Play Sax By Ear - Crash Course
Bb Instruments
PSBE Lesson 1
Pentatonic Basics
Welcome
to the Play Sax By Ear (Crash Course) PSBE for short.
I’m very glad you enrolled and am excited to share with you some of the most useful and valuable things I’ve learned in my 30+ years playing the saxophone.
This course is a condensed version of my signature Pentatonic Foundation Course. It’s meant to give you an overview of what I teach in the Pentatonic Foundation and quickly show you the awesome musical power of the pentatonic scale.
This PSBE course has 6 units that are released to you one per day over the course of a week. Be sure to check your inbox each day for the private link to your daily lesson and video.
Before You Begin
Get your saxophone out and setup with a good reed. Go ahead and warm up with a few notes and when you’re ready to play, click on the video for lesson 1 below.
If any of that was totally new to you or if you’re not absolutely clear on what you just watched, I recommend watching the video again. You just learned some basic music theory that is the key to everything that follows in this course.
Diagrams from Video
Click the images to enlarge.
Hate Music Theory?
You’ll be very pleased to know that there is no more music theory necessary for the rest of this course. The 3 1/2 minute video you just watched covers everything we need.
Now, I believe in efficiency. When I teach, I don’t give students stuff to do that will be a waste of time for them. I know you’re busy and can only dedicate so much of your time to practicing saxophone.
That’s why my videos are always short and concise. So many online learning courses and videos take way too long to get to the point.
I’ll never make you sit through a 45 minute video to learn something that should only take 6 minutes. Promise.
Having said all that, it’s important for your progress that you follow my instructions closely and do the little daily assignments I give you.
Each successive lesson depends on you knowing the material from the day before.
Don’t worry, I’ve broken things down so you can easily manage all the homework in a short practice session.
The Next Lesson
Can only be accessed using the link in the email you will receive tomorrow, so look out for it in your inbox, and if you haven’t done so already, add jay@bettersax.com to your list of contacts or whitelist my email address.
Just because you received an email from me already does not mean that future emails won’t go into spam or junk mail.
PSBE Lesson 1 Assignment
- Learn the major pentatonic scale in the key for your instrument.
- G major for alto and baritone saxophone
- C major for tenor and soprano saxophone
- You must be able to play the notes up and down with no mistakes completely from memory.
- You must be able to say the names of the notes up and down while fingering them on your instrument.
- You must know the corresponding scale degree (number) for each note and say them in your head as you play the scale.
- Test yourself by playing the scale 10 times in a row with no mistakes. When you can do this you're ready for the next lesson.
Extra Challenge:
If you have more time and want to work on some more stuff before you get the link to tomorrow’s lesson, here’s a bonus assignment for extra credit.
- Learn the major pentatonic scale in 3 keys: C, G, and D
Can't Wait?
If you really can’t wait, and want to dive in and get all of my training on how to learn to play melodies by ear and improvise great solos using only the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale you can always jump ahead of the line and order the full Pentatonic Foundation Course here.
Pentatonic Foundation
Learn to play melodies by ear and improvise solos using the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale.
Blues Foundation
Develop your ability to play improvised solos using the Blues style and language.