| Rave Reviews |
I just started looking at my lessons and I have to say, dude you are awesome. I ABSOLUTELY will learn from you! I started the tenor about 1 ½ yrs ago and have since picked up an alto, and more recently a soprano. I spend most of the time on the tenor, followed by soprano, and have only gotten to the alto a few times. I think I'll be sticking with tenor. I'm having a great time and hope one day to play well enough to get regular gigs. I've been playing keys for about 35years (gospel), and so I'm following you perfectly with the theory and stuff. Just awesome. Keep up the great work. Will Dunn
It goes way beyond licks and scales. This book is really taking years of transcriptions and licks I learned and organizing them so much better as well as teaching me tons of great new licks. It is giving me the freedom to use a lot of stuff I already new in so many more ways. It goes way beyond licks and scales. Because of my strong base in my scales the concepts in the book are instantly helping my playing in all keys even though I have gone through only 2 keys in the book. It's helping me in my minor keys as well just by the way it has me thinking. Thanks again.
Shane Baird
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| Rave Reviews | |
Outstanding!
I've been a member of Steve's site for about six months now and the difference it has made to my playing is immeasurable. The (many) benefits of this membership are that you can have lessons at time convenient to you, they work out A LOT cheaper than face-to-face lessons with a teacher of the same calibre and you can replay them ad infinitum. I don't know how many times have I had lessons in the past where I've ended up covering the same concepts when really a 'replay' of the last lesson would have been fine! I'm not on commission here - just wanted to write a review to encourage people to do this. Without doubt the most time and cost effective investment I've made in taking my playing to where it should be...Cheers Steve.
Nick Bottini
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Rave Reviews
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I have noticed a great deal of achievement since i have been studying your method. I like the licks that you startout with and I'm taking my time learning them. Your advise on using them in the blues pattern is remarkable. I have to give you credit in telling you that you hit it on the money!!!
Thanks once again, and have a nice day.
Bye
Mr. Serrano (claragary on youtube)
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Greetings!
I've included a few reviews and pages from my new book in this newsletter. The book is called "Mastering Major Diatonic Patterns".
I've written out 150 great diatonic patterns in all 12 keys. This is truly a one-of-a-kind book as I have never seen many of these patterns in a book before and never in every key! The book is written so it can be used with a play along track from Jamey Aebersold's Volume 21 "Getting it Together". Also included with the book is a 25 minute video lesson on the best way to practice from the book and incorporate the ideas into your improvisations. I believe that this is a great resource that all musicians can use to build their technique and reservoir of melodic ideas. Enjoy!
Here's a few of the first reviews I have received.
"I have had Steve's new book, "Mastering Major Diatonic Patterns" for several weeks now. I have worked on diatonic patterns before, but Steve's book is comprehensive. He starts with scale patterns and then moves on to 1-2-3-5 patterns, triads, seventh chords, sixth chords, chromatic approach patterns, and larger intervals, all with eighths, sixteenths and triplet rhythms. My favorite part about this, and all of Steve's lessons and books that I have, is that all of the patterns are applicable language. It's not full of strange sounding intellectual patterns. These patterns relate to, and sound like the language of music that I want to learn about. I'm on #17 and I can see and hear how this book will help me really know my major scales. I genuinely do look forward to the lifetime of musical rewards that Steve wishes us from this book -Chris Haigh
Sample Page (right click and save)
"I have been using this book daily for over 2 weeks now and I must say that I was surprised how these patterns makes it easier to improvise and, as an added bonus, I find I am reading new music much easier. I can take some books that were too difficult for me to play from months or even years ago and now can play it. Steve's book goes through numerous patterns that teach you note combinations which allow you to play more difficult material much easier. I guess that the book "teaches" your fingers to master many different note intervals and then you don't stumble when you need to play them when they appear in songs. When Steve sends me his newsletter, the first thing I look for is any new book because all of them are valuable to me as a player." Michael J. Smith
Sample Page (right click and save)
- I have also put up 5 new video lessons last month. You can check out the details below as well as see clips from them. If you want a lesson on any subject whatsoever, let me know and I will try to do it for you.
- Neffmusic now has over 360+ video and audio lessons for musicians around the world who want to learn the saxophone and how to play jazz!
- If you have enjoyed any of my online video lessons please consider trying a Neffmusic subscription. Hundreds of musicians and students have given it a try with no complaints. (Just read the reviews) It's an easy and affordable way to keep yourself progressing musically. The pricing structure for a NeffMusic membership is on the site.
