Saxophone beginners Realistic goals for late bloomers

[Smiffy]

Gosh I was so tired today

First Jam last night and I enjoyed it a little to much and did not get home till 1am with work today

Lots of good stuff some iffy and some not so good

Good, just getting to play with others, learning a few things with nice people

Iffy, some of my blowing was nervous (expected) and I was competing against Base, electric, and acoustic guitar, drum machine ,drummer not there

I NEED A BIG BIG MIC and AMP !!!!! I think ?

The others (all newish to playing together) have not played with a woodwind before and we were a bit lost how to get things together, Arrangements, keys to play in and so on

Really struggled to hear myself, the others said they could hear me ok but that's no good to me

Not so good, Blowing so hard at times or should that be louder than I do at home, I now know for sure :S my Sax needs a service, I'm sure there are leaks, low notes were hard to get and wishy washy

This looks like it's going to be a weekly thing and I'm looking forward to it already

I'm just a baby in this and could do with loads of advice please

I still want to play with other Sax players and hope to sort that out soon

 

[pete_canter]

Hi Smiffy

you could try asking them to turn down a bit? and/or get yourself a Ploeger sound mirror (there's a thread somewhere). Why not take an arrangement with or two with you with concert key parts and an alto part for yourself. The concert part has to be a minor 3rd above (or major 6th below) the alto part so A major for you C major for them though you could be really kind and let them play in E major if you are cool with C# major. Sorry if you know all this.

Pete

 

[Greywolf]

Smiffy wrote:

I NEED A BIG BIG MIC and AMP !!!!! I think ?

Buy a Shure SM57 or a Shure SM58, a goodish length of XLR cable with an XLR to jack connector and leave it in your bag with your music. Keep a mic stand in the car and leave it there , then it's always there if you need it. If there's a PA around you can always plug straight into the PA.

 

[Taz]

Hey Smiffy, glad you had a good time and I hope some of my advice helped. Something else that I've found useful is a clip on mic that has an earpiece attached. that way you can always hear yourself.
I posted this thread somewhere else and I'm far too lazy to edit it, so for the moment call yourself Dave (you'll understand :laugh: )

Hi Dave, I'm afraid that I'm only going to reinforce what every one else has said. You get what you pay for.
If you can get used to a stand alone mike then they can be very useful. Its handy to be able to pull away from the mike for a quick moment of noise making for your ears only, you cant do that with a clip on. On the other hand though as you said, when you bop around your sound will suffer as a result.
So Dave...I mean Smiffy I hope this helps 😉

 

[Smiffy]

Hi Guys, sorry for not replying before, had my motorbike training day, worn-out

Thanks for you advice, got a msg today saying they have mic's and a pa I can use for now, see how it goes with them before buying anything

Pete Thanks and that clip-on sounds good

Has anyone got or can tell me where I can get any arrangements

I have never done this stuff before so have no idea how to write out for a band


I have Band in a box but have not even got past opening it, It's too scary 😱

 

[c9off]

pm sent

 

[Smiffy]

Thanks Geoff have replied

 

[Smiffy]

Hi all, had my second jam last night was ok but as I said before this group have not played with a sax before so we are a bit lost as what to play

Played a few ballads, summertime, say a little prayer and a couple more that went ok

Can anyone suggest some more, R&R,Pop, Blues, Soul, bebop so on

Thanks
Garry

 

[Taz]

I'm not sure what key these are in but you could always play "Need your love so bad," by Fleetwood Mac, Hendrix's "Red house," B.B King's "The thrill is gone" or Stevie Ray Vaughn's "If The House is a rockin" These are all really great tunes for a jam, you can go round as many times as you like so that everyone gets a solo. I think "A" is probably a good key but I'm not sure.

 

[Smiffy]

Thanks for that Pete


Any more suggestions welcome

 

[Smiffy]

Had another jam last-night and it's getting better, had a mic so could hear which really helped

I was just trying to join in by ear which sort of worked as still not sorted which keys, when trying them in C me in A, it don't always sound right and I have to go up or down :S

 

[greg_strange]

In the words of the great Phil Woods - "If in doubt play the chromatic scale" you're bound to hit at least one 'right' note.
Regards,
Greg Strange.

 

[Taz]

Smiffy wrote:
it don't always sound right and I have to go up or down :S

It's not a problem Smiffy,
your a sax player right?.......It's Jazz man!.....nice 8) :laugh:

 

[Smiffy]

Thanks Guys
I should have looked on Pete's site first and seen the Transposition page