So you’ve just got back from the sax shop and you’re sitting there holding a big tube of metal with lots of buttons on it and it all looks a bit confusing! Or maybe you played years ago and you want to get started again in the right way and build good habits from the start. If that’s the case, then this is the course for you!

Lesson 1: Mouthpiece, Ligature and Reed.
Lesson 2: Forming Your Embouchure and First Sound.
Lesson 3: Finger Placement and First Notes.
Lesson 4: Articulation and 4 more notes.
Lesson 5:  2nd Octave Notes, Low C, Reading Music Intro + When The Saints.
Lesson 6: F# and C#, D major Scale+ more!
Lesson 7: Bb  and Eb, The Minor Pentatonic + The Blues!
Lesson 8: Ab and High D, The Chormatic Scale + Blue Skies
Lesson 9: High D# and E, Low C#, 16th note rhythms + a funk sax workout!
Lesson 10: All the notes, building your routine, 7 steps to learn any tune!

Have you always wanted solo over your favourite songs, play the blues or jam with friends? Nothing beats the freedom and creative expression of improvising! Not only is it incredibly rewarding and fun, you'll become a much better musician too. This course will guide from the very beginning, in a clear step-by-step way with practical and fun lessons that get you playing from the start!

Module 1: Getting Started
Lesson 1: Keeping the groove 
Lesson 2: Your first phrases
Lesson 3: Expanding your range
Lesson 4: Building solos with phrases
Lesson 5: The Blues Scale

Module 2: The Blues
Lesson 6: The Simple Blues
Lesson 7: The Major Blues Scale
Lesson 8: 2 New Keys 
Lesson 9: The Minor Blues (Part 1)
Lesson 10: The Minor Blues (Part 2)

Module 3: Common Progressions
Lesson 11: The 50's Progression
Lesson 12: The Major II V I
Lesson 13: The Minor II V I
Lesson 14: Adding Passing Notes
Lesson 15: Enclosures
Lesson 16: Short II V and Learning Language
Lesson 17: The Secondary Dominant 
Lesson 18: The Back Door Progression
Lesson 19: Turnarounds 
Lesson 20: Turnarounds (Part 2)

Module 4: Famous Jazz Tunes
Lesson 21: How to solo on the Jazz Blues (Full Version)
Lesson 22: How to solo on Summertime
Lesson 23: How to solo on  Rhythm Changes
Lesson 24: How to solo on Autumn Leaves
Lesson 25: How to solo on There Will Never Be Another You

Module 5: Learning From The Greats
Lesson 26: Cannonball's Solo on Barefoot Sunday Blues
Lesson 27: Branford Marsalis on Englishman In New York
Lesson 28: Stan Getz on The Girl From Ipanema
Lesson 29: Lester Young on Lester Leaps In
Lesson 30: Charlie Parker on Cherokee

Learn what really makes the saxophone one of the most expressive instruments in the world. In this course you'll learn how to use articulate and phrase notes so that they sound like they do on your favourite records!

Module 1: Shaping Your Sound

Lesson 1: The Breath - increase your control and power.

Lesson 2: Shape your notes and phrases with dynamics.

Lesson 3: Vibrato

Lesson 4: Bend it don't scoop it!

Lesson 5: The Growl!

Module 2: Tonguing and Articulation

Lesson 6: Legato Tonguing

Lesson 7: How and when to use staccato

Lesson 8: Flutter tonguing

Lesson 9: Muted Tonguing (Part 1)

Lesson 10: Muted Tonguing and Jazz Articulation (Part 2)

Do any of these effect you?

• Have you ever struggled to keep time when playing with backing tracks?
• Do you struggle to sight read rhythms?
• Do you ever get lost in you sax solos when improvising?
• Do you want to sound engaging when you play?
• Do you lack confidence when you perform?

The reason is the way you feel and understand music rhythmically. It is underneath everything we do on the sax. If you improve your rhythm you will notice that everything gets better!

Module 1: Rhythmic Foundations

Lesson 1: Layering rhythms, vocalising note values + 'rhythmic' scales

Lesson 2: 8th Note Combinations

Lesson 3: Time to Swing!

Lesson 4: Off-Beat Workout!

Lesson 5: Introducing Triplets + 16th Notes

Module 2: Cross Rhythms

Lesson 6: Triplets in 2's

Lesson 7: Triplets in 4's

Lesson 8: It Don't Mean A Thing!

Lesson 9: 3 3 2 Blues

Lesson 10: Rhythmic Displacement + The Girl From Ipanema

Lesson 11: Let's Take Fives

Module 3: Time Feels

Lesson 12: Double Time (Part 1)

Lesson 13: Double Time Part 2)

Lesson 14: 3/4 Time (Part 1)

Lesson 15: 3/4 Time (Part 2)

Lesson 16: Compound Time

Original YouTube Short Videos (vertical under 60 seconds) are here with these extra features that are not available on youtube:

PDF downloads of all the material played.
Ability to slow the videos to 3/4 and 1/2 speed for practice.
Subtitles in French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish

What's Inside So Far?

