Overwhelmed and Frustrated

[Sirk09]

Hello All,

I did a search and didn't find another thread so I'm giving it a go here... if there is another thread that answers the question, please direct me.

I've played sax for for 18 years and feel like I improv like a middle school student.

I'm desiring to advance my abilities. My improv is horrible. I want to be able to play along with my friends but don't know how. I'm stuck playing out of those play along books I had in school. I want to actually play and have fun!

Can anyone help me figure out what I can do to get started in the right direction.

Thank you so much!

Kris

 

[nigeld]

I was useless at improvisation too, so my approach has been to find a teacher who can teach it in a way I can follow. I'm still useless, but working on it.

The cafe Song of the month and Ballad of the month are a good way to stick your toe in the water.

 

[Ivan]

There may be more than one way to crack that egg

Depends on you and your DNA

I started by listening and playing along to records and seeing which notes fitted... it meant I was using my ear not the written note

 

[jbtsax]

Aebersold Volume 54 "Maiden Voyage" is a great place to begin.

• First, read and study pages iv, and ix to give you a foundation of information.
• Second, pick one of the tunes you like and learn and memorize the head.
• On that song, do all of the exercises listed on page iii along with the accompaniment
• Go to the discography page for that tune either 16, 32, or 48
• Select several recordings of the song to listen to. Spotify.com is a good resource for this
• Pick a chorus of a solo you like that is not too challenging technically and transcribe it. A good program to use is transcribe. You can download and use it for 30 days for free. To purchase is only $39.

 

[Jazzaferri]

In your case I would suggest listen to sax players in the genre that most appeals to you.

When you hear a solo that you really like. Learn it deeply by singing or whistling along with it over and over again until you can do that without the music behind you. Then pick up your sax and play it ...slowly (really slowly) at first as your fingers will be a bit hesitant to find the notes at first few times through. Once you have it up to speed and can play it with just the metronome move on to the next one and repeat the process but keep playing the recent one once a day. Once you start to get the hang of the process and depending on how far you want to take this try them in different keys once you have learned them in the original.

This is but one way to learn the process but it does work.

 

[brianr]

Kris, its very difficult to give you "the way forward" that is relevant to you.

we know so very little about your current level of playing etc.

However, if I had my time again as a budding sax player, I would do one thing differently.
(actually, I would make lots of better choices, but this one is, I feel, the main key to getting better.)

I would not try to cover so much material.................................

But the material I did choose to practice , I would really get in to, until I felt much better at it.
I wasted time by half learning stuff. Still groping around on it, half learned, for months on end, and then discarding it again.

Dont panic because you arent covering everything you may want to. Nailing just a few things will be much to your advantage, and will transfer over to other aspects of your playing.

a few areas you may want to look at are
1)basic triads in all inversions, this will develop your facility on the sax, whilst arming you with stuff you will need as an improviser
2) 12 bar Blues Harmony. if not already part of your armoury, you need this. it is a great learning tool
3) most sax players have no concept of rhythm, whilst improvising. Work on developing this.
Mine was always crap, but is getting better through practice, and is much to my advantage.

EDIT. prompted by the post above. learn to transcribe. simple material is good. just start doing it. In real time

 

[Colin the Bear]

Why do you want to improvise? Have you something to say?

Pick a tune... say...Autumn Leaves. Learn it. Learn it fast, learn it slow, learn it jazz, learn it waltz, learn it backwards. Learn it so you can pick it up at any bar. Learn the order of the chords. Learn all the notes in the chords. Learn which notes can be added to extend the harmony. Play the tune 1,000 times. Find other ways through it. If you get lost go back to the melody. If you get bored, improvisation is not for you.

Improvisation is composition. Some improvisations take a life time to work out and some just happen. All you do is let the music inside you come out. The hard bit is getting it in there. Only go for pieces that move you. As you progress, different pieces will begin to move you.

 

[Alice]

Hello All,

I did a search and didn't find another thread so I'm giving it a go here... if there is another thread that answers the question, please direct me.

I've played sax for for 18 years and feel like I improv like a middle school student.

I'm desiring to advance my abilities. My improv is horrible. I want to be able to play along with my friends but don't know how. I'm stuck playing out of those play along books I had in school. I want to actually play and have fun!

Can anyone help me figure out what I can do to get started in the right direction.

Thank you so much!

Kris

What sort of music are you and your friends playing? Are you making up your own? I'm wondering if some of the problem is not being in the right key, so everything sounds wrong.

 

[nickh]

Hi Kris,

I feel your pain! . I started improv recently with my teacher. His help was invaluable. I'm guessing if you've been at it a while youre probably better at than me!

But maybe i can help by giving you the bare bones of his approach to it. It's old school and it seems to work for me. He won't let me use play along books/backing tracks. Instead he has me playing along to actual recordings of the Jazz greats.. Listening to the changes, starting very simply with just one note (the root of chord) and gradually adding other notes from the chord. It feels 'real', much more real for me than playing along to backing tracks.

Nick

 

[Sirk09]

Why do you want to improvise? Have you something to say?

Pick a tune... say...Autumn Leaves. Learn it. Learn it fast, learn it slow, learn it jazz, learn it waltz, learn it backwards. Learn it so you can pick it up at any bar. Learn the order of the chords. Learn all the notes in the chords. Learn which notes can be added to extend the harmony. Play the tune 1,000 times. Find other ways through it. If you get lost go back to the melody. If you get bored, improvisation is not for you.

Improvisation is composition. Some improvisations take a life time to work out and some just happen. All you do is let the music inside you come out. The hard bit is getting it in there. Only go for pieces that move you. As you progress, different pieces will begin to move you.

What sort of music are you and your friends playing? Are you making up your own? I'm wondering if some of the problem is not being in the right key, so everything sounds wrong.

Honestly, it is mainly playing with my sister-in-law who plays piano. I don't know what keys are associated with what scale set and don't really have a much experience just playing.

 

[Sirk09]

Wow! I'm so amazed by all the responses....

All have great advice. I will try different approaches and see what fits best with my learning style.

I do need to focus on learning the scales better.

Any recommendations for artists to listen to?

Thanks again for all the support.

Kris

 

[Colin the Bear]

Scales , arpeggios and a little theory, especially harmony. A few piano lessons will help a saxophonist even if piano playing is not on the agenda.