[Artem Zhulyev]

Chord Tones Exercise Book Vol.1
282 exercises , 80 pages

Knowing how to build chords and their inversions is a very powerful tool that no jazz solo can go without. Triads and 7th chords are found everywhere, which is why it is so important to know how to operate them.
Its exercises are intended for the musicians who are discovering the world of improvisation and know major and minor 7th chords, but don't feel confident enough about them just yet. This book will become a great addition to your practice routine.
Purchase PDF : https://jazzsaxophonelessons.com/product/chord-tones-exercise-book-vol-1/

 

[sopsax]

Your playing is always impressive, Artem, & no doubt I could benefit from your instructional materials. These chord tone exercises would be most helpful if I could practice them at speed & internalize them as muscle memory. For that, I would need to see them fully notated in all 12 keys. However, the sample pages display notation for only two keys per exercise -- the remaining keys represented by chord symbols alone.

Does the actual PDF available for purchase display full notation for each exercise in all 12 keys?

 

[Artem Zhulyev]

Your playing is always impressive, Artem, & no doubt I could benefit from your instructional materials. These chord tone exercises would be most helpful if I could practice them at speed & internalize them as muscle memory. For that, I would need to see them fully notated in all 12 keys. However, the sample pages display notation for only two keys per exercise -- the remaining keys represented by chord symbols alone.

Does the actual PDF available for purchase display full notation for each exercise in all 12 keys?

Hi, thanks for your message. Precisely this exercise is made for you to build up the notes as a first step to improvisation. If you read the notes from second bar on, then you would be working the reading only and I'd like you to work the chord tones. That's the reason why it's necessary to build up the notes by yourself. The Exercises would gradually increase in complexity. Give it a try and you'll discover how powerful is this tool!!!

 

[sopsax]

I don't doubt that your method works well for many players. My learning style is unusual. I've played professionally & composed scores, can memorize tunes quickly & improvise decently; yet music for me is purely experiential, not easily accessible via theoretical structure. Basically, I "hear" in my mind's ear (or "see" via synesthesia, or "feel" in muscle memory) the next note I want to play in relation to the note I'm playing now. I build improvisations by brute force, one note at a time -- at speed & with fluency, if I'm having a good night.

This is how my head is wired, for good or ill. What I would seek in exercises like yours is to hear/see/feel new patterns, to increase my repertoire of choices. I can read them as notes on a staff, & internalize them by repetition. I cannot construct them out of alphanumeric symbols. It's not that I don't understand chord notation; it's more like the part of my brain that understands chord notation isn't the part of my brain that plays music.

This is not a criticism of you or your method, Artem. Just a reminder that folks may have various learning styles.

 

[B Flat]

Yes folks have different means of learning how to improvise, this is indeed a very valid way to achieve this goal.

 

[Nefertiti]

I don't doubt that your method works well for many players. My learning style is unusual. I've played professionally & composed scores, can memorize tunes quickly & improvise decently; yet music for me is purely experiential, not easily accessible via theoretical structure. Basically, I "hear" in my mind's ear (or "see" via synesthesia, or "feel" in muscle memory) the next note I want to play in relation to the note I'm playing now. I build improvisations by brute force, one note at a time -- at speed & with fluency, if I'm having a good night.

This is how my head is wired, for good or ill. What I would seek in exercises like yours is to hear/see/feel new patterns, to increase my repertoire of choices. I can read them as notes on a staff, & internalize them by repetition. I cannot construct them out of alphanumeric symbols. It's not that I don't understand chord notation; it's more like the part of my brain that understands chord notation isn't the part of my brain that plays music.

This is not a criticism of you or your method, Artem. Just a reminder that folks may have various learning styles.

Although, I would argue that the part of your brain that sees a note on the page, deciphers what it is and then plays it is that same part of the brain that reads a chord symbol, deciphers it and plays it. The fact that you can do that makes me think you can do the other also. You have learned how to play a CEGB when you see those notes on the stave in a row. Seeing CMaj7 and playing CEGB is the same concept in my mind but instead of looking at the four notes you are looking at CMaj7.

