Major scales are generally seen in western music as the most basic form of scales. You should hear them, feel them, know them, eat them and whatever comes next with them. I say its just another tool in the improvisational tool box. A minor pentatonic contains scale degrees 1, b3, 4, 5, and b7.
If you want to play pentatonic scales on tenor sax, to get from concert key piano, guitar, etc to bb the key that tenor and soprano sax are in you need to go up a whole step. Saxophone pentatonic scales major and minor saxstation. How many scales can be played on an alto saxophone. In this book was a chart depicting the 5 pentatonic scale modes. Tonal organizations and applications over dominant 7th chords.
Mar 17, 2017 minor pentatonic scale on alto saxophone what is it. Printable scales written for the saxophone, including major, melodic minor, harmonic minor, natural minor and chromatic below are both printable pdf and html links to all the major, minor and chromatic scales for saxophone. While the minor is more complicated than major scales, they are considerably less complex than more exotic scales like the ragas or hejaz scales, which contain intervals that can sound alien to those accustomed to. If you have any suggestions for other scales, please write a comment down. Youve got your brand new saxophone assembled correctly, neck strap in place, reed on, and ready to go. If youd like to delve more deeply into melodic minor scales and how they apply to iivi chord progressions, consider my pdf book, melodic minor scale jazz studies. Free 12 major blues scale sheet neffmusicjazz saxophone. Here is a very important scale for saxophone improvisation. Label the scale degrees of the major pentatonic scales. One octave major and minor scales tenor saxophone boltz bands concert c major d major 7 concert a minor b minor concert f major g major 19 concert d minor e minor 25 concert bb major c major 31 concert g minor a minor 37 concert eb major f major 43 v. Then notate its relative minor scale and its scale degrees. Print and download in pdf or midi blues scales alto saxophone. Nov 07, 2018 as with major and minor scales, the minor pentatonic scale derives from the major pentatonic scale.
And feel free to contact me through my blog if you have any questions. Knowing your major and minor scales will help you with playing these. In this guide i want to discuss major pentatonic scales for the saxophone. The blues scale alto saxophone essential lesson what is. Of course, ideally you dont need or want these written out do you. Alto and tenor saxophone scales in all keys i am new here, and i am looking for a site where i can get free alto and tenor saxophone major scales in all 12 keys. Minor scales unlike their major counterparts, there are multiple scales for each minor key, each with different interval spacing. The blues scale and minor pentatonic scale are similar.
A more simpler way to learn all twelve minor bluesthe way i learnt them, is to think in terms off a major scale, start by playing the root, flatten the third, play the forth, flatten the fith, play the fith, flatten the seventh, then back on the root obviously in the next actavelots easier than faffing around with all that paper work, but i guess you need a good understanding of. And if you were looking for just the major scales instead, here is the saxophone major scales guide as the name suggests, a pentatonic scale only has five notes. In this case, thats e, so weve got the g major pentatonic being g, a, b, d, and e. If you were looking for just the major scales, here is the saxophone major scales guide. May 14, 2011 a more simpler way to learn all twelve minor bluesthe way i learnt them, is to think in terms off a major scale, start by playing the root, flatten the third, play the forth, flatten the fith, play the fith, flatten the seventh, then back on the root obviously in the next actavelots easier than faffing around with all that paper work, but i guess you need a good understanding of. Listening to jazz recordstapes should be part of every musicians daily routine. As the name suggests, a pentatonic scale only has five notes. All melodic minor scales on alto saxophone and arpeggios. The blues scale alto saxophone essential lesson what. All accompaniment tracks were produced by joseph krammer, using mixcraft. In this guide i want to discuss minor pentatonic scales for the saxophone if you were looking for just the minor scales, here is the saxophone minor scales guide. And if you were looking for just the minor scales instead, here is the saxophone minor scales guide. Minor scales for eb saxophone basic range a min d min g min c min. You can click on the buttons to move forwardbackward through the different scales.
