Playing the saxophone Play along books advice please

[BeBopSop]

Hi all, just got this via the post today, anyone use these, just a quick look through, seems quite easy to follow? Are these the best play along books? (for alto) or can you recommend others , thanks

 

[thesaxman71]

for improvisation and learning jazz, bluess look at Jamey Aebersold, he has around 120 books with cd playalongs but you can get them online in pdf and mp3 so you can play and read from your pc.
they are pretty much the industry standard series for jazz musicians from beginners to pro's.

the guest spot you got is a fsirly simple series with the melody and backing cd, nice to start off with until you maybe want to stretch out into improvisation then get the Aebersold.

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Would agree with Ian to a point....but for me I found Aebersold very confusing and long winded to be fair, but hey, you ain't me, so go with them, also the Hal Leanord and in session books by Faber are good, I have the in session with Charlie Parker and used to be able to play a very convincing Yardbird Suite!

 

[thesaxman71]

i agree about the long winded sometimes but if you use them purely as a 'band to play with' and standards to learn just to practice along to then they are great.
also the Hal Leonards are pretty good too.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I got the motown hits one. Great fun but not very educational. The fake 40's book has lots of tunes in it that suit the sax.

Most of all play what you like to play. If it's stuff you enjoy you'll play more and longer.

Looking at the price of books with play along CD's it might be worth spending a bit more and buying band in a box. Do your own backing for absolutely anything. It will progress with you.

 

[MandyH]

When I was starting out, I found the Guest Spot series wonderful.
I have maybe 10 different ones for Alto.
But now I find them a little too easy and unchallenging.
They're good if I just fancy a blow without needing to think much.

My musical life is currently taken up with practicing for my grade 8 exam, and practicing for our Bands in the Park performance in 5 weeks time, that I haven't considered where to move on to for these books.

BTW, I see you're Worcester based.....you could pop over and watch us perform....Sunday 8th Sept, Malvern Priory Park, 2:30pm - 4:30pm. Single Reeds Saxophone Choir.

 

[BeBopSop]

When I was starting out, I found the Guest Spot series wonderful.
I have maybe 10 different ones for Alto.
But now I find them a little too easy and unchallenging.
They're good if I just fancy a blow without needing to think much.

My musical life is currently taken up with practicing for my grade 8 exam, and practicing for our Bands in the Park performance in 5 weeks time, that I haven't considered where to move on to for these books.

BTW, I see you're Worcester based.....you could pop over and watch us perform....Sunday 8th Sept, Malvern Priory Park, 2:30pm - 4:30pm. Single Reeds Saxophone Choir.

Hi Mandy, yes I will come and cheer you all along! thanks. I have 2 big band play alongs, Swing favorites and Standards,they are arrangements for solo alto,and you are playing with a real big band backing, not just solos but some of the 2nd alto parts, this is challenging though (for me) but good practice.

 

[aldevis]

also the Hal Leonards are pretty good too.

I actually prefer the Hal Leonard. Mostly because they are more in tune and they give you a version with melody very well played "as written".
Band in a box (or similar) is my favourite for exercises, like 2-5-1 or single chords.

 

[Nick Wyver]

I prefer the Hal Leonard ones too. There's rather more variety in styles than Aebersold.

if you want rock, though, you're a bit stuffed. There isn't really much at all. You have to resort to guitar ones and transpose.

 

[rhysonsax]

I also like the Hal Leonard books, but wish that individual tracks were available on iTunes or Amazon, like the Aebersold backing tracks.

Rhys

 

[Brendan]

I'd like to recommend the book "Jazz Conception" by Jim Snidero :

I've been playing out of this book for a year or two and find the tunes (which are based on popular standards) great to play.
The book starts out easy and gets progressively more difficult.
Here's me playing one of the easier ones :
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11712311
(ignore the fake audience ... it was funny at the time .. ;} )

And struggling through a harder one :
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12385823

 

[TomMapfumo]

I like the McNeill - Jazz Method for Alto Sax - for learning, with CD and plenty of good tunes to learn. Similarly the Creative Saxophone series - by Kelly and Santin, whic has CDs for both tenor and alto sax.

 

[TonyP]

My pet hates in beginner's books are the ones where "to help the student?!" they put the songs in simple keys, ie not the keys in which the songs are usually played in jam sessions. Aebersold and Hal Leonard get these right.
I remember embarrassing myself when a jam session trio played Wave in the correct key, and I realised too late I'd learned it in an easy key - so a car crash ensued.
The irealb app is brilliant for backings to practice tunes - 1350 jazz standards for a few pounds!