 

[sax.hobby]

Sometimes, what we think should work might end up not working, especially so if it's about other people.
Anyway, I'd purchase this if it's available with full notations on all 12 keys (at a reasonable cost).

Edit: I meant to reply to the whole thread.

 

[Nefertiti]

Sometimes, what we think should work might end up not working, especially so if it's about other people.
Anyway, I'd purchase this if it's available with full notations on all 12 keys (at a reasonable cost).

Edit: I meant to reply to the whole thread.

The way this is laid out is similar to "Patterns for Jazz" that many of us older guys worked through when we were younger and found very helpful.

 

[swperry1]

I don't doubt that your method works well for many players. My learning style is unusual. I've played professionally & composed scores, can memorize tunes quickly & improvise decently; yet music for me is purely experiential, not easily accessible via theoretical structure. Basically, I "hear" in my mind's ear (or "see" via synesthesia, or "feel" in muscle memory) the next note I want to play in relation to the note I'm playing now. I build improvisations by brute force, one note at a time -- at speed & with fluency, if I'm having a good night.

This is how my head is wired, for good or ill. What I would seek in exercises like yours is to hear/see/feel new patterns, to increase my repertoire of choices. I can read them as notes on a staff, & internalize them by repetition. I cannot construct them out of alphanumeric symbols. It's not that I don't understand chord notation; it's more like the part of my brain that understands chord notation isn't the part of my brain that plays music.

This is not a criticism of you or your method, Artem. Just a reminder that folks may have various learning styles.

But your critique of the exercises not being written out is a complete contradiction of how you describe your approach to improvising. Using your minds eye (ear) to build a competent solo would mean that you can see (hear) the appropriate chord tones already. The only thing you have to remember is the first key, then the rest are all achieved using your ears.

 

[swperry1]

Sometimes, what we think should work might end up not working, especially so if it's about other people.
Anyway, I'd purchase this if it's available with full notations on all 12 keys (at a reasonable cost).

Edit: I meant to reply to the whole thread.

Is it less valuable if you write out the other 11 keys yourself? Any monkey can be taught to read dots on a page and it doesn't translate much into improvising at all if you don't use your ears to move it around the horn through the rest of the keys.

 

[sax.hobby]

The way this is laid out is similar to "Patterns for Jazz" that many of us older guys worked through when we were younger and found very helpful.

Thanks for the ref; I'll take a look at that. (I wish I had access to this kind of resources growing up.)

 

[Nefertiti]

Thanks for the ref; I'll take a look at that. (I wish I had access to this kind of resources growing up.)

Like I said though, it is similar to ffjay's book above so if you can't learn from that book then "Pattern for Jazz" won't help you either. It gives you a pattern in a couple keys and then you have to figure out the rest........

 

[lesacks]

Just out of idle curiosity, wouldn't be nice if there was an MP3 of, say, the first two bars of each pattern then backing for 10 bars; for the extra goodness of "transcribing" with the PDF the cross check?

Edit; I see it does come with backing tracks at 100 and 60. Cool.

 

[sax.hobby]

Like I said though, it is similar to ffjay's book above so if you can't learn from that book then "Pattern for Jazz" won't help you either. It gives you a pattern in a couple keys and then you have to figure out the rest........

Ah, ok. I thought the book has more to it than that.

 

[JL]

These chord tone exercises would be most helpful if I could practice them at speed & internalize them as muscle memory. For that, I would need to see them fully notated in all 12 keys.

With the caveat that I realize not everyone learns the same way, for most players I would totally disagree with the idea that you need or want these sorts of exercises written out in all 12 keys. Ideally, 1 key should be enough. The reason being is that you want to use your ear and develop the ability to play a phrase by ear in any key. You may have a point that by reading through the 12 keys you could initially play more quickly through the sequence of keys, but by just reading them you won't internalize them to the same extent you will doing it by ear. This ability to transpose to all keys is highly valuable ear training that is essential for improvising, imo.

