Question about new course

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Hi Johnny – question about the new course.

Do i have to complete the killer blues course 1st before doing your new one?

The only reason i ask, is i haven’t started the killer blues course properly yet – 2 reasons currently doing a year long music theory course which has helped me to understand & simplified the killer blues course. The other reason not been quite ready for improvisation as i want to complete harmony first.

The major scale improvisation at the moment appeals to me more than the killer blues course (in my caae) as i’m not particularly that pentatonic inclined at the moment though i do want to delve it some stage.

[john]

Don’t worry about your current understanding of harmony for either of these 2 ways (Killer Blues and Major Scale) because that is covered within both these courses as they progress. Theory is important and one cannot learn how to improvise without understanding it. There is a bit more theory covered in the major Scale course.

I would say the Blues course would be the easiest and best way for anyone to approach it since it comes at it with the very simple pentatonic scales. As you know by now, pentatonic means 5 so these are very easy scales to learn. Just listen to Bobby Keys’ solo in Brown Sugar. This is a great classic blues-rock solo consisting of only 5 notes, as you will see as it’s broken down and analyzed in the Killer Blues course. So, yo can solo like this by learning and practicing these 5 note scales…not much knowledge of theory needed there.

Now the upcoming Major Scale Improv course goes deeper into it. It’s very cool because you’ll learn how to play good sounding solos by using only the notes of a major scale. This expands into chords that are built on the notes of the major scale, and this is how you will greatly expand your knowledge and understanding of harmony.

So, in a word, no, you don’t have to do one of these courses in order to do the other as they approach the huge subject of improvisation in 2 different ways. As you progress with your playing you will want to learn both of these approaches. What you will learn in one is different from what you will learn in the other.

[Michael]

I have started working on the Brown Sugar Sax solo and there’s an interesting point that Johnny brings out which I think is one of the coolest things in the world…and that is recycling our music! He shows how we can pull out the Brown Sugar Sax solo and use it over many situations given the key we’re playing in. That kind of made a “light bulb” go off in my head because we can “recycle” other solos that we know, given the key we’re working with? At the very least, there are licks/riffs in so many of those famous solos that we can pull out/copy and use in our own Improvisation?
For me, right now I want to focus on getting all of this stuff in Killer Blues under my belt; once I’ve done that (I’m getting there) and I can say that what Johnny teaches in Killer Blues is a permanent part of my music vocabulary/use it at will, then I’ll be ready to dive into his new Improvisation course. I want to “finish what I started” and not be “pond hopping” from one thing to the next. Having a realistic goal, I’m aiming to be ready for his new course by late Summer/early fall. In working on my own version of “The Green Onions” Johnny’s lessons of the Minor Pentatonic Scales and the Blues Scales is PERFECT for the Green Onions with my goal of really emphasizing those key notes in the Scales.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice Johnny!

I’ve already paid to do a year long music theory course, and will be doing several weeks of harmony in a few weeks time so i’m a bit pushed to find the extra time for additional stuff. But look forward more to the major scale improvising when it comes out. Once i’ve completed my theory course i will have more time to look at any additional stuff properly, including killer blues.

I’m familiar with pentatonic scales, and just starting to learn to play songs from memory using backing tracks. improvising is a bit low priority for me as i need to master to be able to play to backing tracks properly before hand!

[john]

@james Working on playing songs from memory is very important and will go a long way to help you in your improvising efforts.

@michael Ya the recycling bit… that’s why I included a bunch of my 2-4 bar licks at the end of the course. If you learn these you’ll feel confident to know that you’ll always have a solid riff to start a solo off with… a way to grab someone’s attention…a way to start your solo off solid. This is important.

[Anonymous]

Thanks For the tips johnny about the advantages of learning to play from memory!

I also do a 1/2 hr meditation on the sax, which involes working around 5 chromatic notes! sort of get the landscape feeling of the sax. Pick a note at random & go down 2 chromatic steps & 2 go up 2 chromatic steps, covering 5 chromatic notes, and improvising around those 5 notes.
Repeat another day at a different part of the sax!

So in a way – this is a bit of improvusing, without relying on learning a lot of tricks from other people – trying to come up with my own ideas.

See how it goes!
cheers

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