piano man with no piano

andyjb

andyjb

Member
Messages
172
Locality
Manchester
Hi,

Andy here. A funny thing happened to me last week, I went to see my wife's brother who had got a saxophone for Christmas. Always on the look out for new life changes he let me have a go and amazingly i managed to knock out a scale :thumb: (he did not)!! ;}

After some careful negotiations with the missus I've decided to give the sax a go as i've got a muscial background having played the piano a bit (which is on hold as I have no piano). Looking at the website has inspired me to get back into playing an instrument.
:welldone
As negotiated terms and conditions were only finalised on Monday i'm on the look out for a beginner sax. Would it be cheeky of me to put a wanted post up in the back yard section of the forum?

Andy
 
Hi Andy,

And welcome. It might be worth paying a visit to a local woodwind shop where you can try out the various saxes to give you an idea not only of prices, but whether you prefer soprano/alto/tenor/bari. You may also be able to hire an instrument, before you commit to one in particular........

Cheers,

Amanda
 
Welcome to the caff©, Andy.

Better warn you that a basic boogie bass pattern is harder to play on a sax than a piano, unless your circular breathing is really good. >:)

ENJOY!​™
 
Hi, Andy!

A Big Welcome to the Cafe from Snake Davis country, down by yer in South Wales, mind. The two commonestsaxes to start on/play are the Alto and Tenor saxes. Adults can happily start on either, though there has often been anassumption that folks should start on Alto - comes from a time when teenagers were thought too puny to lift a Tenor sax until they were bigger/stronger etc. There are lots of excellent cheap "beginner saxes available, but you will either need to decide first or pop along to somewhere that stock both in order to give them a go.

Lots of good saxes are now made in Taiwan/China - Gear4Music, Bauhaus Walstein, John Packer, Noyus and others, and there are quite a few sources of used saxes at around £250+ ( Preloved and others, as well as occasionally on the Forum).
I started on Alto. now play Soprano and Tenor also but my first love remains the Alto. More adults are starting on the Tenor than previously - all depends on the sound you like best - be good to listen to some Youtube videos to see what you think.

Anyway, hope you get underway soon and join in the fun here! Ask any questions that come to mind as starting off can be quite a challenge - reeds, mouthpieces, straps etc. in addition to the actual sax.

Kind regards
Tom
 
Hi there, Andy,
Welcome to the cafe.
 
andyjb said:
Hi,

Andy here. A funny thing happened to me last week, I went to see my wife's brother who had got a saxophone for Christmas. Always on the look out for new life changes he let me have a go and amazingly i managed to knock out a scale :thumb: (he did not)!! ;}

After some careful negotiations with the missus I've decided to give the sax a go as i've got a muscial background having played the piano a bit (which is on hold as I have no piano). Looking at the website has inspired me to get back into playing an instrument.
:welldone
As negotiated terms and conditions were only finalised on Monday i'm on the look out for a beginner sax. Would it be cheeky of me to put a wanted post up in the back yard section of the forum?

Andy
Click to expand...

Hey Hey Andy ... Welcome to The Cafe mate ... :thumb:

I was wondering about the careful negotiations [insert Begging, Reluctant Promises etc] How come it took you - from sometime last week - to being finalised on Monday ...

Did it include Loads of: :shocked:

Washing and Wiping up ...
Ironing ...
Hoovering ...
Scrubbing Floors ...
Cleaning her car inside and out ...

Or was it more like: ;}

Giving her free and total access to your Gold Card ...
Showering her with loads of Cash ...
Paying off her "shoperholic" Debit Account ...

Or something more sinister? >:)

Have fun mate ... There's loads of good advice from members here too ...
 
Hi Andy,

Welcome to the Mad House from one Pianist to another :w00t:

I suggest that you talk you wife into letting you have a Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bari so you can decide what is correct for you. Once that's out of the way you need to rush out and purchase a string of various mouthpiece and matching ligatures in search of that great tone you've yet to develop!! Furthermore you need to try every reed on the market and come to the conclusion that X Brand is the best as you can only get one playable reed out of each box >:)

When you're an elitist you'll realise that none of that mattered. What was important is to just play and enjoy the ride :thumb:

BTW getting a piano will be cheaper than the GAS SAX BUG :w00t::confused:>:)

Hope I haven't put you off!

Happy blowing :sax:

@Sunray :))) :))) :)))
 
Hi Andy

Welcome aboard where abouts in M/C are you. As it happens I have a very nice Elkhart Series 2 Alto beginners sax that I may be persuaded to part with now as I have moved on to better things,it really is a great little sax if your interested Pm me and I'll give you details......John
 
Welcome to the cafe Andy :)

Enjoy your journey
 
Thanks for the welcome and encouragement. :welldone

Negotiations for the sax went basically like this....

Andy : Hi Sweetness. Would you like a cup of tea?
Wife : Yes please.
Andy : Here you go my love. I brought you a biscuit - chocolate, I know its your favourite.
Wife : Thanks
Andy : Oh yes, did I mention that I've decided to buy a sax? Is that ok?
Wife : mmmm.....

And so permission was granted. Negotiated payment for permission is pending.....

Tried an alto and a tenor today but have decided to go for a tenor. Tried a couple and couldn't believe the difference between a cheap and intermediate one. I don't have the funds to go for a new one, so need to go second hand. Have stuck up an ad in the back yard section.

Fingers crossed ;}
 
Hi Andy, welcome to the Cafe :)
 
Thanks for the offer Tom, but i'll try and get something closer to home before I move further a field. :thumb:

Andy
 
In my last couple of posts I said I was going for a tenor because

I like the silky chocolaty smoothness
I like jazz
I think they look cool

That said, i also want to be able to play other stuff like careless whisper :rolleyes: or baker street ;} (which are both played on alto). I know these can still be easily played on a tenor (but in a different key). Are they possible to play in the same key, or is the alto to high? Also are they more difficult to play? I suppose the real question to ask is how easy is it to transpose from an alto to a tenor :confused:
 
andyjb said:
In my last couple of posts I said I was going for a tenor because

I like the silky chocolaty smoothness
I like jazz
I think they look cool

That said, i also want to be able to play other stuff like careless whisper :rolleyes: or baker street ;} (which are both played on alto). I know these can still be easily played on a tenor (but in a different key). Are they possible to play in the same key, or is the alto to high? Also are they more difficult to play? I suppose the real question to ask is how easy is it to transpose from an alto to a tenor :confused:
Click to expand...

Don't worry, you'll almost certainly end up with both (at least!)
 
Andy,
You will be able to get backing tracks and scores for both of these to be able to play on tenor - just won't sound the same as on alto!

Have you tried Curly Woodwind (Liverpool - not that far from sunny Manchester) on your sax hunt? They sometimes have a degree of discretion built in to their advertised prices;}

Cheers,

Amanda
 
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