Beginner What beginners book?

[flukeyluke]

Hi people, I've just started learning again and been looking at a few YouTube vids, but I find I need more structure and seem to learn better from books, could someone advise the best beginner books for alto saxophone please.


Was going to buy the absolute beginner alto saxophone book but not sure how good it is, I will need fingering charts as well as notes.

I'm mostly wanting to learn blues type playing but any decent beginner book will be fine.

Thanks

Luke

 

[jonf]

I like The Complete Saxophone Player by Raphael Ravenscroft. It's a four volume series, but you can also get an Omnibus, all-in-one version which is much better value. It's out of print now, but you can usually get a copy on eBay for around £20 new or less than a tenner for a decent used copy.

 

[flukeyluke]

I like The Complete Saxophone Player by Raphael Ravenscroft. It's a four volume series, but you can also get an Omnibus, all-in-one version which is much better value. It's out of print now, but you can usually get a copy on eBay for around £20 new or less than a tenner for a decent used copy.

Thanks, is it simple to follow? And includes fingering charts for the notes?

 

[jonf]

Yes, it starts from the premise of someone who's never picked up a sax before, and goes right through to playing fairly complex tunes. It has fingering charts bit by bit as it goes through the notes.

 

[flukeyluke]

Yes, it starts from the premise of someone who's never picked up a sax before, and goes right through to playing fairly complex tunes. It has fingering charts bit by bit as it goes through the notes.

Thanks, sounds ideal, will go see if I can nab a copy

Luke

 

[flukeyluke]

Managed to pick the omnibus up for under £8 so thanks for that, should keep me going for a while

 

[greenstripe]

The Saxophone Method by John O'Neill is a more modern series of books and there are audio downloads for free.

You can get a used copy of book volume 1 for £6 on Amazon

The Saxophone Method Vol. 1 https://amzn.eu/d/hZ4pSgS

 

[flukeyluke]

The Saxophone Method by John O'Neill is a more modern series of books and there are audio downloads for free.

You can get a used copy of book volume 1 for £6 on Amazon

The Saxophone Method Vol. 1 https://amzn.eu/d/hZ4pSgS

Thanks, will add that to the collection soon 😀

 

[Guenne]

Hi,
bought the Ravenscroft books a long time ago, looked through it, never used it.

I'm mostly wanting to learn blues type playing but any decent beginner book will be fine.

IMHO it does not really matter for a beginner. The Klosé beginner book for instance is brilliant - and for free.
There are books and there are better books. IMHO the "Jazz method for saxophone" by John O'Neill is one of the better ones. Decent Play-Alongs (Bass, Drums, Guitar) which are channel-separated, harmonically interesting and played by a real band and not a computer.

One must say though that there isn't one book that covers all. With my students, I'm always using a mix of different books.

Cheers, Guenne

Edit: Too slow, again

 

[flukeyluke]

Hi,
bought the Ravenscroft books a long time ago, looked through it, never used it.

IMHO it does not really matter for a beginner. The Klosé beginner book for instance is brilliant - and for free.
There are books and there are better books. IMHO the "Jazz method for saxophone" by John O'Neill is one of the better ones. Decent Play-Alongs (Bass, Drums, Guitar) which are channel-separated, harmonically interesting and played by a real band and not a computer.

One must say though that there isn't one book that covers all. With my students, I'm always using a mix of different books.

Cheers, Guenne

Edit: Too slow, again

Thanks for reply, where would I find the klose beginner book please? The more suggestions the better really.

Thanks again

Luke

 

[Digger2054]

I worked through the ''Learn as you play" book with my teacher, I was returning to playing so started quite far into the book, and quickly progressed through it... On completion my teacher said "now you know what all the buttons do, you just need to learn how to play it" he wasn't wrong.

 

[Guenne]

where would I find the klose beginner book please?

It's not free anymore where I used to download it, although it's public domain, but I'm sure you will find it doing a google search.

There's also free stuff here you could add to the O'Neill method:

https://ia601600.us.archive.org/33/items/universalmethodf00villuoft/universalmethodf00villuoft.pdf

Greetings, Guenne

 

[Pete Thomas]

Hi people, I've just started learning again and been looking at a few YouTube vids, but I find I need more structure and seem to learn better from books, could someone advise the best beginner books for alto saxophone please.

We have fingering charts right here:

Taming The Saxophone - CafeSaxophone Forum

Where you get all the tutorials, mouthpieces and other good stuff

cafesaxophone.com

The best charts that money can doesn't need to buy.

 

[flukeyluke]

We have fingering charts right here:

Taming The Saxophone - CafeSaxophone Forum

Where you get all the tutorials, mouthpieces and other good stuff

cafesaxophone.com

The best charts that money can doesn't need to buy.

Thank you

 

[mizmar]

Managed to pick the omnibus up for under £8

Thanks, will add that to the collection soon 😀

Is accumulating a pile of beginner books altogether a good idea?

I appreciate that different styles suit different people. But, seems to me, it's probably better to stick to a curriculum once you've settled on it; at least at beginning level.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Is accumulating a pile of beginner books altogether a good idea?

Can't be worse than most Youtube videos

 

[flukeyluke]

Is accumulating a pile of beginner books altogether a good idea?

I appreciate that different styles suit different people. But, seems to me, it's probably better to stick to a curriculum once you've settled on it; at least at beginning level.

Yes, you may have a point there, might be better to go with some blues books after I finish the one I've ordered as should have the basics down.

 

[mizmar]

Yes, you may have a point there, might be better to go with some blues books after I finish the one I've ordered as should have the basics down.

I was emphasising beginner.
For advanced and style specific stuff - knock your self out... And YouTube stuff... I'm sure most have something different to offer.

But, if you are suffering Book GAS (join the club) and self teaching... Give a thought to the book I mentioned here

Post in thread 'How well are you progressing' Beginner - How well are you progressing - CafeSaxophone Forum

 

[wakyct]

Are you going to be taking lessons @flukeyluke?

I bought a book when I started playing about a year ago, and after starting lessons soon thereafter I haven't used it as more than a reference. I get all the material I need from my teacher and some PDFs I found on the saxophonics subreddit, backing tracks all from YT, streaming or iReal Pro app. Not sure of the Cafe's rules on linking that sort of thing (I don't know the IP status of everything in that link share, some of it is public domain but some may not be) but it's not hard to find.

 

[flukeyluke]

Are you going to be taking lessons @flukeyluke?

I bought a book when I started playing about a year ago, and after starting lessons soon thereafter I haven't used it as more than a reference. I get all the material I need from my teacher and some PDFs I found on the saxophonics subreddit, backing tracks all from YT, streaming or iReal Pro app. Not sure of the Cafe's rules on linking that sort of thing (I don't know the IP status of everything in that link share, some of it is public domain but some may not be) but it's not hard to find.

Hi, I think I may take the odd lesson but not regular ones, I love the saxophone but learning to play mainly for my mental health as music helps me a lot!

Got to a certain standard 10 odd years ago but now starting right from the beginning again as a complete noob lol