Arpeggios, or chords, are (with scales) the most important building block for playing music. However, most music students avoid them and don’t like practising them, often because it seems such a tall order to learn them all.

The melodic minor scales have formed part of the scale syllabus for most examination boards for years, even centuries!

Here is a bitesize lesson on harmonic minors – honestly, in this video you can learn about harmonic minors in the time it takes to boil an egg!

The Circle of 5ths is one of the most important teaching tools that I use. If you understand the concept and how it applies to harmonic progressions you are well on the way to improving not only as a saxophonist but also, most importantly, as a musician.

BeBop scales are an incredibly easy way to get round dominant 7th or major 7th chords.

Once you’ve got a lick down, you really need to be able to translate it into all keys. It’s like learning a phrase and then being able to use subtle varieties of it in conversations.

In Dave Liebman’s excellent book Developing a Personal Saxophone Sound he writes that ‘the closer one gets to the source of the sound, the greater effect that has on the overall sound’. In other words YOU (or more accurately your body) are the biggest influence on how the saxophone sounds! After that it’s the mouthpiece, the neck and then the saxophone.

Let’s face it, when it comes to the saxophone few things give players more frustration than reeds. Finding a good read is like finding the perfect playing partner: when the reed plays well, you play well.

One of the most frustrating things about playing a musical instrument is when the connection from brain to fingers breaks down.

The V7b9 chord is VERY common in jazz – and many other forms of music. It’s a good idea to get your head around this chord in as many keys as you can as it really adds some colour to the ‘plain Jane’ V7 chord.