The Etude Book

In the same way that learning commonly used musical phrases gives us more to say on our instruments when improvising, playing jazz etudes is like reading short stories.

Think of these jazz etudes that I wrote for members of the BetterSax Standards Studio as musical short stories. Each one with its own message to convey.

They are fun to play, and offer just the right level of challenge to help you improve a range of skills like reading, rhythm, phrasing, articulation and more.

Listen to the included recordings to get a clear understanding of suggested phrasing, articulation and embellishments.

Add these to your practice arsenal and use them as inspiration to create your own etudes over jazz standards. This is one of the best ways to hone your improvisation skills.