Graham English

Posts Tagged ‘diminished patterns’

The Holy Six

My saxophone teacher at the University Of Pittsburgh, Dr. Nathan Davis, developed a series of exercises he called, “The Holy Six.” Each exercise has a practical musical application and also builds fundamental technique.

Holy Six #1 is a series of major arpeggios weaving up and down a half step at a time. For variation, try different [...]

Top Secret Patterns (shhh, they’re free!)

Patterns are a great way of putting scales to work. Not only do they get you out of any do-re-mi rut, they expand your musical vocabulary. They also expand your mind by forcing you to think about systems within systems—and sometimes within other systems. For example, this diminished pattern is a three note system:

within another [...]