Bobby Stern, Author at Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever.: Recent Episodes
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As 2019 marked the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s initial recording of “Giant Steps” (March, 1959 for the Atlantic record label), it seems hard to believe that it was really that long ago. Along with an additional pair of originals, “Countdown” and “Fifth House”, also recorded that year, these three tunes employed a harmonic device [read more...]
The post Exercises and Sequences for Overcoming Fear of “Coltrane Changes” Once and For All appeared first on Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever..
Permutation – “often major or fundamental change (as in character or condition) based primarily on rearrangement of existent elements.” “the act or process of changing the lineal order of an ordered set of objects.” – Merriam-Webster Thank you Merriam. You hit the nail on the head. The “rearrangement of existent elements” and the “ordered set [read more...]
The post How to Turn Four Notes Into Nearly Infinite Musical Possibilities appeared first on Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever..
Stuck for ideas of what to play over that ii-V7? Give the octatonic (eight note) Diminished Scale a whirl. It’s a self contained, colorful, almost automatic source of melodic and harmonic tension and release that the masters have mastered since its inception. Within this symmetric, octatonic galaxy resides every available dominant tension (with the exception [read more...]
The post Using the Diminished Scale ii-V7-I for Weaving In and Out of Changes appeared first on Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever..
This article was written by guest contributor, Bobby Stern, a long time professional saxophonist, jazz player, educator, Bari Woodwinds endorser and author of “The Melodic Minor Handbook: A Jazz Player’s Perspective” as well as a new self published eBook “Slick Licks That Stick!” This is a very useful series of exercises for building your chops and acclimating your ear to different tonal [read more...]
The post A Set of Pentatonic Scale Exercises to Super-Charge Your Technique, Ear, and Improvisation appeared first on Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever..