Veggie Dave
Sax Worker
- Messages
- 3,644
- Locality
- Citizen of Nowhere
Hello everyone,
I'm Dave, who's been playing the saxophone for a whopping 12 days now. I've probably come to the sax from a rather different route than most, though.
Until about 13 years ago I was a bass player, playing a bizarre mix of rock, funk, jazz and classical ... and then I had a major bike accident that shattered by left wrist and broke and dislocated all my fingers. In short, it hurt a wee bit and took a while to get over.
From that point on, playing any stringed instrument was almost impossible. I did start playing over the neck, but I'd lost 90% of my dexterity and finger spread, so gave up. About two years ago I was wondering if there were any other instruments I could play instead and, after a fair bit of thought, came up with the saxophone.
Fast forward to three weeks ago and I'm walking past the Sax shop, in London. I pop in to have a look at their 'cheap' saxophones, in particular the Trevor James Classic II tenor, and to have a chat with the staff to get a bit more info. Someone called Paul decides that rather than telling me about the TJ he's going to give me a quick lesson instead so that I really know if I want one or not - whether I want to play one there and then or not!
Around 20 minutes later I'm playing a C scale and I'm possibly the happiest bloke on the planet at that specific point in time. Just over a week later a brand new TJ Classic II arrives at my home.
And this is where it becomes a little tricky. First, I haven't been able to find a sax player in my area who teaches sax, rather than a music teacher who teaches you how to read music for the sax, which is slightly different. And secondly, I don't seem to like saxophone music. And 99% of what I've found up to now that I do like is far, far too complex for a learner to get his head around.
In the last week I've learnt what are probably the cheesiest of cheesy sax songs (One Step Beyond (Madness), Geno (Dexy's Midnight Runners), Pig Bag (Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag) and Baker Street). Incredibly they're even recognisable as the songs I'm trying to play but now I'm struggling to find other songs to try and learn.
I also seem to have accidentally broken the rule about going up in reed strength slowly as I've just jumped from a 1.5 Rico to 2.5 Rico for no other reason than it was the only reed available from the only shop within 20 miles that sells reeds. Bizarrely, the tone I was getting improved massively, my control and consistency instantly jumped up a level and the constant squeaks I was getting when jumping between octaves all but disappeared.
I recorded a very short blues lick yesterday, so that I could hear what I was playing, that seems to sound okay to me. One little squeak but everything else seems pretty good for someone who'd only been playing for 11 days. As I haven't as yet found a tutor and as I have no history of the sax - neither playing or as a listener - would it be a good idea to post it somewhere on here so that it can be picked apart by people who know what they're talking about so that I have something to work towards while I find a teacher? And if it's a yes, what would be the appropriate forum?
Anyway, hello to you all.
I'm Dave, who's been playing the saxophone for a whopping 12 days now. I've probably come to the sax from a rather different route than most, though.
Until about 13 years ago I was a bass player, playing a bizarre mix of rock, funk, jazz and classical ... and then I had a major bike accident that shattered by left wrist and broke and dislocated all my fingers. In short, it hurt a wee bit and took a while to get over.
From that point on, playing any stringed instrument was almost impossible. I did start playing over the neck, but I'd lost 90% of my dexterity and finger spread, so gave up. About two years ago I was wondering if there were any other instruments I could play instead and, after a fair bit of thought, came up with the saxophone.
Fast forward to three weeks ago and I'm walking past the Sax shop, in London. I pop in to have a look at their 'cheap' saxophones, in particular the Trevor James Classic II tenor, and to have a chat with the staff to get a bit more info. Someone called Paul decides that rather than telling me about the TJ he's going to give me a quick lesson instead so that I really know if I want one or not - whether I want to play one there and then or not!
Around 20 minutes later I'm playing a C scale and I'm possibly the happiest bloke on the planet at that specific point in time. Just over a week later a brand new TJ Classic II arrives at my home.
And this is where it becomes a little tricky. First, I haven't been able to find a sax player in my area who teaches sax, rather than a music teacher who teaches you how to read music for the sax, which is slightly different. And secondly, I don't seem to like saxophone music. And 99% of what I've found up to now that I do like is far, far too complex for a learner to get his head around.
In the last week I've learnt what are probably the cheesiest of cheesy sax songs (One Step Beyond (Madness), Geno (Dexy's Midnight Runners), Pig Bag (Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag) and Baker Street). Incredibly they're even recognisable as the songs I'm trying to play but now I'm struggling to find other songs to try and learn.
I also seem to have accidentally broken the rule about going up in reed strength slowly as I've just jumped from a 1.5 Rico to 2.5 Rico for no other reason than it was the only reed available from the only shop within 20 miles that sells reeds. Bizarrely, the tone I was getting improved massively, my control and consistency instantly jumped up a level and the constant squeaks I was getting when jumping between octaves all but disappeared.
I recorded a very short blues lick yesterday, so that I could hear what I was playing, that seems to sound okay to me. One little squeak but everything else seems pretty good for someone who'd only been playing for 11 days. As I haven't as yet found a tutor and as I have no history of the sax - neither playing or as a listener - would it be a good idea to post it somewhere on here so that it can be picked apart by people who know what they're talking about so that I have something to work towards while I find a teacher? And if it's a yes, what would be the appropriate forum?
Anyway, hello to you all.