Saxophones Introduction

lrntp

Member
Messages
19
Location
Vietnam
Level
Beginner
Good morning, I guess because it's 3AM in Vietnam here. I am just 18 year old and have just recently played the alto sax for 4 months, after 10 years of classical piano. So far, I found the instrument to be musically a tad bit limited but tonally way more expressive than the piano. I studied under a classical saxophonists with barely knowledge about jazz so my playing mostly concerns with playing songs and jazz standards, but currently I am learning how to improvise on Coltrane's Impressions. I listen to lots of jazz, mostly Coltrane (from 1963 onwards, not really liking his Atlantic recordings, still monumental nonetheless), swing musicians (Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster), Ornette, Dolphy, and free improvisation (Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, Kaoru Abe). I kinda doubt my choice of alto sax because all of my favourite players plays mainly tenor, with Ornette and Abe as mere exceptions, though I find alto to be more suitable to play pop or anime songs. I currently plays a YAS-22 (the same as YAS-21 but exclusively for Japanese market) with Fiberreed Carbon Onyx reed and a Yamaha 4C, on which I wish to upgrade soon to a more capable mouthpiece.
Sorry for that very lengthy introduction. I decided to join Café Saxophone for I find the reviews here really useful for my needs and I want to receive advices more on here on how to improve my saxophone skills.
 
Welcome! You have very interesting taste in music 🙂 For help with your improvisation, I recommend playing along with the recordings you like. Not transcribing, per se, but trying to “fit in” and play with the same feel. Transcribing is good too, but it’s so important to get the right stylistic feel when you play. Way more important than what notes you play!

Enjoy your time here.
 
Welcome to the Cafè. What do you find limiting ? Describe your experience on this. Many members here to help.
I would say that I am not used to the fact that the alto sax have a rather limited range compared to the piano, which I am more used to, but I also find it accomodating enough for most songs that I'd like to play.
 
Welcome! You have very interesting taste in music 🙂 For help with your improvisation, I recommend playing along with the recordings you like. Not transcribing, per se, but trying to “fit in” and play with the same feel. Transcribing is good too, but it’s so important to get the right stylistic feel when you play. Way more important than what notes you play!

Enjoy your time here.
Thank you for your kind words! I tried to play with recordings, doing some lines, but I always found myself playing some pentatonic runs, then some abrupted melody lines, some false fingering and multiphonics, then I gave up, wondering how can Coltrane improvise for 10 minutes straight, or even more.
 
How do you take care for your instrument in the monsoon season?
Frankly, it never entered my mind about how to take care of it in monsoon, for it's till May or June will monsoon come and I bought the sax in December, the beginning of the dry season, so currently I have no idea, but I guess I will just put it in my case and hope for the best.
 

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