- 30/month (7.50 a lesson) Save 10.00
- 75/3 months (6.25 a lesson) Save 45.00
- 138/6 months (5.75 a lesson) Save 102.00!
- 240/year (5.00 a lesson) Save 240.00!!
- These are all great deals as lessons without a membership are 10.00 each! Each lesson is around 25-35 minutes long. You can keep the lessons forever.........watch them on your computer or even put them on your ipod or smart phone and watch them while you are traveling or working out!
- If any of you are interested in a Neffmusic membership without the hassle of joining paypal........I have set up a page so that you can join manually with just a credit card.
Visit my site to sign up now! You can cancel at any time by following the directions on the FAQ page of my site. Canceling your subscription is very easy unlike many other sites out there.
Sincerely,
Steve Neff
Neffmusic
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New Lessons for April!
Putting it Together Blues Lesson 1 In this lesson, I give you 4 transcriptions of acapella blues solos that I did on my "9 tenor mouthpiece poll" that is on my blog. The transcriptions show what concepts I was using as I played through a blues in C on the tenor saxophone. I have written them out for Bb,Eb and concert instruments so you can all follow along. This is a great lesson for those of you who want to better understand how to meld and join the different concepts you have been working into one solo. Some of the concepts used are blues scales, approaches, bebop scales, resolution links, passing tones tones and chord tones.
This is also a great lesson for those of you who would like to pick up some more bluesy inflections in your playing because you can listen to me play the transcriptions and then copy my style. (Video & PDF in Bb, Eb and C 29 minutes)
Diatonic Patterns Lesson 3-Chromatic ApproachesIn this lesson I introduce you to 8 diatonic patterns that all improvisers should know. These are patterns that all use a half step chromatic approach before each diatonic triad. I have included a few commons and 4 that are not so common that sound great!
I show you how to practice these and then use them in your improvisation. Having a solid foundation of diatonic patterns is a great start to developing melodic material that you can use as you improvise.
Included in this lesson is a pdf sheet of the 8 patterns in the key of C,D and A. If you have never worked on diatonic patterns in all keys then this is a great lesson to get. Enjoy! (Video & PDF 29 minutes)
Mastering the Bebop Scales-Lesson 19This is lesson 19 of the "Mastering the Bebop Scales Series". The series was called "Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale" but now we are adding the Major Bebop scale so I have changed the title from here on,
In this lesson I introduce you to the major bebop scale. I show you how to start working on it from my "Mastering the Major Bebop Scale and Sound" book. I also give you tips and methods to use to join it with the dominant bebop scale materials that we have worked on so far. You will need my "Mastering the Major Bebop Scale" book to work with this lesson!
The more of these lessons you master the more prepared you will be to handle the bebop language. Enjoy! (Video & PDF) (31 minutes)
Developing Relative Pitch Lesson 4In this lesson, I continue teaching you how to recognize notes over a minor chord. I show you how to practice this concept with a piano so that you can improve your ability to hear a not and figure out what note it is in relation to the chord being played. I give you many tips and tricks that have helped me in this process as well as talking about hearing "Triggers" that point you in the right direction. ( Video 35 minutes)
Giant Steps Lesson 3-PentatonicsIn this 3rd lesson on Giant Steps, I teach you how to use the common minor pentatonic scale over these difficult changes. It is a cool thing when you can take a concept that you already know well and then with a little understanding, apply it to something else. That is what we will do in this lesson. I will show you how to take minor pentatonics based off of the whole tone scale root motion and apply them in a cool way over the Giant Steps changes. This concept gave me a very new and unique way to approach Giant Steps that really transformed my ideas on this tune.
I have included a PDF for Bb,Eb and C instruments that tells you where to use each pentatonic scale as well as a sample solo based on those pentatonics. I teach you all the specifics of how I teach this concepts to my "live" students so you know all the ways to practice this concept and get the most out of it. (Video & PDF 36 Minutes)
You can see all the descriptions and video samples on my "New Lessons" page. (Click on the title of each lesson and scroll to the bottom of each lesson description to see the video sample)
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Featured Books
Mastering The Blues Scale Volume 2 I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use over dominant grooves on the blues, funk or rock and roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers. It comes with an alto and tenor mp3 of the G7 section of the book. "Mastering the Blues Scale Vol. 1 Minor" In Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 1, I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use in your own playing over minor grooves. From slow Blues, to fast Funk, to Rock and Roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers. These blues licks combine many of the idiomatic sequences, intervals and finger patterns, you really need to have down, if you want to get burning on the blues scale. If you are stuck playing your blues scales straight up and down, practicing these licks will soon have you playing with the technique and flexibility required to be able to play what you hear. Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 1 Minorhas 100 great blues licks in all 12 keys. It is a PDF file that you can download immediately so you can get to work.
