Great books for Beginners who aspire to progress rapidly without a teacher?

Throstur

Member
12
Iceland
Hi everybody! I've just recently bought an EM Winston Boston LX 455 Alto Saxophone and I'm looking to master my horn... or at least try to! I've taken one lesson with a teacher and he taught me some basic embouchure and how to use the top three fingers of each finger as well as the octave key, but because of the recession here in Iceland I can't really afford getting regular lessons, so, I've decided on running solo!

Now, I have the horn, I have the willpower... but I don't have any books, and as you can see below, the willpower surely isn't enough!


Hilarity ensues...


So, as you can see, I really need some books! I'm looking to fast-track to being acceptably good and to achieve my goal I have to invest in some good teaching material. I know I will run into problems, I will deal with those when they come up.

So, I'm not really interested in theory and all that really advanced stuff, although a good book on beginner/intermediate improv could probably come in handy! What I'm mainly looking for is a comprehensive book that could teach me one note at a time and maybe a couple of tunes to play to get used to the new notes - I aspire to learn all the notes possible on the sax! Even the really really really high ones, although I'll probably leave those out until in the future!

So, go nuts everybody and post your favorite Amazon book links! Thanks in advance for everyone who contribtues!
 
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One day? Bloody fantastic start mate. I started with a couple of lessons from a teacher and then I taught myself. (Actually I didn't teach myself anything 'cos I still don't know what the notes or finger positionings are called) It looks like your going to manage very well on your own. Good luck with it and enjoy the ride.
 

I'm sorry but it doesn't look like you read my post at all... I'm looking for a beginners book that teaches me the fingerings and how to play the notes, with a melody or two to play that enforces those notes, not a complex book on saxophone theory and what the muscles that are used look like and what they are called, thanks for the effort though...

EDIT: To elaborate, in case I wasn't clear enough, I'm not looking for reading material, I'm looking for the kind of book that has notes and fingerings and short musical passages - the kind of thing a music teacher would enforce on a student.
 
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" Saxophone Manual" by Peter Gelling might be worth looking at.

Chris

Judging by the cover, price and reviews, it looks like a pretty sound book, pun intended. I wonder if you have any experience with it? Normally I would download a .PDF off the internet to have a quick glance at it before buying (as you would in a music store, flicking through the pages - I'm not going to pirate & print out a book like this). Since I couldn't find any and Amazon doesn't provide a "peek inside", I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about it?
 
Something of real help is "The Jazz Method of playing Alto Saxophone" by John O'Neill - don't be put off by mention of Jazz in the title - it is Jazz, rather than Classical, and will get you up to a good level and help with all sorts of basic beginner type questions - it comes with a CD, which is good. The other beginner book I would recommend would be "Creative Saxophone - A fresh approach for Beginners" by Kelly Santin.

Welcome to the forum by the way - do post a new thread in the "Doorbell" section when you have time.
Kind regards
Tom

Jan Garbarek, the famous Norwegian saxophonist is self taught, so you are in good company!

Both the above books are available on Amazon - around £12 or your equivalent. There are several excellent reviews on the www.amazon.co.uk website.
 
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I'm looking for a beginners book that teaches me the fingerings and how to play the notes, with a melody or two to play that enforces those notes, not a complex book on saxophone.

If you wanted the absolute basics, you could go for the "A Tune A Day" series... but beware it could be enough to drive you mad!! It's a bit basic, but it does exactly what you describe. It's probably aimed more at the 8-12 year old age group!

I tell you what... if you want PM me your address, I'll post you my copy of book 1 🙂)) :sax:
 
+1 on TomMapfumo's recommendation 🙂

I started on 'Beginner for sax' and 'Tune a day' while they do the job as a basic book they were not for me, i got the book 'John o'Neill Alto Jazz Method' recommended by a few members on here and was lucky enough to buy one fron the bay of e, for a bargain price of .99p 😀
The book does exactly what it says on the tin and more 🙂 you say you want to learn the notes "one note at a time" this book does that and you get to play tunes using those notes you have learnt, adding a note at a time.

