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Hi All! Recently a student of mine asked me if he should buy the “Real Book” transposed in Eb already (since he plays alto sax). Not only did I advise him to not solely rely on the “Real Book” for correct transcriptions of the tunes (many are out-right wrong), but he shouldn’t buy it in [...]
Why do we practice? To get better? (Whatever that may mean) To master our instrument? To learn new material? A new technique? Why? The answer is different for everyone. In order to achieve the purpose we set out for practicing we have to do decide what we are trying to achieve. This week’s tip is [...]
No other instrument enjoys so much popularity as the saxophone. People love it’s sound. How many times have you heard people say; “You play saxophone? That’s my favorite instrument!” Whether it’s jazz (where the sax is the number 1 symbol of the music), pop music (next to a screaming guitar solo, fans love a hot [...]
Whether or not you’re an improvising musician or not, creativity is an integral part of this profession. We need creativity not only to find the best ways to play a passage, express a cadenza, whale a bluesy solo, or play the most interesting chord progressions over a modal tune. We need creativity first and foremost, [...]
Building an Improvisational Vocabulary Download the Video
I’d like to take this moment to apologize to all subscribers. I’ve been drastically delayed in providing a video lesson this month due to some pretty heavy dental work I’ve had done that prevented me from being able to function well, nor speak clearly. I’ll get out a video and exercises as soon as I [...]
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This interview was conducted on the 28th of May 2003 at the Jazzclub Unterfahrt in Munich, Germany. Greg was currently on tour with the ‘New Sound Collective’ along with Terri Lynne Carrington, Steve Khan, and Jimmy Haslip. I spoke with Greg after the gig in the musician’s room.
In the musical life of every saxophonist comes a time when a few very important decisions have to be made. Decisions that cannot be put off, nor should if be ignored. These decisions are: “Which mouthpiece should I use?”,” What reed should I play on?” And although it is often ignored but just as important, “What ligature should I use?”
The Whole Tone Scale and the Diminished Whole Tone Scale their uses. Download the Video From Wikipedia.org: In music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbours by the interval of a whole step. There are only two complementary whole tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales: {C, D, E, F♯, G♯, A♯, C} Synthesized [...]