 

[Jamesmac]

My pet hates in beginner's books are the ones where "to help the student?!" they put the songs in simple keys, ie not the keys in which the songs are usually played in jam sessions. Aebersold and Hal Leonard get these right.
I remember embarrassing myself when a jam session trio played Wave in the correct key, and I realised too late I'd learned it in an easy key - so a car crash ensued.
The irealb app is brilliant for backings to practice tunes - 1350 jazz standards for a few pounds!

I have to agree the Ireal app for the backing and the real book, for jazz stds chords, but if you are interested in compiling BTracks to play for functions , weddings etc. a music program or DAW is the way to go. Just think of film scores, that's what film composers use. I used to have a project studio jam packed with sound modules, but now everything is soft synths, that come with the music program's.such as Sonar producer, that I know and use.
PS. So you can create as simple or as complicated arr. as you prefer, plus in the meantime learn how to write for big band string quartet or whatever.

 

[sog50]

Jerry Bergonzi has some good backing tracks I use. The literature may not be to your taste but the tracks themselves are really good.

 

[photoman]

The irealb app is brilliant for backings to practice tunes - 1350 jazz standards for a few pounds!

I've just bought the iReal b app, having seen your post, and it looks great. I have already registered on the forum and downloaded one of the songlists (50 blues songs) so far.

Do you (or any other iReal b users) know if:

1. It's possible to get a list of beginner's tunes - or is what you get "pot luck" in terms of difficulty of playing?

2. There is a way to get the sheet music for the melodies of the songs?

Sorry for the "newbie" questions - I did have a look at the forum and the video tutorials on the app, but can't see anything about those questions.

Thanks for any advice,

Stephen

 

[Colin the Bear]

Wikifonia for the dots. Fake books for easy tunes and dots.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10?url=search-alias%3Dmi&field-keywords=fake%20books&sprefix=fake+books%2Caps%2C178

 

[jbtsax]

I need to put in my plug for Smart Music. For a $40 a year subscription, you get the backing tracks for 8 Aebersold books, 5 Alfred books, 3 Make Music, and 3 Winton Marsalis. You need to buy the Aebersold books to get the heads of the tunes, but all of the others come up on the screen.

In addition, you get a metronome and a tuner, and the ability to record yourself if you get the optional microphone for an additional $19.95. But wait---that's not all. You can play along with scores of jazz ensemble charts and concert band pieces at your ability level to work on your ensemble playing skills. There are also lots of solos with accompaniments at all skill levels.

One of the coolest features is that you control the tempos. You can even change the key on the improvisation tunes. You can create practice loops for difficult spots. I have no financial interest in Smart Music whatsoever. As a former music educator I can see the potential this program has as a learning tool. I wish I had something like this when I was growing up. All I had was Billy Vaughn records to play along with. (I'm still trying to get rid of the gushy vibrato.) 🙂

 

[MandyH]

I've just bought the iReal b app, having seen your post, and it looks great. I have already registered on the forum and downloaded one of the songlists (50 blues songs) so far.

Do you (or any other iReal b users) know if:

1. It's possible to get a list of beginner's tunes - or is what you get "pot luck" in terms of difficulty of playing?

2. There is a way to get the sheet music for the melodies of the songs?

Sorry for the "newbie" questions - I did have a look at the forum and the video tutorials on the app, but can't see anything about those questions.

Thanks for any advice,

Stephen

The IRealB app is based (I believe) on the chord sequences of the Real Books (which you can buy, through Amazon for example) if you get the relevant book, it is already transposed to go with the concert pitch backing track.

 

[sushidushi]

I've just bought the iReal b app, having seen your post, and it looks great. I have already registered on the forum and downloaded one of the songlists (50 blues songs) so far.

Do you (or any other iReal b users) know if:

1. It's possible to get a list of beginner's tunes - or is what you get "pot luck" in terms of difficulty of playing?

2. There is a way to get the sheet music for the melodies of the songs?

Sorry for the "newbie" questions - I did have a look at the forum and the video tutorials on the app, but can't see anything about those questions.

Thanks for any advice,

Stephen

I have the app. I have never used it, because I don't have the ability to begin doing so, but I have fiddled with it, allowing me to dream of musical competence.

I'm fairly certain that you're not able to sort the tunes in order of difficulty. The only thing you can do is to hope someone else puts together a playlist of easier tunes, or check songs you know and make your own playlist of songs that seem easier. In all cases, you are going to have to have a knowledge of chord structure and how to apply that. It might help to change the tempo of the backing track - or the key, if you want to transpose to something easier to play and don't mind it being in a different key from other versions you know.

I don't think that there is a single place you can go to get the melodies for the songs. Many of them are well-known tunes and should be as available in jazz books. I have downloaded some from for free from Wikifonia (www.wikifonia.org) but that seems to be down at the moment. Wikifonia claims to be legal because the tunes on it are out of copyright by now, but I think kevgermany for one had some doubts about it.