Description
Learning to be a great jazz improviser is a life long journey. If you love jazz and are drawn to the vision of standing in front of a crowd as you improvise a great jazz solo, then you are more than likely ready to take your first steps to get there. The question I hear about most from potential students is “Where do I start?”. This can be overwhelming for a beginning jazz student. There are so many books and methods out there that a student has no idea where to start. In this beginner jazz improvisation series for the alto saxophone I teach you a balanced approach to learning to improvise.
I will take you from the very beginning and teach you how to improvise just as if you were a new student coming in to my studio in person. In this lesson I teach you the C major scale, the D dorian scale, the G mixolydian scale and the chords that these work over. I show you how to learn them and the chords as well as how to practice them with some Aebersold play alongs. I also show you the A blues scale and talk about how to use it against C major and A minor. Rather than just stopping there, I go a step further by teaching you how to hear the resolution points within each scale and chord and what to listen for when improvising. Once you can hear these tensions and resolutions it will help and empower you to create your own unique and personal lines and solos. My goal with these series of lessons is too teach you all the basic chords and scales in every key and get you improvising in a fluent way over some common jazz standards. (Audio,Video & PDF) (32 Minute Video Lesson)
Stephen –
Great start to this series of lessons and definitely better than shooting stars or passing comets I am truly grateful that this is happening in my lifetime. Great work Steve!
Adrian –
“Steve, your Basic Improv lessons are THE BOMB!!! I have gone through so many teachers and none of them explains the concept and methodology quite as simply and easy to understand as yours! They just ask you to memorize scales and play what comes to mind. All jazz instructors should take a look at what you have.
These lessons should be the very first lessons you put up. Makes everything all so clear now.
Please consider writing a Neff Method to Basic Jazz Improv. I believe it will become a must have book for many Jazz Improv 101 college programs.
Pete Dimaline –
I want to say something about Steve Neff’s series of lessons, Beginner Jazz Improvisation. For a couple of years I tried many beginner lessons and my problem was that there was a gap between lessons that were fairly simple and ones that I was not quite ready for and my progress stalled out. That problem was solved with the series Beginner Jazz Improvisation. He guides you step by step along the way and builds a foundation for learning jazz and blues. He leaves no question about what to practice and focus on and the material is very interesting. I think this is the best teaching series available and he continues to add more lessons to the series. I can’t thank him enough for it. May he go on for ever! Pete
Sam Munn –
I just started on my first lesson ‘Beginning I improvisation 1A’. The way this lesson has started out is filling me with a lot of hope because it really does start from the ‘beginning’. I have bought many books, tapes and downloads labeled as ‘Beginners’ and after the first sentence they start rattling off like Charlie Parker. They must have forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner – so frigging frustrating. Well i am going back to your video, let you know how i get on.
Cheers, Sam
Bill –
This is an awesome series. I am now more that half way through the series and I am quite pleased with my progress. Some of the lessons stand out more than others but the bottom line is over time you will gain an in depth knowledge of improvisation. One of my favorite things to do on my spare time is to improvise along with my “Band-In-A-Box”. I really feel like I’m progressing in my knowledge and skills. My wife told me she actually likes listening to me. What a shock that was to hear. By the way don’t let the title “Beginner Improvisation Series” fool you. This is not just for beginners.
Vinny (verified owner) –
Hello, I just listened to both 1A and 1B on the beginning Jazz Improvisation for the Alto and took notes. Wow. There is a lot of work here. This is great stuff Sir. I know a good amount of notes but have not in my short time playing learned the scales so I know I have a lot of catching up to do. It will take me a while to get to the place to play with the recordings on the volumes.
Next month I have 4 more lessons to pick and I am just getting started on these 4. No one’s fault but my own.
I am going to memorize them. Love the blues
Again, great lessons.
Vinny
TIM GOUGH (verified owner) –
Really impressed with the course. After years learning and playing classical repertoire and knowing nothing at all about jazz and blues it’s starting out great, and it suits my way of learning. Can’t wait to learn and practice even more. Highly recommended.