Blues Scale

Should young and beginner improvisers use the blues scale? No, and yes!

Here's why, in my opinion, it can be a bad idea.

1. It is often the path of least resistance for amateur jazz educators. How to begin improvising -well, you can just use a blues scale all the way through a blues, they say. But hang on. Exactly how many professional jazz players do that -use nothing but a blues scale in a blues solo? Hardly any, if at all! It is really unusual. When students want to learn how to play jazz, they want to know how to play the kind of stuff they hear US playing, not be fobbed off with some lazy lie about "just use a blues scale, man". If you want a simple, lazy approach, try my jazz pentatonic scale idea, a few posts below.

2. We are teaching beginners, so of course we just give them a three chord blues to play on. The blues scale has notes to clash in the worst way with every single chord in the progression. The 4th and b5 of chord I; The b9, and 4th of chord IV; The 4th, b6 and Maj7 of chord V. For what ever reason, kids gravitate towards these notes, in a bad way, and too often sound terrible.

However, the blues is also a key sound in jazz, and many of those dissonances are important, and can be cool. However, they are usually only cool in the hands of an experienced player, who has done plenty of listening.

Think of the blues scale as something that is added to other sounds to create a different colour. It is like decorations hung on a christmas tree. The tree is the main thing -without it, the decorations are just a pile of shiny rubbish lying in the corner. Blues scale is like that -without other stuff going on, it can just be rubbish.

Music Lessons: good teachers are worth it

Happy new year everyone.

To learn to play jazz well, it is important to take music lessons with the best teacher you can get for your instrument. Why? Because it will accelerate your progress dramatically. Playing an instrument is not always intuitive, and jazz brings a whole host of techniques specific to its various genres.

A good teacher will help you with efficient technique, will provide a model for good tone and posture, and will help clarify what is important and what isn't?

How do you know if you have a good teacher? Here are some characteristics of bad and good teachers. This is based on my experiences as a student and my observations as a teacher and performer

BAD teachers

• don't plan lessons. They just do whatever comes into their head at the time. Teachers who "just show you a new song each week" are nearly always wasting your time
• don't give you a balanced program of technique, improvisation, repertoire, aural, theory
• are unreliable. They only really want your money, when it is convenient for them, so they will cancel your lesson for the slightest reason.
• are often late to your lesson
• do the same thing with every student instead of meeting the needs of each individual
• don't prepare for lessons. They often spend a lot of the time you paid for writing things out or photocopying. They will also answer phone calls during your lesson.

GOOD teachers

• Plan lessons for each student
• are prepared for each lesson. They spend the time you paid for actually teaching you
• work through a program that meets the needs of each individual
• present a balance in lessons between technique, improvisation, repertoire, aural and theory
• will make every effort to get to your lesson, because they are professional. Even if all their other students cancel on a given day, they will still feel it is worthwhile teaching you.
• assess your progress and help you work through weaknesses, but will move at a good pace through things you can do well

Do you have a good teacher, or a bad one? Anyone can call themself a "music teacher". However, there is a lot more to it than that. Sadly, in my experience, most of the people who call themselves teachers are really just wannabe performers between gigs. They just want money, they don't care about you. The wannabe just wants to fund their fantasy of living the life of a musician. Do yourself a favour, and avoid them!

There are lots of dedicated professional educators who will take you seriously and do a good job of teaching you. Ironically, most of them also seem to be much more successful, and busier, performers than the "wannabes".

Where can you find a good teacher? Well, there are places like my music school Jazz Workshop Australia. Also look for people who are teaching at good universities or successful high schools. A great idea is to find really good young players and find out who taught them.

Good luck, it is worth it.