Taming The Saxophone

All the profit from sales at Taming The Saxophone and Cafe Saxophone is donated to charity. We are now making more than £10,000 a year from our fundraising, a big thanks to everyone Where Your Money Goes Enquiries Terms & The post Books, DVD, CDs & ...

In the Beginners section: In the Beginners Impro Section: The How, Why, What and Wheres of the Saxophone If you have any questions, please ask. The only stupid question is the one you are too scared to ask. The Cafe The post (BEGINNERS SAXOPHONE) app ...

All the profits from direct sales at TamingTheSaxophone is donated to various charities or special needs educational establishments. Also, all profits received by us from affiliate sales is also donated We have raised over £70,000 in the last 10 y ...

In this section of the site we expand on some of the material in the book, Taming The Saxophone vol2.  Some of the pages in this section of the site include the basic sheet music of the tunes, ie “leadsheets” The post Beginners’ Impro TTS Vol ...

Here is a very simple lesson in the beginnings of harmony. As you probably know, there are 7 notes in a major scale. In C these are C, D, E, F, G, A and B. We number these 1 to 7, often with roman numerals instead of note names, which makes it easier ...

Rock & Roll (& Blues) for Beginners I Although you might think that theory and rock or blues playing don’t have much in common, it’s surprising how useful a bit of basic music training can be when learning any style The post Rock & Blues appeared ...

If you have read part 1 of TTS vol 2 you should know how we use different types of numbers to help us understand about chords and chord sequences. This page gives you a visual explanation/reminder of the relationship between the The post Chords and ...

We will call these “special chords” as they don’t quite fit into the method of chord construction we have learned so far, but really they aren’t that special so don’t be scared of them. Up until now we have been The post Special Chords appe ...

A quick recap about chords We learned in the book that chords are two or more notes played together. We know how chords are constructed, that they are derived from scales by counting up alternate notes: 1 – 3 – The post Voicing & Inversions appea ...

Minor Chords Im IVm & Vm (Gorilla) This exercise looks at how to work on the key scale and chords for the first tune in the Volume 2,  Gorilla. You can take two approaches to this: Key Scale only – The post Impro Exercises appeared first on Taming ...

Play the saxophone, don’t let the saxophone play you! Learn about the saxophone: how to start out if you are a beginner or how to improve if you are already more advanced. Learn how to speed up your fingering, control The post Who’s in charge, yo ...

What’s So Special About the Saxophone? Charlie Parker famously said “Don’t play the horn, let it play you.” The very rare film footage that exists of him playing the saxophone does almost make you think that he is just relaxing The post THE S ...

In the miscellaneous information section   The post Saxophone Info appeared first on Taming The Saxophone.

Saxophone Myths The internet is a wonderful thing but can bear double-edged sword. Along with all the wonderful information at our fingertips, we also find a lot of misinformation. How can you tell which is which? Very often you can’t The post Saxo ...

How to get the Best Buying Advice Don’t just listen to me, there are many different and valid opinions so for a start log in to the Cafe Saxophone discussions, you will also get a lot of useful saxophone information on choosing your The post Sax ...

Disclaimer: I do not get paid or receive free instruments in return for reviews on this page. Very Inexpensive Saxophones Note that I’m not using the description “Cheap” saxophones. Although the models I intend to review in this category are Th ...

What’s a Good Saxophone? I am often asked to give saxophone recommendations, endorse mouthpieces and big up the retailers. I am not an official endorser of any product apart from Legere Reeds, and so I feel I can give independent The post Saxophone ...

Insuring a valuable instrument While there are no dedicated saxophone insurance policies, there are several insurance brokers than specialise in musical instrument insurance. If you are not taking the instrument out of your house, you should be able ...

Cleaning Inside the Body of the Saxophone 1. The Pull-Through (or “Swab”) Probably the most important part of general saxophone maintenance, this is a cloth attached to a piece of string with a small weight on the end. You can The post Saxophone ...

Leaks A leak happens when something on the saxophone such as pad closing is not an airtight seal. The symptoms are squeaking  or notes not sounding properly and generally a feeling of resistance. A good indication of a leaking saxophone The post Sax ...

Problems with leaky low notes? The issue is very often your  G# The G# on modern saxophones has quite a complex mechanism. All saxophone players need to know about adjusting the tabbed/articulated G# as it is one of the most common, The post Leakin ...

The Shootout I have chosen to compare five saxophones, three vintage and two modern. The vintage saxophones are my own two tenors, a 1930s Conn 10M (Naked Lady) and a 1950s “The” Martin, along with a 1954 Selmer MKVI which The post Saxophone Comp ...

In the players section The post Saxophone Players appeared first on Taming The Saxophone.

The Great Jazz & Blues Tenor Saxophone Players To many people the saxophone is synonymous with jazz. If it hadn’t been for jazz, would the saxophone have survived? It was invented by a Belgian in 1841, and it never really The post Jazz Tenor appear ...

