included. This set will prepare you for improvisation success!
Transpositions for tenor sax, alto sax, and concert instruments included.

View samples from the lessons in this YouTube playlist:

Lessons:

Lesson 1: The Role of the Major Scale
We get the ball rolling by improvising with the major scale and a common major scale mode known as Dorian. There’s a lot of foundation material covered, I Play-You Play practice, and 24 play-along tracks included.

Lesson 2: Blues and the Blues Scale
In many ways, playing jazz begins with the blues. First, you’ll learn how the blues scale is constructed. We quickly move into call and response style phrasing and some basic blues style ear training. I Play-You Play practice techniques are employed and two play-along tracks are included.

Lesson 3: Paving the Way with Pentatonics
A bit of music theory is used in deriving relative major and minor pentatonic scales. Learn how these scales are used for improvising on basic chord changes using a play-along track based on the jazz standard, Cantaloupe Island.

Lesson 4: The ABC’s of the Jazz Language
Learn how triads form the foundation for basic major, minor, and dominant chords. This lesson utilizes the chord progression and a play-along track from the jazz standard, The Summer Wind.

Lesson 5: The ABC’s and 7ths of the Jazz Language
Expand your understanding of major 7, minor 7, and dominant chords in this lesson as you learn about one of the most common types of chord progressions used in jazz, the ii-V-I. Play-along track included.

Lesson 6: Developing Your Jazz Sound
Learn how to develop good tonal control and flexibility on your saxophone. Basic jazz articulation is also covered in this lesson on developing your personal jazz sound.

Lesson 7: Developing Jazz Technique
Learn how to build dexterity on your instrument with exercises that apply directly to improvising. You’ll have ample practice material for developing a sense of technical freedom as you play.

Lesson 8: Developing Your Ear
Developing a working relationship between your ear and instrument is essential to advancing as an improvising musician. In this lesson, I show you my favorite ear training exercises.