The Diminished Scale is one of the most important scales in Jazz. In this (video) lesson I explain as clearly as possible the C half…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 164: Yardbird Suite Etude
Here’s an Etude I wrote for Bari Sax player Andrea Edwards. Andrea is an excellent Bari player studying Jazz at KU. This Yardbird Suite Etude…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 155: Blues Etude using Diminished and Triad Pairs
Etudes are a great way to learn new ideas, phrases, concepts and vocabulary. This is a short 12 bar etude I wrote and have been…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 136: Woody and You
Here’s a transcription of my tenor sax solo from the Alliance album (2020). This is over the chord changes to Woody and You (Dizzy Gillespie)…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 64: Book ii-V-I
In this lesson we’ll look at the first ii – V7 – I melody found in the “Modern Jazz Vocabulary vol. 2” book. This melody…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 59: Spread Tri-tone
I thought it might be nice to work with a variation on Lesson 1 (Spread Triads) – In this exercise we play spread major triads…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 58: Triad Diminished
This is a nice triadic idea that works through a dimished scale. By simply playing 2nd inversion major triads down by minor thirds you get…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 55: ii – V7#5 -i dim
I’ve always found it effective to work on a specific melody in order to incorporate a general concept into my playing. For instance, when learning…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 48: -7b5
When starting out as an improviser, the half diminished 7th chord is often a difficult chord to hear and play over melodically. Even after working…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 47: Dizzys’ Bebop
I always liked the introduction to the Dizzy Gillespie tune Bebop. A close friend and wonderful alto player Gabe Eaton and I learned this tune…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 43: Diminished
Here’s an intervallic diminished sequence that I wrote while in Leipzig on a short avant-garde tour in the late 90’s. We had many long days…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 40: HW diminished
The use of the “half -whole” diminished scale over a dominant 7th chord can create some interesting and complex sounds. This “octatonic” scale outlines specific…
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