Product Description

Not just another book of scales and patterns, this is a method that trains the mind, the ears and the fingers to work in perfect synchronization to respond instantaneously to any given chord progression. This ability is of paramount importance to any musician who wants to improvise in the jazz idiom. Leading jazz players have used this method for years, but this is the first time it has been published in book form. The author offers a comprehensive guide to improvisation on any instrument through chord changes in any key. A great source book for dozens of scales from the traditional major and minor forms to the modal scales used by jazz musicians. Even scales from other cultures Arabian, Balinese, Iranian, Hungarian, can be found here. A must-have for any musician who aspires to improvise with authority.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123707 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-30
• Released on: 1997-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Arnie Berle is a seasoned jazz educator with numerous books to his credit. He toured for years as a reed and flute player with many of the leading big bands in the country. Later, upon settling in his home town of New York, he became very active as a freelance musician and teacher. In 1964, with the arrival of the Beatles, Arnie decided to study the guitar. His experience with other instruments, including accordion and vibraphone, gave him a much broader musical perspective of the guitar. In 1975, he began writing interviews and articles for Guitar Player Magazine, culminating in his very popular column "Fretboard Basics." He is currently a full-time professor at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and writes a regular column for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine. His name is cited in the International Who's Who in Music.

Customer Reviews

Superb resource
Not much to add to the review below, except that I use this book as part of my daily study. To absorb all the wealth of information Arnie presents here will take months, if not years, but Arnie knows his stuff and presents it in a clear, understandable way with nothing missed out - and just as importantly, no padding. I have most of Arnie's books and every one is a gem. He has a knack of getting to the heart of the matter. Do yourself a favour and check them out. Thanks Arnie!

necessary fundamentals for improvisation
Arnie Berle knows his stuff. He gives a beautifully designed framework to capture the essence of improvisation. I have worked at several methods to learn improv. Practically all of them try to give you a shortcut with the use of play along disks with large gaps of the theoretical underpinnings necessary to internalize important fundamentals. Berle systematically develops these fundamentals and there are no shortcuts. You have to work hard,but the outcome is worth it.This is what I have looked for and enjoy the work he has
designed. Berle knows his subject.

My Mama told me - better shop around!!
This book is OK, but you'd better check the other books. I found this kind of encyclopedia things in Charles Colin's old 1970-1980's catalog. There are many "encyclopedia" books in their titles without being so. This one clearly belongs to that category (very sloppy format - they are not literally encyclopedia). In a nutshell, this book is not so good.

Check out Dr. Yusef Lateef's Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns which is available directly from his official website. Yusef Lateef is a jazz composer, saxophonist, and flutist who established Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem with John Coltrane. It is where John Coltrane's last public performance was recorded. Also, check out Yamaguchi's The Complete Thesaurus of Musical Scales. It is awesome in the sense that this book comprehensively covers all theoretical possibilities in constructing scales.

Yusef Lateef (the jazz composer, saxophonist, and flutist) was menitoned on Coltrane's "Coltrane on Coltrane" essay on Downbeat (Sept 29, 1960) as follows: "I want to cover as many forms of music as I can put into a jazz context and play on my instruments. I like Eastern music; Yusef Lateef has been using this in his playing for some time." Get these books; then, you decide.