Translation of Reply:

Hi Lluis and welcome 🙂

Hopefully some studio members can respond here sometime soon. This month we are working using pentatonics over standards. Check out the ‘Bye Bye Blackbird Unit’ tune into what the students are working on directly.

I personally have been practicing trying to play long lines on the blues in all 12…

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Hola Lluís, ¡bienvenido! :)

Espero que algunos miembros del estudio puedan responder pronto. Este mes estamos trabajando con escalas pentatónicas sobre estándares. Escucha la melodía de la unidad "Bye Bye Blackbird" para ver en qué están trabajando los alumnos.

Personalmente, he estado practicando líneas largas de blues en las 12…

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Lluis’ Translation:

Hello everyone.

My name is Lluis and I live in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

I've been playing the tenor saxophone as a hobby for a few years now.

I also play in an adult big band at a music school, and I've decided to join this group to improve my improvisation skills (which are quite limited).

I hope to learn a lot with the help…

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Hola a todos.

Mi nombre es Lluis y vivo en Barcelona, España.

Llevo algunos años tocando el saxofón tenor como hobby.

También toco en una big band para adultos en una escuela de música y he decidido unirme a este grupo para mejorar mis habilidades de improvisación (que son muy limitadas).

Espero aprender mucho con la ayuda de Steve y todos…

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Welcome back Robert! Great to have you here. Have a look around and let me know if you have any questions about anything 🙂

Hi Steve, I took you up on your offer and returned to the Improv Studio. Looking forward to making progress. Talk soon. Robert

Hey Roberto – yes I just changed the order to go from ‘more simple’ to ‘more complicated’. I think people were getting frustrated with a very difficult song like ‘Confirmation’ being the first lesson 🙂

Hey Roberto – great question 🙂 sometimes when playing over dominant chords I prefer the sound of the natural 9 EVEN THOUGH there is a b9 in the chord. It just helps keep the sound clear in my head and to play cleaner ideas. I also prefer the sound of the pentatonic with no half steps in it because there is a good contrast when you switch to…

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Hi Steve, I’ve noticed that I’ve changed the order in which the lessons appear. Is this because it’s the progressive order you recommend studying them in, or is it random? Thanks and regards.

Hi Steve. I enrolled in this course in June of this year. I’ve been progressing through the lessons in the order they appeared, and I’m currently working on “Invitation.” I find the lessons very good and believe they’re helping me improve my improvisation skills significantly. My instrument is the alto saxophone, and I also play a little piano.… Read more

HAHAHAHA – I put this right up there with my favorite trombone player joke… What’s the difference between a Bone player and a Pizza? The Pizza can feed a family of 4 😅

What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless!

Hey Guillame 🙂

I appreciate the kick in the butt… They’re not up yet but standby. I have every intention to try to get something useful up by the end of the month. Thanks for your patience – this has been a wild month.

IN THE MEAN TIME, please consider revisiting one of the previous lessons with information you have learned in a lesson…

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So…no lesson at all this month ??

Ha! Thx, Steve.

Felt good! Previously, I had planned out and memorized exactly what to play, so it felt good to able to be more free blowing; like I’m making progress as an improviser.

I was previously thinking I could only blow over G7 as written, but using the Gm7 as well opens up a ton of possibilities. Thx again for ur insight!

Wooo! Yeah this is great man! Nice time feel and I dig the ‘Pass the Peas’ quote. You’re staying in the key center in a great way and playing ideas that the rhythm section seems to really dig. When it goes back to the concert F- I personally would keep blowing over all that just for fun 🙂 Other than that, not much to critique here – nice work!

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Hey, posting a video of me sitting in with a local band, hope u guys enjoy, thx!https://youtube.com/shorts/fDGHZ3Ihnno?si=YrBnmaXQ3HFntwZQ

Ha, love it, thx for the motivation to get in the shed!

Hey Mike! Great questions and one thing is standing out to me from your line of questioning. Short answer is… IT ALL WORKS! With one exception – you had said ‘So What’ was in B- In the Tenor Key the A Sections are in E- and you would experiment with Improvising and building phrases in E-7 (E-7 Pent) or A7 (A Dom Pent OR E-6 Pent, its the…

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Awesome! Thx, that makes sense.

One follow-up:

If ‘Pick Up the Pieces’ is a dominant 7th, how would I transpose the ‘So What ‘ material, since it’s in a minor key?

For So What in Bm7, we were exploring F#7 (or V of i), and Em7 (V of ii).

Would that not directly translate, due to minor 7th vs. dominant 7th?

For Pick Up the Pieces, which would we…

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Hey Mike – Great question!
There are 2 things you want to think about with long solos over one chord: Tension and Release. I cover this a bit back in the ‘So What/Impressions’ Unit (the 4th unit in the studio) and cover some of my favorite ways to play over one chord for an extended period of time. The control of the tension comes from…

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Any tips for playing over Pick Up the Pieces? Building a solo?

Getting ready to play it at a gig…

The solo section is mostly a vamp (G7 on alto) and returns to the home key (Dm) as well during the solo section.

which is great b/c it’s simple, but at the same time makes it difficult!!!

I’m thinking that elements from the Sidewinder module on…

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