Highly recommended 😀

Enjoy your journey
 
The Complete Saxophone Player, get the omnibus not the 4 seperate books.
Shows fingerings and simple exercises introducing one note at a time right up to improvisation etc.
I taught myself using it, taking the trouble to learn in a disciplined manner.
 
All the books mentioned are great to get you started, but my concern is that you "may" pick up bad habits that will still let you become a sax player but may well be hard to break and hold you back in the long run. I am not saying you need to have regular lessons, but even a few at the beginning will pay dividends in the long run.
My opinion only for what its worth.
Good luck
Dave
 
Hi everybody! I've just recently bought an EM Winston Boston LX 455 Alto Saxophone and I'm looking to master my horn... or at least try to! I've taken one lesson with a teacher and he taught me some basic embouchure and how to use the top three fingers of each finger as well as the octave key, but because of the recession here in Iceland I can't really afford getting regular lessons, so, I've decided on running solo!

Now, I have the horn, I have the willpower... but I don't have any books, and as you can see below, the willpower surely isn't enough!


Hilarity ensues...


So, as you can see, I really need some books! I'm looking to fast-track to being acceptably good and to achieve my goal I have to invest in some good teaching material. I know I will run into problems, I will deal with those when they come up.

So, I'm not really interested in theory and all that really advanced stuff, although a good book on beginner/intermediate improv could probably come in handy! What I'm mainly looking for is a comprehensive book that could teach me one note at a time and maybe a couple of tunes to play to get used to the new notes - I aspire to learn all the notes possible on the sax! Even the really really really high ones, although I'll probably leave those out until in the future!

So, go nuts everybody and post your favorite Amazon book links! Thanks in advance for everyone who contribtues!
Just saw your post and wondering if you are still playing the sax sings then after having so many expectations for yourself in such a short period of time. I have been playing the sax the 38 years and still learning. But what I suggest is that you work on nothing but long tones for a year to get develop a sound people what to hear. You want to learn technique first which is understandable but you need a good sound first. Obviously you are just starting so you sound like a dying cow in a snow storm. We all did in the beginning. Keep at it.
 
I'm sorry but it doesn't look like you read my post at all... I'm looking for a beginners book that teaches me the fingerings and how to play the notes, with a melody or two to play that enforces those notes, not a complex book on saxophone theory and what the muscles that are used look like and what they are called, thanks for the effort though...

EDIT: To elaborate, in case I wasn't clear enough, I'm not looking for reading material, I'm looking for the kind of book that has notes and fingerings and short musical passages - the kind of thing a music teacher would enforce on a student.

Humm... a touch impetuous maybe.... Have you looked at the book?

First off no one book is going to give you all you need, you say your not going to have a teacher, fair enough, Larry Teal's book may very well save you a lot of grief.

You are going to want to have a fingering chart... it's in there, a nice two page spread.
You are going to want to know about embouchure at some point... it's in there
You are going to come across intonation 'issues' .... it's covered
How about dynamics, adjusting your reeds, articulation, breathing?

Maybe you can see where I'm coming from, this stuff is the stuff you face every time you put the mouthpiece in your mouth, if you had a teacher I'd say, ask them, get them to demonstrate... if you don't, who are you going to ask? Who has the diagrams to try and explain and has thought it out in a way that is intended to help with minimal confusion?

Simple song books that my teacher 'enforced' on me 😉 glad she did though:

Look, Listen & Learn - Alto Sax Part 1 (Book And CD)
Kids Play Blues - Alto Saxophone (Book/CD) Forget the 'Kids' bit, it's the content that's important
Favorite Movie Themes for Alto Sax

The other thing she did was always had me doing two or three pieces at a time and from different books, you need to keep it fresh and be able to try something different when you hit the brick wall. Often when you then come back, the wall isn't so big.

Best of luck
 

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