Two Giant Steps Licks

Lately, my book The Giant Steps Scratch Pad has enjoyed a modest spate of sales. I appreciate that musicians take an interest in it. On my part, it was a labor of love, and it’s gratifying when you, my readers, find it worthwhile enough to shell out your hard-earned cash to obtain a copy. Every purchase is a shot of morale for me, not to mention a nice dent in my electric bill.

As a way of saying thanks, I thought I’d share with you a couple of favorite new Giant Steps licks that I’ve been practicing. They correspond to the A section of Giant Steps’ A-B form and have a bebop flavor to them.

two-giant-steps-licks
Since I’m an Eb alto saxophonist, I’ve written the licks out for my instrument. C, Bb, F, and bass clef instruments will need to transpose accordingly. ‘Nuff said. Without further ado, here are the licks. Click on the image to open and enlarge it.

September 8, 2012 by
Filed Under: Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Music, Saxophone, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Master “Giant Steps” in All 12 Keys with The Giant Steps Scratch Pad Complete

Excuse me while I deviate from this blog’s generally non-commercial tone into a bit of blatant self-promotion. As you know if you’ve followed the musical part of Stormhorn.com for any length of time, I’ve self-published a practice resource for jazz musicians titled The Giant Steps Scratch Pad. Without going into details that I’ve already covered on the Scratch Pad page, the original editions provide 155 licks and patterns in the standard key for concert pitch, Bb, Eb, and bass cleff instruments.

This new edition takes that effort to the ultimate level for those who want to master John Coltrane’s jazz rites-of-passage tune, “Giant Steps,” in every key. Available now as an instant PDF download,The Giant Steps Scratch Pad Complete gives you a grand total of 1,860 exercises written in treble clef.

Speaking modestly but plainly, this is a terrific resource for jazz musicians. It gives you enough theory to help you understand Coltrane changes in the context of “Giant Steps”; however, its focus is on getting you actually playing through the changes comfortably and creatively. To the best of my knowledge, no other book like it exists that provides a practical and comprehensive means of mastering “Giant Steps.”

Written in treble clef, The Giant Steps Scratch Pad Complete is 252 pages in length and costs $21.95. As I’ve already mentioned, it is currently available as a PDF download only. That seems to be what people prefer, and I’m reluctant to invest more time and effort preparing a print edition unless I know there’s a reasonable demand for one. I’d have to charge more to make it worth my while, and you’d have to pay for shipping on top of the purchase price.

However, given the size of this new, complete edition, there may be an interest in a print version, so let me know. Enough requests can make the difference. And I will say that the cover which I had professionally designed for the standard-key editions looks very sharp, better than most of what I’ve seen in music stores.

To place your order, or to learn more about The Giant Steps Scratch Pad and check out printable page samples, click here.

Also, if you like what you find, please tell your fellow musicians. Self-publishing means self-marketing, and the best way to accomplish that is through word-of-mouth. Nothing means more to other musicians–and to me, personally–than the recommendation of a colleague.

Thanks for your interest and for spreading the word!

–Bob

December 2, 2011 by
Filed Under: Band, Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Giant Steps Scratch Pad in All 12 Keys Is Nearly Finished!

A quick report on the upcoming all-keys edition of The Giant Steps Scratch Pad. It’s almost finished! In fact, I had hoped to publish it today, but I ran into one of those inevitable last-minute snags that I won’t be able to fix until tomorrow.

However, while the problem is irritating, it’s easily resolved. So assuming that nothing blows up in my face, I should be able to make this new edition available for sale as a PDF download sometime tomorrow.

I’m titling it The Giant Steps Scratch Pad Complete: 155 Licks and Patterns in Every Key to Help You Master John Coltrane’s Challenging Tune. Right now my plan is to sell the book strictly as a PDF download. However, at 250 pages, it may be practical for me to also offer it as a softcover print edition. I’ll welcome your feedback on this, so please click on the “comments” link if you wish to share your input.

November 30, 2011 by
Filed Under: Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , ,