Introduction New Guy from Kentucky

[Charles77]

Hello all, just joined. Been messing with the sax for about a month now. Need help! LOL! Hope you can!

 

[Pete Thomas]

Welcome!

Yes, we can help.

 

[Hoosierken]

A Kentuckian eh? I am not sure that there is any help for that. 😉

 

[Charles77]

A Kentuckian eh? I am not sure that there is any help for that. 😉

Don't hold it against me....LOL!!😛

 

[peedeeblues]

Welcome to the site. A good place to start your journey.

 

[eb424]

Hi welcome aboard .

 

[Jeanette]

Welcome to the café, lots of help available 😀

 

[ESJohn]

Ohio welcomes you!

 

[MikeMorrell]

Hello all, just joined. Been messing with the sax for about a month now. Need help! LOL! Hope you can!

Hi @Charles77 and a hearty welcome to the café! You've definitively come to the right place!

All members are ready and willing to help you out with any questions that you might have. So don't hesitate to ask them! We've all been were you are now and we're only to happy to help you out. The support at the café is truly awesome.

Mike

 

[Charles77]

Hi @Charles77 and a hearty welcome to the café! You've definitively come to the right place!

All members are ready and willing to help you out with any questions that you might have. So don't hesitate to ask them! We've all been were you are now and we're only to happy to help you out. The support at the café is truly awesome.

Mike

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!!!

Here's the extent of my playing, what little I can do.
What more do I need to do?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CowEF73fue4

 

[skeller047]

I watched your video, and the first thing I thought was you need to find a teacher to get some very basic stuff down. Mostly air and embouchure related, maybe how to tongue. Then you said you can’t find a teacher…. In any case, not bad for one month in!

I’ve seen a couple videos from the Online Sax Academy, and I’m going to recommend a couple other places that focus on basics a little more. First, check out Better Sax run by Jay Metcalf. Most of the content is not free, but the beginner course is: Beginner/Refresher – bettersax.com

Maybe better for you is the Sax School Online, run by Nigel McGill. Yes, it’s based in the UK, but it’s very international. They have a free trial, and the monthly and yearly rates seem reasonable to me. (Their monthly charge is less than I would charge per lesson…) I’ve followed their YouTube channel for years, and I’m impressed with the breadth of content. Occasionally they post videos by and about students, mostly adult learners, and the results are good.

You can get some personalized tutoring with either of these resources. You need that 🙂. Better Sax is more jazz oriented if that makes a difference to you, and though jazz is part of the Sax School curriculum, they have more pop and rock content.

One other thing you should do. Pick up a copy of The Art of Saxophone Playing by Larry Teal. The saxophonist’s bible, no matter the genre.

Good on you for picking up the horn! And a big welcome from me too.

 

[PiccoloPirate]

Welcome aboard from North of Key Largo.
Keep your right hand's fingers on the pearls(keys). Don't let them fly off.
Ya gots a bit of bassoon in your tone, and that's great in my book. Saxes were designed to sound like double reeds and brasswinds, or so I was told. 😀
Read what I and others wrote about overtones for developing and strengthening your embouchure.
Everyone I know taught that on day one.
Might be worth checking out the local colleges etc, if they have a music program.
Competent students usually enjoy helping new players get a good start.

Best to demo a scale, low to high or high to low, with longish tones, so we can get a good idea of what you may need.
If Boots can do it, so can you.

 

[ESJohn]

The Standards of Excellence books from KJOS (Bruce Pearson) utilize an "interactive practice studio" feature where you can play along with and record yourself. If you go that route, you would start with Book 1. Books 2 and 3 are also there as you progress. The books cost around $12-14 each and are easy to find. Make sure you get the latest edition. The older versions won't have the IPS.
I'm sure that there are other programs and books available. You might take a short trip to your local music store and inquire there. They may have some suggestions as to groups and/or teachers for you.
You could check out New Horizons if you'd like to play in a band/orchestra setting. No experience is necessary and they really help you grow in your musical journey. I belong to one here in Ohio. Kentucky shows two; one in Lexington and one in Pikeville. Here is a link if you are interested:

https://newhorizonsmusic.org/content.php?page=Find_a_Group

 

[MikeMorrell]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!!!

Here's the extent of my playing, what little I can do.
What more do I need to do?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CowEF73fue4

Hi @Charles77. I don't doubt your passion for playing sax and wanting to improve! Good on you!
Lot's of good tips so far, so use them.

Just based on my own personal experience, I would just point out that 'progress' and 'improvement' are often not based on 'quick fixes' and are often not linear progress/improvements. In the sense that you can go through weeks and months of frustration that 'you're getting nowhere' and suddenly everything clicks into place and you take a major leap forward.

I had just a couple of years of lessons (aged 40) and most of what I've picked up since then has been via the café.

My advice (along with others) is to get a teacher. Who can feel (with his/her hands) how you you breath and help you firm up your 'breath control'. And listen to your tone and work together with you to improve this: Throat, Oral Cavity, Embouchure?

