Pent Up Blues on MP3

[Anonymous]

Here’s a little tune inspired by the Killer Blues Course.

Pent Up Blues

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeffrey – i haven’t done any blue’s work at all. I did flick through the killer blues, but opted to work on the major scale improvisation course (slowly doing bits of it when i find time) then i want to get onto the killer blues course later on next year (grades permitting).

So i’d be interested to hear comments from anyone else – whose done/doing the blues. i had a quick look at it today, and was playing round with an extra starting note ‘A’, changing the 1st 16 bars to Aminor key instead of C major – i don’t intend to change the melody – just messing about starting with different modes to see how it changes as in the major scale improvisation.

[Michael]

Hi Jeffrey,
I’ve been heavily in to learning Blues/Rock using Johnny’s Killer Blues course for about a year now and I’m looking to get into Johnny’s new Major Scale Improvisation course sometime this coming year–I’ve just been taking the time to make this stuff in Killer Blues “my own”–I personally can’t go “pond hopping” from one course to the next, have to finish what I started before I move on to something else LOL
Couple of quick thoughts for you–it’s cool to hear you coming up with your own variations of Johnny’s exercises and that’s exactly what we want to do for sure. Johnny provides us the model and shows us the “how-to’s” after that it’s up to us to run with this stuff, so hats off to you there for sure. It’s also good to hear you starting off on the Tonic of the Scale and ending on that same note because it gives your Improvisation the feeling that you’ve “come home”. Many of the other notes on this scale can be used as passing notes or to set up some kind of tension, especially the fifth note of that scale. The 4th note of a scale is also a good way to set up some kind of tension before returning to the Tonic and it’s usually best to use the 4th of the scale in the middle of the song, while the fifth is better used towards creating tension near the end of the song, right before we end the Improvisation on the Tonic of the Scale. The 4th note isn’t part of the Pentatonic Scale (1-2-3-5-6) but even in this situation I’ll throw in the 4th in a way I just described to create some tension/as a passing note, but I don’t overdo this note when working with Pentatonic scales. When we play this stuff (your recording sounds like to me you we’re working on some licks/riffs with the Pentatonic Scales?) make sure you emphasize those key notes in the scale v.s. playing them like a technical, scale-form type of exercise. You should be “feeling” the way you wanna play and it should show when we Improvise. This is the blues were talking about, not a technical exercise, so put some “sugar and spice” into the way your playing 🙂 Even with Pentatonic Scales, throwing in a minor 3rd and flat 7 work great because they’re the 2 notes of any scale that most “define” the scale/chord you’re working with. These 2 notes in particular are great for giving your Improvisation that “bluesy” feel. Even though a minor 3rd and flat 7 aren’t part of Pentatonic Scale, they still work, just like the 4th I was talking about. It’s a matter of knowing when/how to use them. There are key notes in this, or any blues scales, that you want to scoop, accent, trill, etc.. Johnny talks about some of these important things when he breaks down the Brown Sugar Sax solo. On the Pentatonic, for starters the 3rd is a great note to do this kind of stuff with. Take a look at HOW Johnny plays those exercises…he’s not just playing like he memorized a technical scale or something. It would be cool, if possible, to try out some of your licks/riffs with one of the backing tracks Johnny provides at the end of Killer blues, this does a lot of good to help you develop your Blues Improvisation in terms of not just things like timing and what, but also to get a “feel” for playing the Blues….the blues is GOOD stuff to say the least. Provided you know your scales, it should be fairly easy to take those same licks/riffs you create and play them in any key. Depending on which track you use, you can give your licks a ‘swing’ type feel or a ‘rock’ type of feel. This is a lot for one comment LOL but hope it helps. Good for you to jump into this stuff…just about everywhere you go people LOVE hearing the Blues on the Saxophone and as Johnny once told me, he’s made a career out of playing this stuff 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael, please don’t think I know what I’m doing! After spending quite a number of hours studying the Killer Blues Course I woke up the following morning with the first few bars of this tune in my head. I spent some time trying to make something of it, and this is what I have ended up with. I’m not sure if it qualifies as blues, but I had to give my baby a name right? Anyway I’ve been practicing it for a week, but the added stress of recording it made me repeatedly stumble over the more difficult bars. After numerous attempts I managed to produce what you hear. I had six recordings which were saved to disk, but many more of my attempts were instantly discarded. This process has taught me how much hard work and talent goes into producing decent music. One thing I can say is that by striving for a decent recording and listening to oneself play it focusses one’s effort, and makes for quicker skills development.

[Michael]

Jeffrey, that’s totally cool, no worries! 🙂 I’m not kidding myself, I still don’t know what I’m doing LOL I was just giving you some pointers that Johnny brings out because you are on to something and definately have the right idea for sure. And for the fact that you spent a good number of hours working on this stuff and then all of the sudden had those music lines come into you head like that is a VERY good thing, that’s how it starts. That goes to show too that Johnny’s exercise are getting “burned” into your mind and that’s what happens when we work on them over and over, plus you make quicker development like you were saying above. No worries at all, it’s all in fun for sure–I’m not always the best with communicating/transmitting things on a cpu. As you go along just bear in mind the points above and it’ll start to happen for you, for sure 🙂

[Kevin]

Jeffery, I liked your composition from the stand point of your chord selection, not just the basic 1-4-5. Surely a good work for self education and developing those skills. Be nice to hear it with other band instruments joining in.

[Michael]

Kevin said it really well Jeffrey because you definately have the right idea and that’s how things start. Keep working at it and keep some of those points in mind that I mentioned above. Like when you play those lines again, think about some of the little things you can start doing with your exercise like scoops, growls, trills, feeling the way you wanna play, etc.. that I was mentioning above and it adds a lot. Also you may want to try what you’re coming up with in the 1-4-5 of a standard blues progression, then apply it to one of Johnny’s backing tracks like Kevin was saying above. Keep at it 🙂

[Dazza]

Here’s some blues I tried which is just using the D blues for now. Working on using the appropriate scales over each chord to add some colour. Need some more practice though!

[jake]

Here’s 2 Major THUMBS UP!!!!!!! Nice job Dazza, Man wish I had my sax to jam along with you right now. HaHa. Something about those blues just talks to me. Great tone you got working there as well.
Every now and then I just pop on some blues backing tracks from youtube, blast it thru my speakers and just jam away on the sax. Great times there! Funny how different keys of the blues gives a person different feelings.

[Dazza]

Thanks mate. The blues do get you going. I know this sounded a little repetitive on playback but the funny thing was I really didn’t have to think too much about the notes I played as I seemed to feel them rather than consciously choose them. Let’s face it, there was only six to choose from! That’s why I really want to expand on JF’s theory to play each scale over the chord changes. That’d be cooler.

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