Welcome to the Scott Paddock Sax School! This course is laser-focused on getting your fingers moving faster and cleaner while playing in a bebop jazz style. In this course, we will be playing technique exercises written over the chord changes to popular jazz standards.
When you finish this course, you will:
- Be able to play fast & clean in a jazz style
- Be used to weaving through chord progressions
- Be comfortable playing chromaticism in jazz lines
- Know what good voice leading sounds like
- Know how to articulate in a jazz style
- Understand the importance of goal notes when playing fast lines
- Hear what improv lines sound like over the A section of several jazz standards
THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER COURSE. This course will help improve your technique and get your ears used to playing in a jazz style while weaving through chord changes, but to be successful with this course, you need to already have clean technique and a basic foundation of jazz style.
Prerequisites for the Bebop Chop Shop:
- Completed the Jazz Style section of the Sax School (very important!).
- Be able to perform technique exercises comfortably at 140 bpm.
- Be able to improvise at an intermediate level.
- Have a basic understanding of how chords work together (tonal centers, 2-5-1, major 7 vs minor 7, etc).
MY SUGGESTION
This would be a great course to start after finishing the Intermediate: part 2 Pathway Course. The Chop Shop Exercises, Jazz Style Section, and Improvisation Section in that Pathway Course will set you up perfectly for success with these exercises. For an even stronger foundation, spend some time with the Charlie Parker Omnibook exercises in the Early Advanced Pathway Course first.
These exercises are difficult, and trying to work on them too early will result in frustration. Remember, the fastest pathway to mastery is step-by-step.