Answers on page 7 a closer look at the major and minor pentatonic scales in the traditional ionian major and aeolian natural minor scales, there exists a tritone augmented 4 th diminished 5 th between the 4 th and 7 th. I play baritonsax in a blues band and it would help me a lot in my improvisations. These tips wont necessarily make learning any easier but they will deinitely make it a bit more fun. If you take a look at the sheet you might notice that the scales are the same as the scales on my free 12 blues scales sheet but that they start on a different note. Minors are written out in both major and minor keys. Printable scales written for the saxophone, including major, melodic minor, harmonic minor, natural minor and chromatic below are both printable pdf and html links. Pentatonic scales for sax pdf pentatonic scales for sax pdf pentatonic scales for sax pdf download. More than any other ingredient, the jazz tradition is based on listening. Arpeggios should be played over the entire range of the saxophone. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The pentatonic foundation course also comes with a pdf guide book. There are twelve different keys for major scales, and twelve minor scales. I am offering a free pdf of all major and minor blues scales, written out in all keys.
One octave major and minor scales alto saxophone baritone. In fact, any of the numerous other scales found in jazz, classical and other similarly complex styles are more or less based on this scale, often making it among the first things that musicians learn in their early days of musicianship. Jan 09, 2018 if you take a look at the sheet you might notice that the scales are the same as the scales on my free 12 blues scales sheet but that they start on a different note. A minor pentatonic is somewhat similar, starting on c, it would be c, eflat, f, g, bflat. It has the root, minor third, fourth, fifth, and lowered 7th relative to a major scale. Cs relative minor pentatonic scale, a minor pentatonic, begins on the 6 th scale degree of the major pentatonic scale shown above. Thinking of the b5 triad as the anchoring points and adding notes around it makes a lot of solos that mix arpeggios and scales suddenly. Advantage scales altobaritone saxophone major scales. If you have any suggestions for other scales, please write a. Minor pentatonic scale on alto saxophone what is it. This is probably the most useful scale in jazz improvisation.
There are three forms of minor that you should be familiar with. Nov 08, 2017 same as on any other western musical instrument. If you are not sure how to build your pentatonic scales or what a relative minor is, you can learn all of that in some of my free play sax by ear crash course. Melodic minor, ascending and descending, and harmonic minor.
The scale in ex 11g fits chords b7, d7, f7 and ab7. For example, the f major blues scale is the same as the d blues scale some people call this the minor blues scale but the d blues scale starts on d and its home base root note. As with major and minor scales, the minor pentatonic scale derives from the major pentatonic scale. Here is a video of me playing all of the melodic minor scales and arpeggios on alto saxophone. Free 12 blues scales sheet neffmusicjazz saxophone and.
Sep 07, 2002 the scale in ex 11g fits chords b7, d7, f7 and ab7. My book only has the key of g,d and i forget what else. Its its relative minor, so we can find this by starting on the 6th of the major scale degree or the last note of the major pentatonic scale. The way that i think about these scales is that the ascending is just like a major scale, only it has a flatted third. Just because you practice scales, chords, patterns, and exercises doesnt mean you will sound stiff and mechanical, or that you will become a jazz great. Play scales very slowly with big bows keeping an even tone across the bow stroke practice scales with a drone pitch using the first note of the scale memorize the scales occasionally use a tuner to help you tune each pitch. From major scales to minor scales, there are so many scales to learn on saxophone and it can seem really overwhelming. Here are a couple of tips that will help you with the process of learning. All minor scales sheet music was created by joseph krammer, using sibelius.
Jan 12, 2017 here is a video of me playing all of the melodic minor scales and arpeggios on alto saxophone. Jul 27, 2018 saxophone fingering chart pdf better sax download. The melodic minor descending scale is also known as the natural minor scale. Aeolian scales, more commonly known as natural minor, are built on the 6th scale degree in a major scale. Learning pentatonic scales will enable you to quickly have something under your fingers that you can play.