Killer Blues Updates, Improvements?

[john]

Hey all. I’ve been updating a few things and going through the Killer Blues course and wondering if there’s any thing in there that anyone has had a difficult time with or not quite understanding.

Even something you wish was covered or thought was missing.

This course may very well be up for an extension of some kind so feel free to give me your thoughts and possibly improve upon what’s already there.

[Simon]

Hey Johny, i love killer blues course. I just miss tune in G blues(tenor sax)-F concert. And maybe demo video at slower speed. Otherwise it’s great course.

S.

[Anonymous]

i’m waiting to hear more comments from other people who have done the ‘Killer Blues’ course.

i’ve got the ‘Killer Blues’ course, the ‘major Improvisation’ course, the ‘Improvise For Real’ course off the internet, a couple of music books on ‘Jazz’ improvisation. I also spent 6 months being taught or if you like, introduced into how to ‘improvise’ on the sax.

[john]

@sxpoet,Love to hear what some of the differences you found between all those and what, if anything you didn’t grasp or thought was missing as well as what did come across to actually help you

[john]

Thanks Simon, will keep that request in mind.

[Anonymous]

@johnny – in my case what it boils down to, is how commited i am in wanting to do something. The ‘daily practice’ course and the ‘altissimo’ courses i completed working all the way through as i was determined to be able to play altissimo and get a good tone practice routine.

Both the ‘Killer Blues’ course and the ‘Major improvisation’ courses, i started and then put on hold at the time, due the fact i didn’t have a burning desire to put a lot of work into improvising, when all i really wanted to do was enjoy playing sheet music tunes.

I bought the ‘Improvise For Real’ course written by a guitar player, way before you published the ‘Major Improvisation’ course, mainly out of curiosity as the author doesn’t use any sheet music and tries to steer completely away from music theory. He works with the major scale pattern starting on any sax key, the modes, and chord inversions and then provides 12 tracks for each major scale to work with all the above – starting out with melody improvisation, and then harmony improvisation for advanced players (which i havent tried out yet).

Then my sax teacher got wind of my interest in improvising and taught me for 6 months, as he is a great improvisor (jazz, blues, rock and roll). Most of the stuff you cover in both your ‘Killer Blues’ and ‘Major Improvisation’ courses was touched on. So there is a lot of common ground betwen all these improvisation courses.

After 6 months i stopped improvising, as i was horrifed at how my music sheet reading skills had dropped below the standard of a grade 1 player, now i’m concentrating playing in time to backing tracks, as soon as that improves i shall do some more improvising brushing up, I’ve restarted the ‘Major Improvisation’ course, i feel thats more important than ‘Killer Blues’, as most music sheets i have, have the improvisation chords written out (thats just a personal choice), coupled with the ‘Improvise For Real’ course as it has something mystical about it, that i cant lay my finger on.

Michael Bishop is a great follower of Killer Blues, but then thats down to the area you live in and how popular that kind of music is to drive you to want to do it. Where i live, the general non musical folks follow present day music, the musical taught folks usually start out classical trained and then branch out and focus on classical, blues, rock and roll, jazz etc…but when they get into the music industry they bend towards what the public wants to get the dollars in.

Sorry, Johnny …not been very helpful, if i have issues with the ‘Major Improvisation’ course, i’ll let you know.

[john]

thanks that’s very helpful. I haven’t looked at other guy’s courses so am a bit curious. I also know that they will all have a lot in common cause there’s some must-do theory we all need to follow to make it work. every player/teacher will have his own take and way of looking at it so one way may help somebody more than another way.

Anyone that’s serious about improvisation eventually needs to know more than just the blues scales or what’s covered in the Major Scale Improve course but these two will take you a long way. After that would be more jazz study to really round you out.
the guitarist you mentioned about not using sheet music and theory etc sounds interesting as I couldn’t imagine learning this stuff without it. but there are a lot of guitar players that learn completely by ear so this would make sense and a great way for them to grasp it…probably the only way so I bet he sells a lot of them.

[Anonymous]

Hi Johhny,

Here’s some of the, what i would call ‘textbooks’ or ‘reference books’, that i bought in the past (covered in dust).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aebersold-How-Play-Jazz-Improvise/dp/B0002J6I8M

https://www.amazon.co.uk/54-Maiden-Voyage-Instruments-Audio/dp/1562242121

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jamey-Aebersold-Jazz-II-V7-I-Progression/dp/B00AK5NRCI

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blues-Improvisation-Complete-Instruments-Play-Along/dp/0634015311

These are great books, but and a big BUT, they are way too difficult for novices like me to fully understand what they are doing, and why they are doing it, and if they are doing it properly. A novice would need a music teacher, to explain and demonstrate whats going in these books.

What i like about ‘Killer Blues’ & ‘Major improvisation’ is ‘great backing tracks’ with videos to explain and demo stuff that are a must. Like you say, it gets you on the road, without getting too heavy into this stuff.

[Simon]

I’m learning basic blues with my teacher. What i found out so far is that improvising is too hard for me at this stage, as i’m still fighting with fingering and so on. But i use johnnys blues course for listening and trying to understand how changes go and to get that blues feel in mind. Everything looks so simple when you listen someone improvising, but it’s hard to understand. Johnnys blues course i would rate for intermediate players and up, or for someone who is already good in classical music and want to move to blues,jazz,and so on. When i practice blues, i have melody in my mind that i could use for improvisation on solo section, but i can’t get that melody thru sax. So first i need much much more practice on technique. Maybe some simple blues course with only few notes and at slow tempo would be nice for start to begin with blues. I practise blues in G blues scale(for tenor) at tempo 80 and i use only quarter and eight notes. Teacher write me center piece and i try to do something in improvisation, but as i said it’s hard for me- hahaha.

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not Simon, if you’ve never played a sax before, and get yourself a teacher with a music degree, and do your grade 1 abrsm exam in jazz for the saxophone in your first sax playing year, you will actually start practicing improvising in a matter of weeks. What i cant understand is why they only go up to grade 5, whereas the ordinary sax grades go up to grade 8 (where you get in a professional orchestra).

My sax teacher says the same thing about improvising – start straight away, its 99% gruelling sweaty practicing and 1% theory. practice, practice and more practice

[Author]

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