Like I said, this may not be true for everyone, but I'd bet it's true for 90% or so. Definitely give it try and work on it. You might be surprised.

Of course you need to be fluent in all 12 keys (if not, learn all 12 major scales thoroughly (both on the horn and in your mind)-- backwards, forwards, and inside out).

 

[adamk]

All classical players (that I've met) practice chord inversions patterns without reading the notes. I have flute books that show the initial pattern and after just show the key changes expecting the musician to figure out how to do it like your example. They even show examples of alternate articulations in rhythm only.

 

[Morph1590]

The book looks great, congrats.

It's funny, I'm usually a little disappointed when I discover an author has written everything out in all 12 keys - in fact it's likely to make me feel a bit cheated when a 120 page book is atually only 10 pages of content!! Interesting that others feel differently - should be no surpise I suppose

 

[lesacks]

The book looks great, congrats.

It's funny, I'm usually a little disappointed when I discover an author has written everything out in all 12 keys - in fact it's likely to make me feel a bit cheated when a 120 page book is atually only 10 pages of content!! Interesting that others feel differently - should be no surpise I suppose

I have seen material which looks like the same material cut-paste-transposed page after page. But, from the video, this isn't that. Each pattern seems to be presented over lines of chord progressions which, themselves, vary between exercises (ie they don't just always cycle through 5th or such) but move by tone, semitone, 4th etc. So there doesn't seem to be much redundancy. No?

 

[Morph1590]

I have seen material which looks like the same material cut-paste-transposed page after page. But, from the video, this isn't that. Each pattern seems to be presented over lines of chord progressions which, themselves, vary between exercises (ie they don't just always cycle through 5th or such) but move by tone, semitone, 4th etc. So there doesn't seem to be much redundancy. No?

Sorry, yep, you're right. As the progressions vary, writing out the transpositions wouldn't be redundant

 

[sopsax]

But your critique of the exercises not being written out is a complete contradiction of how you describe your approach to improvising. Using your minds eye (ear) to build a competent solo would mean that you can see (hear) the appropriate chord tones already. The only thing you have to remember is the first key, then the rest are all achieved using your ears.

I do plenty of ear training in a nonlinear way: Learning a tune in one key, then playing it in three or four different keys. Learning a tune on alto, then playing it (in the same concert key) on soprano, or vice versa. Improvising over recordings of tunes I've never heard before. I strive to extend my skillset daily.

Despite these efforts, I realize that by habit I often favor certain keys, particular intervals, well-worn finger patterns. So my objective in practicing new patterns would be to imprint them in my mind's ear & muscle memory at speed. After I internalize the new patterns, my understanding of their theoretical underpinnings will follow rapidly. I cannot fully engage with both processes -- experiential; conceptual -- simultaneously.

I am in fact a fan & advocate of transcribing. Yes, wonderful learning tool that reveals structure & technique. Transcribing is a conceptual skill that, for me, exists separately from the experience of playing music. Some folks can read a map & imagine the terrain. Others plunge into the underbrush to find their way.

To those who feel that conventional didactic methods are universally sensible & accessible, I say: Be glad that your personal wiring conforms to standard spec, & please be aware that other folks have learning issues you can't imagine. I've spent a lifetime as an idiot savant -- talented, creative, intuitive, quick, yet in some essential areas backward & slow. I didn't choose to be this way, but need to meet or exceed conventional standards regardless, because nobody -- repeat, nobody -- will cut any slack for folks wired like me. (Frankly, I enjoy the challenge of simulating a neurotypical person. Oh, hell, now I've let the cat outa the bag! Please be discreet.)

I don't understand grammar either. Never did. Never had to, after grade school. I just talk or write without tangling up a single brain cell in gerunds or participles, & somehow manage to express a thought or two. Maybe you can relate to that.