REQ: TrueFire Jazz Scales Handbook

Scales are the foundation of any musician’s improvisational vocabulary. Understanding how scales relate to specific chords and progressions broadens the player’s palette of possibilities when improvising. Using Tom Dempsey’s Jazz Scales Handbook as your guide, you’ll learn how to apply and improvise with 20 of the most commonly used scales found in jazz.

”I’ll cover 20 of the most commonly used scales found in jazz, although ALL of these scales can be applied to any genre. So, if you’re a rock player, blues player or even a country player — learning these scales will help you become a better soloist. As you work through the Jazz Scales Handbook, you’re going to learn how to play these 20 scales, identify their distinctive sonic colors, and then apply them in a jazz setting.”

For each of the 20 scales, Tom will show you one 2-octave fingering for both the scale, and the arpeggio of the parent chord. You’ll learn the formula for each of the following 20 scales so that you can easily play them anywhere on the fretboard, in any key.

20 Jazz Scale Studies: Major Pentatonic Scale, Minor Pentatonic Scale, Blues Scale, Auxiliary Blues Scale, Major Scale (Ionian), Dorian Scale, Phrygian Scale, Lydian Scale, Mixolydian Scale, Aeolian Scale, Locrian Scale, Diminished Scale, Whole Tone Scale, Harmonic Minor Scale, Jazz Melodic Minor Scale, Lydian Augmented Scale, Lydian Dominant Scale, Altered Scale (Super Locrian), Mixolydian b6 Scale, and BeBop Scale.

Tom will also point out the distinctive characteristics of each scale as a sonic color to help you craft effective creative approaches. Additionally, you’ll learn a musical example that’s derived from this sound so that you can immediately apply it to your improvisational vocabulary.