These biographies, photos and soundclips include all the influential rhythm and blues saxophone players of the 40s and 50s. Some of these are jazz players who contributed significantly to the development of blues saxophone, others are hardcore bar wa ...

Part 1 by Nick Pentelow | Part 2 by Pete Thomas   First published by Saxophone Journal. Unedited original interview and later additions published here with the kind permission of the author, Nick Pentelow. How do you get to speak The post Lee Allen ...

This is a transcription of the King Curtis track Hungover. F# is often thought of as a difficult key to play on saxophone, but a very important one if you play in blues, rock or R & B bands as The post King Curtis appeared first on Taming The Saxopho ...

How do you learn to play a good blues solo? Also see Why You Shouldn’t Transcribe Some people think blues playing and improvising is easy: just learn a couple of minor blues scales and play them over the chords. Well, The post Saxophone Blues Trans ...

In the mouthpieces section   The post Mouthpieces appeared first on Taming The Saxophone.

Choosing your Mouthpiece It sometimes takes me about 2 weeks to really know if a mouthpiece is right or not and so it is not always a good idea to make that decision in a shop, however most retailers let The post How to Choose a Mouthpiece appeared f ...

Saxophone Facing Comparisons There are quite a few mouthpiece comparison charts out there, but most are not very user-friendly so I created this one based on some of the most popular tenor mouthpieces used by saxophone players today. One important Th ...

Scroll for more tracks I have gathered together some frequently recommended (and some not so frequently) alto saxophone mouthpieces. Most mouthpiece comparisons you hear are not always the exact same piece of music, so here I have attempted to play T ...

Mouthpiece Material: Does it make a Difference to the Sound? Yes and No (but mostly no) Yes | No | Listening Test As we know from reading about whether the material of the saxophone itself can make a difference to The post Mouthpiece Material appeare ...

How to Look After Your Mouthpiece Prevention Cure Mouthpiece cleaning is important of course, but first let’s look at how to maintain it on a regular basis in order to help prevent it from getting into such a sad state that The post Saxophone Mout ...

Concept Models Players Audio For more images & info see the individual pages: Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Baritone | Testimonials The Concept Behind PPT Mouthpieces Like many saxophone players I have been on a constant search for the The post PPT Mouthp ...

As with the tenor and baritone mouthpieces, my reason for developing the PPT soprano saxophone mouthpiece is not commercial, I just wanted to get the best soprano mouthpiece for my own needs. I had been using a vintage Selmer Soloist which I really e ...

Due to overwhelming demand we have now introduced the PPT alto mouthpiece in Onyxite. This is not just a scaled down version of the tenor, the concept is slightly different. My inspiration for these includes the Brilhart Tonalin and Meyer Bros. The ...

My concept behind the sound is a mouthpiece that can deliver not only that very fat warm almost vintage sound, but also a more modern sound with nice sparkly edge, sometimes both at once. I was after a really versatile mouthpiece that could deliver l ...

As with the tenor mouthpiece, I was looking for something that doesn't yet exist - a versatile mouthpiece for baritone sax that is capable of extreme dynamics from a gentle whisper to a gutsy roar. Up until now I used several baritone mouthpieces for ...

PPT Reviews It’s always good to get feedback, and here are some of the PPT reviews, testimonials and other communications we have received over the years from happy customers. Soprano PPT Reviews Message: Hello Pete, a little feedback re. the The p ...

In the accessories section   The post Accessories appeared first on Taming The Saxophone.

Cane Reeds  Synthetic Reeds The 5 Best Cane Reed Tips: Don’t be afraid of using soft reeds:  It is a myth that you need to play a hard reed to be a good player. While a hard reed can make it The post Cane Reeds for Saxophone appeared first on Ta ...

Cane Reeds  Synthetic Reeds Synthetic mouthpieces, so why not synthetic reeds? Traditionally woodwind instruments such as the clarinet used mouthpieces made from wood in combination with cane reeds. A big problem was always that natural products suc ...

When should you change a reed? Cane Reeds are extremely annoying. They are sent here to try our patience in more ways than one: You buy a box of reeds and it’s often the luck of the draw whether all, The post When to Change a Reed appeared first on ...

The Best Way to Hold a Reed On What do saxpophone ligatures do? A ligature clamps the reed to the mouthpiece. Think of this a bit like when you hold a ruler on the edge of a table and flick The post Saxophone Ligatures appeared first on Taming The Sa ...

Keep Your Saxophone Round Your Neck! Disclaimer: all products on this page have been supplied to me  as free review  samples. What makes a good saxophone strap/sling/holder? Cebulla   Jazzlab Saxholder   Birdstrap   BA Sling   The most impor ...

Not just cheap, it sounds good! Ingredients to make your own clipon microphone Realistic 33-1063 Electret Tie Pin Microphone (Radio Shack, Tandy) Deluxe Clothes peg Two small self tapping screws Strip of metal, e.g. brass, approx 8″ x 1/4″ Drill ...