Mike

 

[Hoosierken]

If Kentucky is anything like Indiana then finding a teacher within a reasonable travel distance that works with your schedule probably isn't very likely. I learned my notes and how to read basic music using and alto sax and Simon Currie's beginner sax on Udemy. Unfortunately I don't think that he has a tenor version but there are others out there. I imitated a lot of YouTube tutorial videos but unless you can read music they are not going to be a lot of use. I downloaded an app on my cell phone called, Total Music Trainer. It is like a game and made a big difference it how fast I could read notes. It is well worth giving them a few bucks for the paid version if you will use it. If I were going to chose an Internet based system I would probably go with Online Sax Academy, I believe that is UK based. I have used a lot of the stuff from them on Youtube and their library.

 

[MikeMorrell]

If Kentucky is anything like Indiana then finding a teacher within a reasonable travel distance that works with your schedule probably isn't very likely. I learned my notes and how to read basic music using and alto sax and Simon Currie's beginner sax on Udemy. Unfortunately I don't think that he has a tenor version but there are others out there. I imitated a lot of YouTube tutorial videos but unless you can read music they are not going to be a lot of use. I downloaded an app on my cell phone called, Total Music Trainer. It is like a game and made a big difference it how fast I could read notes. It is well worth giving them a few bucks for the paid version if you will use it. If I were going to chose an Internet based system I would probably go with Online Sax Academy, I believe that is UK based. I have used a lot of the stuff from them on Youtube and their library.

Good point! I completely accept that the standard advice to 'find a teacher' just doesn't work for many people. Probably not for @Charles77 but he might just get lucky).

I'm too used to living in NL, a small, highly populated and well connected country. In contrast, Kentucky is at least 4 times larger than NL and has about a quarter of its population.

Thanks for pointing this out!

Mike

 

[Charles77]

If Kentucky is anything like Indiana then finding a teacher within a reasonable travel distance that works with your schedule probably isn't very likely. I learned my notes and how to read basic music using and alto sax and Simon Currie's beginner sax on Udemy. Unfortunately I don't think that he has a tenor version but there are others out there. I imitated a lot of YouTube tutorial videos but unless you can read music they are not going to be a lot of use. I downloaded an app on my cell phone called, Total Music Trainer. It is like a game and made a big difference it how fast I could read notes. It is well worth giving them a few bucks for the paid version if you will use it. If I were going to chose an Internet based system I would probably go with Online Sax Academy, I believe that is UK based. I have used a lot of the stuff from them on Youtube and their library.

You hit the nail on the head, I'm having a time finding one, or one that will return my messages or phone calls. I am using the Online Sax Academy.

 

[MikeMorrell]

I can't comment on on-line sax courses.

Not so long ago, I started to learn to play bass guitar using Youtube. With two weeks of just browsing 'free videos', I found 3 online bass playing programs that I liked. My only criteria were":
- Do I like the presentation style of the bass players (Nr. 1 criterium!)?
- does their learning approach' seem to make sense to me?
- do they offer different courses at different levels which I could subscribe to?

I ended up signing up for 2 courses with one bass player and 'sponsoring' a second via a 'Gofundme' page

So my only advice in relation to on-line sax courses is to:
- check out their free videos on YouTube and decide whether their presentation style appeals to you
- check out their 'learning programs' and whether they makes sense to you
- do one or more free 30-day trials to see if the 'lessons' live up to your hopes and expectations

Personally (just my prejudice), I would avoid courses that promise 'playing 100 tunes' or advertise specific tunes that you'll be able to play. Yes, I'm old-fashioned but I suspect that on-line courses that aim to teach 'the fundamentals' of playing sax a safer bet.

Something that's completely new to me (as an old guy) is online tutoring via, for example zoom.
I just picked this link completely at random from Google just as an example: Online Lessons — The Adventurous Saxophonist, Saxophone. On-line interactive tutoring could perhaps complement any other learning activities. Either on-line or off-line.

If you sign up for an on-line sax course and/or tutoring, then you should definitely just follow the program.

FWIW, there are a couple of good resources I've found via the café over the years that have really helped me develop, including:

• the YouTube videos of Harvey Pittel. The first is just the intro. The following 12 videos or so go more into more 'fundamental details' such as such as 'placing the mouthpiece', 'embouchure', 'voicing', 'breathing', etc. At a physical level. He demonstrates well MHO what happens in the muscles of the body when you play sax. What constricts your 'sound' and what enables your sound to flow (more) freely.
• The book (and video:
  View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zzfJ9NLu9A
  ) by Dave Liebman entitled 'Developing a personal saxophone sound'. Though two sections of this book (overtones, expressive techniques) are more suited to intermediate players, like Harvey Pittel most of his book covers 'the fundamentals', including 'the playing mechanism'. breathing, throat/larynx, tounging and articulation
• The book 'playing the saxophone' by Rob Buckland

TBH, I'm really glad that I didn't have to wade through all these internet resources way back when I was learning to play sax!

Mike

 

[mizmar]

You hit the nail on the head, I'm having a time finding one, or one that will return my messages or phone calls. I am using the Online Sax Academy.

I have to say, I like OSA for late beginner/Intermediate stuff, rhythm etc.. I've no idea what it would be like starting from scratch, but chappy is very thoughtful.
However no purely online material will stop you doing bad habits. I can't see there's anything quite like another pair of human ears stuck to the side of a musicians head, even live, online. Maybe some app or other, I don't know.

 

[Jeanette]

Plenty of tutors will give online lessons. I was sceptical but am loving my current tutor. I have had in person lessons with 3 other tutors and his are just as good. I'm surprised at some of the things he picks me up on.

Jx