In my slow but steady quest to become a jazz tenor sax player, I listen a lot, and have steadily practiced all major and minor scales, to a reasonable level. Looking at some other posts, perhaps I need now to start learning more tunes. And patterns. Any suggestions please? Would you purchase a real book in C or Bb. Any recommendations for basic jazz pattern book? Thanks.
Ian
There are a few around, but I would highly recommend Jerry Coker's Patterns For Jazz. Another good choice if you are now looking to progress beyond scales to basic improvisation is Jerry Bergonzi's "Inside Improvisation" series of books. "Volume 1 - Melodic Structures" is as good a place to start as any. Whilst it is pattern-based, rather than just giving you a sackload of patterns to learn, it takes you step-by-step through the process of using those patterns in a musical setting, and includes a playalong CD. It really helps to turn the theory of scale/chord patterns into practical use, and is a truly superb book for the beginning improviser.Ian said:
Real Books are a great resource, but if you are new to improvising, I would recommend starting off improvising over some fairly simple Standards or blues tunes. Aebersold Volumes 54 (Maiden Voyage) and 70 (Killer Joe) are excellent for this, as they give you a basic repetoire of jazz standards played at manageable tempos with relatively easy chord progressions - and again have playalong backing tracks to the included tunes. Vol 24 (Learn To Improvise Jazz - Major & Minor In Every Key) is also a good resource.
Good luck, and happy improvising
Billy The Fish
Thanks for the thoughtful, useful replies. Bluenote - I am well aware the tenor is in Bb (!), but have grown so used to playing off charts that are written for 'c' instruments, that I am very comfortable now playing tenor or alto off 'concert pitch' music. I am not sure if that is a bad habit, or a necessary skill, or whether I should keep practicing like that, or rather start learning from appropriate charts? Thanks.
Ian,
First of all, like BlueNote says, I would learn the dominant scales/arpeggios really, really well. If you look at almost any jazz standard, it has a significant number of dominant chords in it, so this is a really useful sound to know well. A useful book at your stage of development might be "Gettin' it together", published by the Aebersold outfit. It's got some great tracks that you can practice your scales/chords with, and its fun.
After you 've got the dominants under your belt, there are really 2 different tracks you can then proceed on (or, you can do both :lol: ). One is to get "Patterns for Jazz" as noted above. I have it and it's a very good book. However, (in my opinion only) the "pattern" approach, while teaching you to play some really cool licks, doesn't really help you learn to play smooth, flowing, musical lines as you go through the changes on a real tune. Personally, I would learn cool licks as an adjunct to another approach, not as the primary approach.
Another approach is to get a book called "Intermediate Jazz Improvisation" by George Bouchard. This very thick book is really a sophisticated "lesson plan" to take you to the next level, as if you had a teacher who really understood jazz and how to teach a developing player. The book assumes, I think, that you are proficient on major, dorian minor and dominant scales/arpeggios; if you don't first have these under your fingers, I think the book might be too frustrating.
In my opinion, there are two aspects to practicing: first you have to be willing to consistently work hard over a long period of time; if there's a shortcut in this sense, I'd love to hear about it. Second, you want to make your practicing as efficient as possible so you get the most "bang for your buck" for all that effort. That's why a book like the one above can be so valuable; it can keep you directed and focused, so that you progress more rapidly.
Hope this helps,
Al
First of all, like BlueNote says, I would learn the dominant scales/arpeggios really, really well. If you look at almost any jazz standard, it has a significant number of dominant chords in it, so this is a really useful sound to know well. A useful book at your stage of development might be "Gettin' it together", published by the Aebersold outfit. It's got some great tracks that you can practice your scales/chords with, and its fun.
After you 've got the dominants under your belt, there are really 2 different tracks you can then proceed on (or, you can do both :lol: ). One is to get "Patterns for Jazz" as noted above. I have it and it's a very good book. However, (in my opinion only) the "pattern" approach, while teaching you to play some really cool licks, doesn't really help you learn to play smooth, flowing, musical lines as you go through the changes on a real tune. Personally, I would learn cool licks as an adjunct to another approach, not as the primary approach.
Another approach is to get a book called "Intermediate Jazz Improvisation" by George Bouchard. This very thick book is really a sophisticated "lesson plan" to take you to the next level, as if you had a teacher who really understood jazz and how to teach a developing player. The book assumes, I think, that you are proficient on major, dorian minor and dominant scales/arpeggios; if you don't first have these under your fingers, I think the book might be too frustrating.
