Beginners Tunes

This is a blues in a “jump” style. As with Slinky we can use just one key scale, e.g the minor pentatonic or minor blues scale which is the same but with an added passing note. Again, if you feel like

This is as close as we get to jazz in this section, this is in the style of 1960s modal jazz which became popular in the late 1950s and 1960s. perhaps it was a backlash against the complexity of bebop.

This is a nice comfortable tempo simple jazz blues. Playing the blues is not as simple as many people suspect. Although we can use just one key scale, the one scale that will (most times) be OK is a minor type

Oh When the Saints Go Marching In is a famous tune everybody must know and is ideal for that moment when you are asked “come on, play us a tune then!” Eveyone knows this tunes, especially if you support any

Every now and again a friend of mine brings their son or daughter (who is learning the saxophone at school) round, and of course they are asked to play for me, which is probably as awkward for me as it

This tune is a typical two chord tune that uses chord I and V7 in a short 8 bar sequence. This is a common form which you can hear in songs such as All About That Bass, Jambalaya, Iko Iko,

The chords here should be familiar, they are the same as our Practical Impro Exercise. Alto     Tenor     This is a simple ska tune, you can take a few liberties with the phrasing of this, add some

Full sheet music (PDF), Audio files and more in Vol 2 Taming The Saxophone – Beginners Impro Minor Chords Im IVm & Vm (Gorilla) This exercise looks at how to work on the key scale and chords for the first