Studies Music and Alto

[Pegwill]

Hi all
My sax has arrived and I have started to blow. Got a few distive notes so I am quite happy having only started for four days now, just not enough time in the day. Now for the question. I have some simple music books teach yourself keyboard you know the type of thing, simple chord structure and simple notation.

I know the chords are concert pitch and so is the melody is there anything I have to do to make it sound right or can I just play the melody as written. For instance, the first couple of bars of Help me make it through the night are as follows:
Chords Bar 1 G Bar 2 G Bar 3 G while the melody is shown as
GB-CBAB-D- etc do I need to transpose this for alto or can I just play it as written and it will sound right. (I do realise that when I play B (alto) that is concert D)

Your help will appriciated.

Regards to all

Bill

 

[Justin Chune]

Hi Bill. Just play it as written until you get a simple music book for saxophone.

Jim.

 

[kevgermany]

Yep, but get a sax book - they work though the instrument, gradually introducing new things, at a pace you can control yourself. Some even have accompanying tune books, with tunes for that level, much nicer than the exercise pieces, which tend to be rather boring.

I found the CD that accompanied my book really helpful. But... The pace was too fast, so I take a piece, play it to the metronome set on a slow beat, then once I'm confortable there, gradually increase the speed until I can play it at the same speed as the CD. Gettingt he fingers to move accurately and quickly takes a lot of practice. And just as it starts to become automatic, in my case, brain and fingers disengage.....