PROJECT JAM

Practice your scales by improvising over simple tracks.

When I was a young musician my band director gave me a copy of Jamey Aebersold Vol. 24: Major and Minor, which is a collection of fairly simple backing tracks in various keys. It was a great resource to practice basic improvisation and get better at my scales. Nowadays I suspect that students might be a little less interested in traditional swinging jazz styles, so I've started to collect together rock, electronic and hip-hop tracks that can serve the same purpose.

Take a look at the circle of fifths diagram below, and click on the links for content in each key. We are just getting started collecting things together, but eventually I hope there will be lots of options for all of the keys.

C Major

A Minor
G Major

E Minor
D Major

B Minor
A Major

F# Minor
E Major

C# Minor
B Major

G# Minor
F# Major

D# Minor
C# Major

A# Minor
F Major

D Minor
Bb Major

G Minor
Eb Major

C Minor
Ab Major

F Minor
Db Major

Bb Minor
Gb Major

Eb Minor
Cb Major

Ab Minor