Check my book out on the Major Bebop Scale & Sound The book has been selling great! You can download it as a PDF file or order a printed version by clicking here.
The first scale most musicians learn is the major scale. We learn it in all 12 keys up and down our instruments. Even though this is one of the first scales we learn many intermediate jazz musicians are quite frustrated when trying to improvise over a major tonality. I was one of those frustrated musicians. I could never come up with interesting and fresh ideas when playing over those major sounds. The material in this book comes from years of learning how to play over those major chords. I explain the major bebop scale and how to use it so you sound great. I then give you 26 major bebop links to add into your lines and ideas. These are ideas, licks and patterns that have come from years of listening to jazz and practicing improvisation. As you work through this book you will see your jazz playing change in an incredible and exciting way.
Thanks, Steve
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Other Jazz Books by Steve Neff
The II-V-I pattern is the most common pattern in jazz music. The more adept you are at playing this pattern in all the keys the better your facility in the jazz language. In the past 20 years I have been keeping a notebook of these patterns. I've tried to limit the ones in "Best Major and Minor II-V-I Patterns" book to the hippest ones and to strain out the ones that are more popular or overused. In my opinion these are the best II-V-I licks that I've come across in the past 20-25 years. There are 200 licks in this 204 page pdf file.(120 Major Licks and 80 Minor Licks) Each lick is transposed into all 12 keys using Finale and is easy to read.Trust me when I say that these things will keep you busy for a long time but once mastered your playing will improve incredibly. Visit my site at www.neffmusic.com for more information and sound clips.Mastering The Dominant Bebop Scale 
"Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale" is an essential tool in playing jazz. It is used all over the place in jazz music. If your transcribing jazz solos you won't have to go long before you find some variation of this scale being used. In this book I focus on the dominant tonality and what to play over it. The book starts out with the basic dominant bebop scale. The next section deals with what I call "Bebop Scale Links". These are small phrases or patterns that can be inserted into the bebop line to add variation. The next section deals with "Dominant Resolution Links". These can be added to the bebop scale when the dominant chord is resolving down a fifth. In the last section of the book, I write about how to use and practice these scales and links over a standard blues progression. I provide a 4 chorus blues solo to demonstrate. This book is filled with many musical gems that once mastered will add greatly to your jazz vocabulary. Have fun. I hope you dig these as much as I have over the years.
Approach Note Velocity-Major & Minor A number of years ago , I was frustrated with my playing over static major and minor grooves. At that time, although I could play in all keys, more often than not I was held back to the same old diatonic patterns and licks I had studied as a kid. As a solution, I decided to come up with a comprehensive method using approach notes that I could use to systematically solve these perceived weaknesses in my playing called "Approach Note Velocity". I started by writing out every approach I could think of in every major and minor key. As I worked on, and added to, my collection of approaches, I saw the positive results in my performances.I really believe that working on these exercises has helped my playing immensely. I hope that you get as much out of these exercises as I have and that they will improve your performances. This book is 191 pages long and the patterns are transposed into all 24 major and minor keys. Visit my website at www.neffmusic.com for more information and sound clips  The Ultimate II-V-I Primer Available as a PDF File Over the last few years as I have sold my "Best II-V-I Pattern" books, I have received some great reviews and feedback from the books. Every once in a while I would get an email from someone who loved the books and the patterns but wasn't ready to handle patterns of this caliber. These emails would usually ask how to work on the patterns or how to learn them in every key...........etc. I decided to write "The Ultimate II-V-I Primer" for all of you who would like to master the II-V-I pattern but also gain a firm grasp on 95% of the chords that you will see in the jazz standards most of us play. I start at the very beginning and add one note at a time to the exercises. In the beginning I just focus on the roots, then the root and 3rds, then the 1,2,3, then the 1,3,5........ The exercises are written so that you can learn your chords and scales in a progressive logical order. Whether you are a beginner improviser or a intermediate player who wants to go back and make sure you covered all the bases, this is a great book to work from. |
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Neffmusic.com is a site developed for musicians to learn more about jazz and
improvisation. As a saxophone player and teacher I offer a tremendous
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Sincerely,
Steve Neff
NeffMusic
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