Keep Your Horn in One Piece! Saxophone stands are more important than you might think. I learnt this as a guitarist, when my 3-year-old decide to walk into a cheap guitar stand. Problem was that the stand was holding an The post Saxophone Stands appe ...

This is an amazingly simple concept which I’m very pleased to see available from the well established and highly reputable company from Switzerland, Jazzlabs. The reason I’m happy to see it made by Jazzlabs is that their products are all The post ...

We know that apart from the actual saxophone, mouthpieces and reeds can make a difference to your sound. Many people think that ligatures, thumbrests, straphooks and other accessories also make a difference. When I first heard about these I must The ...

Over the last few years we have seen a multitude of so-called sound enhancing accessories, from the Swing Chip to the leFreque, the Klangbogen to the Heavy Mass Neck Screw. Do they work or is it all in the mind? The post Sound Enhancement 2: The Soun ...

Story of the Saxophone Now available, this beautiful A4 reproduction of Buescher catalogue and saxophone book See/download scanned extracts at the bottom of this page. The Early Years of Saxophone History From the Story of the Saxophone The Middle A ...

Science vs Common Sense Saxophones are mostly made from brass, which is an alloy mostly of copper and zinc. There are and have been slightly different combinations, and various other metals (e.g. lead) also included. Saxophones are also made from The ...

What Can Serial Numbers Tell Me? The main thing you learn from serial numbers is the age of the instrument of course. Although the dates in these charts are reasonably accurate, there may be some discrepancies for various reasons. Here The post Seria ...

Are vintage saxophones better than modern ones? Yes and no, “better” is very often subjective. It used to be the case that you could buy a professional quality vintage horn for much less than a professional quality new one, however The post Vinta ...

There seems to be a lot of confusion about how we describe sound. It seems many people these days want what they call a dark sound, but when I delve deeper into what they mean, I realise it may not The post Bright Sound or Dark Sound appeared first o ...

Here are a few of the strange and unusual instruments and accessories I have collected over the years. Some sound great, others not so. Maybe I’ll record some soundclips one day… Conn Clar-O-Sax – “A real musical instrument, not a The post Pe ...

This article is based on my experience playing the saxophone on recording sessions, and also recording saxophones while working as a producer/sound engineer sometimes alongside some of the best sound engineers in the world in some top studios. These ...

Who is this for and what do you need? This is for anyone who wants to make recordings of their playing (or singing) along with basic backing tracks. This isn’t meant to be an advanced or even complete tutorial on The post Mixing Saxophone appeared ...

Saxes for Sale – 5 things to watch out for:   1. Asking advice online People often ask on the forums or social media “what is the best saxophone?” hoping for an answer. Note I said “an answer” (singular). Unfortunately they tend to get ...

I have designed and developed all the online saxophone exercises, tutorials and lessons in this section over many years both as a professional recording musician and as a teacher at Southampton University, and have used these exercises as part of The ...

The How, Why, What and Wheres of the Saxophone If you have any questions, please ask. The only stupid question is the one you are too scared to ask. The Cafe Saxophone forum is the ideal place. In the Beginners The post Beginners FAQs appeared first ...

The Taming The Saxophone Series of Studies Taming the Saxophone is a series of saxophone tutorials (there are more books, videos and DVDs planned). When you buy Taming The Saxophone Volume 2 you will also get special membership to private pages, The ...

This article tells you what you need to know to get started – fingering a few notes, making a sound and playing your first tune, along with a page of FAQs. Everything (almost) you need to know. The post Learn to Play Saxophone appeared first on Tam ...

For Absolute Beginners In this section we look specifically at useful stuff for beginners, but don’t be scared of delving into the other pages. Some may be a bit advanced but others can be very useful – especially the tone The post First Steps on ...

Why am I in a different key to the rest of the band? This is a very common question, especially from anyone who has just bought a saxophone, taught themselves a little bit and then decides to play along with some other musicians. It can be a big sho ...

First we have a couple of very basic fingering charts which show you the saxophone fingerings for the lower and upper register in the key of C. These are ideal for absolute beginners who don’t want to be overwhelmed by The post Fingering Charts app ...

In this program, Pete introduces beginners to the alto saxophone: the parts of the saxophone and how to assemble them, fitting the reed, posture and breathing, saxophone embouchure, holding and blowing into the saxophone, tuning, fingering, notes and ...

The best one for you Is the teacher a great player? A good teacher is not necessarily a great player, and conversely a great player could be a lousy teacher. The important thing is not just that the teacher can The post Find A Saxophone Teacher appea ...

What is R&B Saxophone? I really didn’t want to define rhythm & blues but I was sort of forced to do it when putting the vast page of R&B players together. Maybe it would have been easier to make it a list The post Rhythm & Blues Saxophone appeare ...