• Minor ii V Trick!
• Major Jazz Pattern
• Open Up Your Arpeggios!
• Jazz 6ths Pattern
• Blues Lick in 3 Steps!
• 3 Charlie Parker Blues Licks
• 6 Levels of ii V I
• Decorate A Melody With This!
• A (Very!) Fast Blues Lick!
• Great Way To Learn ALL Your Arpeggios
• A Great Pentatonic Pattern
• 3 Rhythm Ideas On Autumn Leaves (or Any Tune!)
• John Coltrane Infinite Lick Challenge
• 3 Phrasing Ideas for Melodic Solos
• Jingle Steps!
• Great Sound On Major Chords
• 3 John Coltrane Licks
• Finger Speed Exercise
• Turn any fragment into music
• Killer Pentatonic Rhythm Exercise
• Minor ii V I Trick
• Charlie Parker Lick Challenge
• Jazz Lick In 4 Steps!
• Pentatonic Pattern in 5 Steps
• Jazz Scale Pattern For Any Scale
• Jazz Up Your Arpeggios
• Add Fire To Your Pentatonics!
• John Coltrane Dimished Pattern
• Play The OSA Lick!
• Try The Modal Challenge!
• Jazz Up Your Scales
• Try This ii - V - I Pathway
• Faster Fingers On Sax!
• Hidden Blues Scale Shape!
• Great Sound on a D7 Chord
• Great Blues Scale Trick!
• Try This On A Major ii - V I
• Try This On A Dominant 7th Chord
• Try This Rhythm Idea
• Try This on a Major Chord
• ii - V - I Trick!
• The Self-Cycling Lick

Build a stronger connection with the saxophone, be able to play more in tune, play melodies by ear and improve you improvisation! You can train with this ear training course with or without your sax! Each lesson builds on the last one with exercises to train your ears up to the level of a pros!

Lesson 1: Introduction to ear training
Lesson 2: 6 exercises for  1st, 2nd and 3rd scale degrees
Lesson 3: Harmonic intervals + 4th scale degree
Lesson 4: Triads + 5th scale degree
Lesson 5: Chord I and IV +  6th scale degree
Lesson 6: Chord I, IV and V + full major scale
Lesson 7: The b3 + full major scale 
Lesson 8: The b7 and common blues phrases
Lesson 9: The b5/#4
Lesson 10: The b6/#5
Lesson 11: The b2
Lesson 12: All 12 degrees!

Music theory has a bad reputation for being complex, boring and irrelevant. Not in the Practical Music Theory course! We forcus on the essentials that will actually help you in world of pop, jazz and improvising. Every lesson is packed with useful info that you can use on saxophone. Understand music in a deeper way and unlock new creative pathways.

Lesson 1: The major scale and how to build it.
Lesson 2: How to read and understand the chords for songs like 'Stand By Me'
Lesson 3: How to build the most common 7th chords
Lesson 4: What are 9th, 11th and 13th chords and how to alter extensions.
Lesson 5: Sus chords, slash chords and chord inversions
Lesson 6: The famous ii V I chord progression!
Lesson 7: What to play over common chord sequences.
Lesson 8: Melodic minor scales and chords
Lesson 9: Use pentatonic scales over common chord sequences
Lesson 10: How to build common melodic minor pentatonic scales
Lesson 11: How to use chromatic approach notes, passing notes and enclosures
Lesson 12: What is the tritone substitution?
Lesson 13: Improvising over 1 chord - different strategies for interesting lines
Lesson 14: How to create lines using parallel pentatonic scales and musical cells.
Lesson 15: The modes of the major scale.
Lesson 16: The modes of the melodic minor scale
Lesson 17: The modes of the harmonic minor scale
Lesson 18: The diminished scale (part 1)
Lesson 19: The diminished scale (part 2)
Lesson 20: The diminished scale (part 3)
Lesson 21: Guide-tone lines (part 1)
Lesson 22: Guide-tone lines (part 2)

Your questions answered about all things music and saxophone! You can send me questions about saxophone gear, playing tips, practice techniques, tone production, improvisation, reading... You get the idea! No question is too large or small!

2023 Sessions:

February 2023: Reeds, mouthpieces, practice tips, vibrato and articulation.

March 2023: The bis key, improvisation and fuzzy sounds, tuning.

April 2023: High notes, low notes, jamming with a band, and sticky keys.

May 2023: Breathing, how to store you sax and reading chords.

June 2023: Staying motivated and focused, writing a blues and articulation. 

July 2023: Playing different size saxes, notation software and improvisation.

August 2023: Playing tied notes, synthetic reeds, squeaky G, how to count when reading and more.

September 2023: ii V Is, daily practice routines, how to remember tunes, low Bb tips and more

October 2023: Choosing a mouthpeice, teeth vibrating on mouthpeice, breathy sounds, how to become an improvisor and more.

November 2023: Fixing high notes, sore lips, playing to an audience, gear for gigs and more.

December 2023: Recording your sax, standing and playing, tuning, should I join a band and more.

2024 Sessions:

January 2024: Economics of reeds, learning road maps, overcoming mental blocks and more.

February 2024: The most questions ever! everything from reeds, reading and improvising!

March 2024: Stuffy D's! Help with high notes! What are these 'x' and '+' markings? and more!

April 2024: How the mouthpiece changed through sax history! Best videos for the II V I, What body part is best for feeling rhythms? and more!

May 2024: When to replace a saxophone reed, learning about chords and improvisation, automatic recall of music theory.

June 2024: Coming soon. Email your question to [email protected]