Way back in the 1970's my sax teacher showed me a clever little diddy that goes like this: 1-3-5-b7-6-5-4, the 4th being start of another 1-3-5-b7-6-5-4, whose 4th begins the start of another... well, hopefully you get the idea and that I explained that clearly. In other words, iIt just loops and loops and if you know circular breathing can become the start of some kind of perpetual circle of 4ths. Anyway, great lesson, Dr. Wally. Speaking of Jerry Coker, his Appendix A on pages 81-82 of his book "Improvising Jazz" contains many pearls of wisdom.
Concerning flying fingers I have found that the slightly more tangible focus on keeping my palms as stationary as possible has helped a lot. Your fingers can only fly so far if your palms are motionless. I know there are times when your palm must move but the 90 percent of the time when this isn't the case will get you a long way.
I remember well the day I mastered a critical number of 7th chord arpeggios. It totally change my ability to solo on all my 1920s jazz tunes (and others as well). I could create a convincing solo just on the arpeggios and a very few passing tones. Also, every note I played worked and I didn't even have to know what key I was in.
Love your content. And the graphics help sooooo much. Ex. When you mentioned " flying fingers " you had an arrow point to the fingers which immediately directed my attention from your hair to the FINGERS ! Pedagogal genius. Butt seriously as always , great stuff. Thanks
Still getting over hearing Phil Woods, 'Stolen Moments' for the first time. Feel like a stunned mullet. But yes, I like this and this will certainly make arpeggios especially fun. Great stuff. Have a great weekend Doc.
As a fellow pirate I have to say since I am just starting my arpeggiated journey I love how you "Arrr"-ticulate this lesson. I too have "Arrr"-ived at utilizing the 9ths. By the way, those scales you're playing 'are' hauntingly beautiful. Pun most intended.
Dr Wally the Wise guy Wallace...I don't know why I just found you today, but your info so far has been great and slightly comedic. I'm classically trained and haven't had lessons for quite a while. I've been trying to learn to improvise...I can, but playing up and down a major scale is quite boring. There is so much "do this, not that" from so many people, its overwhelming. You have given great advice, much appreciated. I will start incorporating your stuff into my practice time. Many thanks
Doing well, thanks! Got a bi-weekly lesson with an associate of Prof. Bobbi T. So he’s keeping me on track. I’m playing in two big bands, and staying busy. And for some crazy masochistic reason, I just started flute lessons. Glad to see you are still putting out great content!
Thanks Wally! It still takes me a while to get chord inversions in my mind and into my fingers. I had a nice visit in NC. I play tested a Selmer Paris alto at a music shop in Charlotte, and a local sax teacher overheard me in the practice room and jumped in to jam with me. Nice horn and great fun. Also, I was scheduled to do some flute fills on an album my daughter (Cheryl Stevens - vocalist) is recording, but my flute suddenly stopped playing anything below G. A local resident graciously loaned me her awesome Sankyo flute (the nicest flute I've ever played!) for the session (& a gig in Miami) -- Southern hospitality!
Great sound/video! Who’s the composer? So is the group name really the Sononuats or was that a dyslexic misspelling of Sononauts? (I also saw someone who modified it to Sononuarts…probably a bad sign for future name recognition when people are already getting it wrong and changing it to something that makes more sense to them 😊…)
An exercise I heard of to help with flying fingers is to stick a small drop of honey on the pearls so your finger has to stick to the key. Wipe the honey off after each session.
Sticky substances on pearls? I wouldn’t suggest that especially as it can easily get on the pads underneath and also would cause more of a mess than it would help.
Beautifully noted and greatly explained. My lesson for the day .. and life. Thank you it's perfect (even with the added cute spelling of 'Cirlce' at 12:00 ;-)
Hi Dr Wally, thanks for the lesson. So much to practice, so little time .... All of the exercises in your Fundamentals booklet look good. Do you recommend taking one exercise at a time through all 12 keys or doing all the exercises in one key before moving onto the next key?
That was a nice workout! To keep up with the cute Tyler on my alto, I had to transpose on the fly (I think?) anyway, had to slow everything down on the cogwheel in order to do it. Now I have earned dinner and re-learned the circ of 4ths..Thankyou good Doc! PS: You're cute too!
It's very interesting that you play blue box Dr Wally. I'm going to try a soft one sometime. My "sound concept" is very similar to yours, I'm a Desmond fan, and since I stumbled on Roberto's reeds I've been playing and liking them a lot. I think they're quite woody but have a thin tip which aids that almost classical sound. I recommend trying them out if you haven't already. They're made by Rigotti and they sound darker than Rigotti's own brand. I play 2.5 hard on a Maestra 6, so I'll have to go quite soft on blue box I guess, the old ones I have lying around feel like planks. On this video I do like your sound best with blue box. On Tenor my fav player is Scott Hamilton. I use ZZ's (2.5 on a PhilTone Sapphire, a slant type piece) or sometimes Rigotti Wild which I find brighter but fairly similar. Thanks for the video.
Just to be clear the diagram you are showing is the circle of 5ths going clockwise and circle of 4ths going counter-clockwise so the harmonic motion of the arpeggio exercises you are doing is moving counter-clockwise to align with most standard ii-V-I progressions??
Slow and slurred...does drinking while practing help with that? Nice video Wally. Also, I see Tyler is looking sharp in the Saxophone Academy uniform. When is the Sonoauts album coming out? I'm waiting for a vinyl copy.
Hi Dr. Wally, You're awesome and very inciteful but have a serious very important question... If I keep practicing my arpeggios, will my hair improve as good as yours? Arrrgh!
Don't be a jazz snob! But doesn't the circle of fifths add a flat with each key change (like the B section of rhythm changes) while the circle of fourths adds a sharp (like Hey Joe)? Or is this the subject of your future lesson?@@drwallysax
