How to Play Jazz Scales on Saxophone

Jazz music is one of the most recognizable and frequently played genres on the saxophone. Jazz music is essentially a system of unique scales that you learn to create a distinctive jazz style. Learning the major jazz scales is imperative to students of jazz saxophone. This set of steps will help you learn jazz scales on the saxophone and take one step forward to being an exceptional jazz musician.

Instructions

1. Begin by learning the basics of the saxophone. Locate a suitable teacher or music program to help you begin playing the saxophone and learning basic technique to gain a solid musical foundation.

2. Obtain adequate training in music theory. Learn all of the major and minor scales as the backbone to your musical instruction and practice these scales on a daily basis.

3. Memorize all of the major and minor scales before attempting to play any of the jazz scales. Understand that a typical scale consist of 8 notes ranging from octave to octave, for example a C major scale will consist of C, D, E, F, G, A and C.

4. Take a major or minor scale and play dominant or minor chords over the basic scale tones to create a jazz scale, for example on a G major scale, that normally consist of G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G. Now play a dominant G7 scale, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, F#, G, which adds the lowered or diminished 7th scale tone, making it a dominant G7 scale.

5. Learn the jazz scales by their traditional names which are often called, Dorian and Lydian scales. Refer to this method on all 12 major and minor scales to learn basic jazz scales.

Tips & Warnings

• Write out the jazz scales for each major and minor key on staff paper to help you grasp the theory behind the scales.

• Listen to jazz recordings for the saxophone. See if you can identify the usage of jazz scales and jazz scale variations in the performance.

• Jazz scales are often called be bop scales, which basically refers to the style and articulation with which they are played. Emphasize the downbeats to create the typical bebop style when playing the scales.

Resources

• Visit this website dedicated to jazz music.
• Learn more about jazz music theory.