Jazz Etudes for Saxophone, Vol. 1

B Flat Saxophones Edition (PDF Download)

Jazz Etudes for Saxophone Vol. 1 is the first in a series of eBooks written to help the saxophone student learn to how to improvise.

Please note, as most of my website’s visitors are now not UK based, I’m now processing payments in US Dollars for their ease of purchase.

If you are an intermediate or advanced level saxophonist, but when it comes to jazz and improvisation you don’t know what to play, then this series of jazz etudes is specifically written for you.

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Authentic Jazz Etudes

In the book, you’ll find 12 jazz etudes based upon the chord progressions to famous jazz standards and the blues. All in common keys for the saxophonist, so they’ll fit “neatly under the fingers.” No dubious transpositions to be found here!

These etudes are also not just short, one chorus pieces, like some other study books out there. Each jazz etude is several choruses long and crafted to be much more like a real life solo. This gives the student saxophonist an authentic experience of how a solo can build in complexity and intensity. This makes the etudes much more useful for your progress and ultimately satisfying to play and work on.

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Each etude is packed full of essential jazz language. Not only does this include melodic devices like enclosures or approach notes, but also diminished or altered scale harmony, tri-tone substitutions, and even quartal or outside playing. All of which, commonly found in solos by the Masters.

Learning to play the etudes and analysing what I’ve written will then help your own solos become more convincing and stylistic.

Use of Alternate Fingerings

These jazz etudes are designed to be a fun and authentic workout to boost your saxophone playing on multiple levels!

As you work through each etude, you’ll notice I’ve marked moments where I recommend the use of alternate fingerings.

I find these are chronically overlooked in pretty much all the jazz etude books currently available for saxophone.

If you analyse the solos of the Masters, you’ll often find moments where these alternate fingerings are essential if you are going to execute the phrase successfully. If the Masters were on top of these alternate fingerings, we should be too!

This book looks to rectify this oversight.

A Clear Path For Convincing Solos

That’s not all! Whilst this book of jazz etudes can be used as a stand-alone study aid, these etudes work at their best when used alongside my Jazz Licks for Saxophone Vol. 1 book.

If you work on these books together in tandem, you’ll get to see how I approach using licks and language when I improvise. How I sometimes play licks in their original form, but more importantly how I splice various parts of licks together, so I can take a phrase off in a new direction and keep my playing sounding creative and fresh.

Including 100 licks to be played over the hugely important II-V-I progression, mostly in the core bebop tradition, these two eBooks might just be the best grounding in jazz saxophone available.

If you want to know more about these jazz etudes or licks feel free to get in touch. Also, check out my YouTube channel, where you’ll find videos with advice and demonstrations helping you get the most out of these books.

Let’s get to it!

Happy practising!!

Nathan