Premium Membership

Space will open up soon. Click below to be the first to know when we start accepting new members.

BECOME A MEMBER

Explore Inside the Studio...

Watch a video walkthrough to get a better idea of what you get with a BetterSax Studio subscription and how our system will help you improve drastically.

Some Unit Overviews...

All of Me

How to Learn Jazz Standards

All of Me

One of the all-time great jazz standards. You'll learn and memorize the melody, outline the chord changes using quarter notes, and improvise using the melody as a launching pad. We also learn some killer double-time licks and take the All of Me Quiz.

Blues

3 Approaches

Blues (3 Approaches)

Learn 3 different commonly used blues chord progressions and their heads (melodies) to go with them. Study transcriptions of Sonny Rollins and Stanley Turrentine. Practice some great blues licks and trade improvised phrases with Jay Metcalf.

In a Sentimental Mood

Embellishing Melodies

In a Sentimental Mood

Gain understanding of the chord progression and harmony used, learn and memorize the melody, study and practice various melodic embellishment techniques. Play the embellishment etude as well as a Sonny Rollins solo transcription.

List of Existing Studio Units

The content below was built out over the course of years. Each month a new unit containing: 5-7 video lessons; pdf downloads for melodies, exercises, transcriptions and etudes; backing track audio files; recordings of exercises, melodies and etudes; quizzes; live stream replays. Platinum members will have access to the BetterSax Studio Inner Circle Forum where members submit recordings for feedback from Jay Metcalf. The entire community learns from each other and progress is greatly accerated.

  • But Not For Me (Melody Based Improv)
  • You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To (Scale Based Meloides)
  • In a Sentimental Mood (Embellishing Melodies)
  • What A Wonderful World (ii V I Review)
  • The Chicken (Rhythmic Improv)
  • My Funny Valentine (Descending Bassline)
  • Ain't No Sunshine (Arpeggiation Studies)
  • Summertime (Melodic Arpeggios)
  • The Girl From Ipanema (Uncommon Chord Progressions)
  • Chameleon (Pentatonic Side-Stepping)
  • There Will Never Be Another You (Pentatonic Side-Stepping)
  • All of Me (Learning Jazz Standards)
  • What's Going On (Pop Soloing and Play/Rest)
  • What Is This Thing Called Love (Diminished Theory)
  • September In the Rain (3rds & 7ths)
  • Blues (3 Approaches)
  • Just Friends (Tunes Starting on IV Chord)
  • ii - V - I Chord Progression
  • Misty (How to Learn Standards)
  • Autumn Leaves (Minor ii V Progression)
  • Dig Dis (How to Transcribe)
  • Song for My Father (Pentatonic Scale Improvisation)
  • Take the A Train (The Sharp 11 Extension)
  • Blue Bossa (The Flat 9)
  • Watermelon Man (The Dominant Pentatonic Scale)
  • Take 5 (Odd Meters)
  • Just the Two of Us (Pentatonic/Blues Scale)
  • Body and Soul (Root Improvisation)
  • Wave (Chord Tone Rhythmic Improv)
  • Indiana/Donna Lee (Contrafacts on Common Progressions)
  • St. Thomas (Rhythmic Chord Tone Soloing)
  • You Don't Know What Love Is (bVI to V Progression)
  • Have You Met Miss Jones (Major 3rd Root Movement)
  • Fly Me to the Moon (Common Chord Progressions)
  • Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Major, Minor, Dominant Pentatonic Scales)
  • Stand By Me (Improvising Over Simple Harmony)
  • Rhythm Changes 1 (The Basics)
  • Georgia (Cadences)
  • Sunny (Pentatonic Sequencing)
  • Caravan (Altered Dominants)
  • Cantaloupe Island (Pentatonic Shifting)
  • Rhythm Changes 2 (Tritone Substitution)
  • Doxy (Diminished Chords)

What Our Members Say...

Frank Zona
BetterSax Studio Member
Judy Jarnfeld
BetterSax Studio Member
Scroll to Top