In my opinion, there are two aspects to practicing: first you have to be willing to consistently work hard over a long period of time; if there's a shortcut in this sense, I'd love to hear about it. Second, you want to make your practicing as efficient as possible so you get the most "bang for your buck" for all that effort. That's why a book like the one above can be so valuable; it can keep you directed and focused, so that you progress more rapidly.
Hope this helps,
Al
Ian, your dominant scale is correct. The arpeggio would be:
C-E-G-Bb
with extensions added: C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A .....and of course, those extensions can be and often are altered.
The dominant sound is also the main (I almost said "dominant") sound in blues.
C-E-G-Bb
with extensions added: C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A .....and of course, those extensions can be and often are altered.
The dominant sound is also the main (I almost said "dominant") sound in blues.
Ian,
You raise a good point. The scale is pretty obvious, but what do we mean by an arpeggio? In the jazz context, we generally mean the first, third, fifth, seventh, and even the ninth tones of the scale, because jazz folks use the ninth a lot. So for example, a C7 to the ninth would be spelled:
C E G Bb D
It may be helpful to have a "structure" for practicing the various scales/arpeggios you're working on, with again the idea being to increase your efficiency. For this purpose, check out the following "Red Book" put out by the Aebersold folks (it's free):
http://www.jazzbooks.com/jazzhandbook/Default.htm
Download the document entitled "Ten Basic Exercises - Treble Clef". It's a very effective way to practice your scales/arpeggios in an organized way. You can use this structure to practice virtually any scale/arpeggio. You should learn the particular scale/arpeggio in all 12 keys, because jazz tunes in the key of C, for example, may well have chords that go all over the place.The "Red Book" also has lists of all different types of scales (or at least the ones you're likely to run into).
One other suggestion - ignore my suggestions My point is this - while I've found the above to be personally useful, everyone is different. At your (intermediate) level, you might want to consider getting a few lessons from a local pro jazz musician - if not a sax player, at least an accomplished improviser - I've taken lessons from a trumpet player for example, who couldn't play a sax to save his life, but man could he improvise (and teach, too). I'm not saying you necessarily should stay with a teacher forever, just a few lessons to evaluate you and get you going down the right path for you. Again, the important point is that you will see many posts on this board talking about how many hours you must practice to become an accomplished improviser. In my opinion, those estimates are meaningless, because of the vast difference efficiency can make. It doesn't matter if you practice 5 hours a day if you're not making progress. You want max results for whatever time you're able to put into it. If you practice say, 1 hr. per day, plus maybe 2 hrs per day on the weekends, and you practice efficiently, you will see real results. When? Who knows? It's an individual thing. But you at least will be able to feel the improvement. And by "1 hr. per day", I mean truly focused, no-doodling, no-screwing-around practice for an hour.
Al
You raise a good point. The scale is pretty obvious, but what do we mean by an arpeggio? In the jazz context, we generally mean the first, third, fifth, seventh, and even the ninth tones of the scale, because jazz folks use the ninth a lot. So for example, a C7 to the ninth would be spelled:
C E G Bb D
It may be helpful to have a "structure" for practicing the various scales/arpeggios you're working on, with again the idea being to increase your efficiency. For this purpose, check out the following "Red Book" put out by the Aebersold folks (it's free):
http://www.jazzbooks.com/jazzhandbook/Default.htm
Download the document entitled "Ten Basic Exercises - Treble Clef". It's a very effective way to practice your scales/arpeggios in an organized way. You can use this structure to practice virtually any scale/arpeggio. You should learn the particular scale/arpeggio in all 12 keys, because jazz tunes in the key of C, for example, may well have chords that go all over the place.The "Red Book" also has lists of all different types of scales (or at least the ones you're likely to run into).
One other suggestion - ignore my suggestions
My point is this - while I've found the above to be personally useful, everyone is different. At your (intermediate) level, you might want to consider getting a few lessons from a local pro jazz musician - if not a sax player, at least an accomplished improviser - I've taken lessons from a trumpet player for example, who couldn't play a sax to save his life, but man could he improvise (and teach, too). I'm not saying you necessarily should stay with a teacher forever, just a few lessons to evaluate you and get you going down the right path for you. Again, the important point is that you will see many posts on this board talking about how many hours you must practice to become an accomplished improviser. In my opinion, those estimates are meaningless, because of the vast difference efficiency can make. It doesn't matter if you practice 5 hours a day if you're not making progress. You want max results for whatever time you're able to put into it. If you practice say, 1 hr. per day, plus maybe 2 hrs per day on the weekends, and you practice efficiently, you will see real results. When? Who knows? It's an individual thing. But you at least will be able to feel the improvement. And by "1 hr. per day", I mean truly focused, no-doodling, no-screwing-around practice for an hour.Al
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