Ok, now that you have all of the notes for all three chords memorized, in all octaves of your horn, we have to start applying it to the blues chord pattern. The 12 bar blues pattern can be broken into three phrases. We will work on each phrase separately
in this lesson.
Remember those roman numbers from lesson one? Well now we are going to put those to work. They represent each of the chords. Enough on that now, just remember which notes correspond to each roman numeral.
The first four measures of the of the Blues is this: I IV I I
Each measure only has one chord for the entire measure. Now take the exercises you did in lesson one, and condense it down to thinking about it for each measure.
I will give actual notes for one example so you can see what I mean. I will use the notes for the Alto Sax. If you aren't an alto player you should still be able to understand the principal. Next time your on your own.
Altos's first measure is the I chord. G,B,D,F. They will use those notes for measure one. Measure two is IV. The notes are
C,E,G,Bb. They will use those notes in measure two. Measure three is the I chord again G,B,D,F. Those notes again for
measure three. Measure four is also the I chord again. G,B,D,F again.
Now when you improvise, you are responsible for keeping up with the measures that are going buy while you play. This sounds daunting at first. It's not if you start simple. Like maybe one note on beat one of each measure simple. Then try beat two. By the time you do that on each of the beats you will know what is going on.
Here is the track for the first four measures of the blues: Bb Blues 1st Phrase
All tracks repeat every four measures for a while.
The second phrase of the blues is: IV IV I I
Repeat the same process as above. Here is the track: Bb Blues 2nd Phrase
The third phrase of the blues is: V IV I I
Repeat the same process as above. Here is the track: Bb Blues 3rd Phrase
This should keep you busy for a little while. You should get to the point where you are feeling the chord changes and don't have to count every beat to keep track of where you are.
in this lesson.
Remember those roman numbers from lesson one? Well now we are going to put those to work. They represent each of the chords. Enough on that now, just remember which notes correspond to each roman numeral.
The first four measures of the of the Blues is this: I IV I I
Each measure only has one chord for the entire measure. Now take the exercises you did in lesson one, and condense it down to thinking about it for each measure.
I will give actual notes for one example so you can see what I mean. I will use the notes for the Alto Sax. If you aren't an alto player you should still be able to understand the principal. Next time your on your own.
Altos's first measure is the I chord. G,B,D,F. They will use those notes for measure one. Measure two is IV. The notes are
C,E,G,Bb. They will use those notes in measure two. Measure three is the I chord again G,B,D,F. Those notes again for
measure three. Measure four is also the I chord again. G,B,D,F again.
Now when you improvise, you are responsible for keeping up with the measures that are going buy while you play. This sounds daunting at first. It's not if you start simple. Like maybe one note on beat one of each measure simple. Then try beat two. By the time you do that on each of the beats you will know what is going on.
Here is the track for the first four measures of the blues: Bb Blues 1st Phrase
All tracks repeat every four measures for a while.
The second phrase of the blues is: IV IV I I
Repeat the same process as above. Here is the track: Bb Blues 2nd Phrase
The third phrase of the blues is: V IV I I
Repeat the same process as above. Here is the track: Bb Blues 3rd Phrase
This should keep you busy for a little while. You should get to the point where you are feeling the chord changes and don't have to count every beat to keep track of where you are.