I’ve been listening to students for years and years now, and I’ve begun to notice a pattern in what you tell me. You’re over scheduled, over worked, and overwhelmed by all that you want to learn about music and the saxophone. Time in the practice room often feels like you’re just spinning your wheels but not really getting anywhere. You’re making time to practice, but your unsure of exactly how to use that time.
Read Full Blog PostDuo with Bob Bowman
Here’s a short video of me playing an old standard with Bob Bowman on bass. Bob’s one of my favorite people and players. He listens,…
Read Full Blog PostBook: Tetrad Vol. 1: Triad add 9
This book is an in depth look at the Major Add 9 Tetrad (or 4 note cell). There’s a ton of great melodic and harmonic…
Read Full Blog Post~New Video Series~
Buy The Trad and Tetrad Video series Here . . Buy The Trad and Tetrad Video series Here . This is a complete walk through…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 121: Fool To Want You
Today I’m working on the first melody of the standard “I’m a Fool to Want You”. I’m singing the opening phrase at the piano while…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 120: Singing/Tapping
Today I’ve been singing half note roots over Coltrane’s tri-tonic system. In this case: C Maj, Eb7, Ab Maj, B7, E Maj, G7 repeat… while…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 119: Relative Pitch
This is a supplementary post to Lesson 26. This skill will help you learn to play what you hear, learn to hear new ideas, melodies…
Read Full Blog PostLesson118: All Intervals
. . I’ve been working on this interval exercise with a drone for the last week or so and it’s really starting to have a…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 117: Major 9 #5 Melody
This short warm up is a melody based on a Major 7 #5 chord. The melody starts on the Root, ascends to the #5, ascends…
Read Full Blog PostAlbum, “Iberica”
Matt Otto “Iberica” – Origin Records Dan McClenaghan, from All About Jazz, has given it a nice review which you can read below. Here’s a…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 116: The Four Half Diminished Scales
Here’s a simple melody that outlines the 4 distinct half diminished modes or scales. The PDF contains both scale and the melody (which uses the…
Read Full Blog Post115: Melodic Minor Modes
Although I believe there is a limit to value of practicing and understanding chord scale theory, the melodic minor scale is so prevalent in jazz…
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