Saxophone beginners Requesting exercise for a slow ring finger

[AndyB]

Hi. I'm returning to the forum after a long lapse owing to 70 hour work weeks. I am retiring soon and hopefully this is my final restart on playing sax. I am having synchronization problems with my left ring finger when playing skips involving both hands - example from F to A or F to middle C. I know its not a physical problem because I have no problem with that finger on guitar. So, I think its a muscle memory/synchronization issue. I don't remember having this problem when I played sax before even though I had a serious injury to my left hand as a child. But I didn't have 65-year old fingers then 🙂

Can anybody point me to some good digital exercises to help me train my slow left hand ring finger?

Thanks.
-Andy

 

[Guenne]

🙂

Can anybody point me to some good digital exercises to help me train my slow left hand ring finger?

Maybe it's not the ring finger to blame, but posture of the left wrist.
Maybe it would be useful to post a picture of your wrist while playing.


Cheers, Guenne

 

[jbtsax]

You might break it down to practicing trills and tremolos using those fingers starting slowly and then increasing in speed:

G A G A G A G A G A
G B G B G B G B G B
G C G C G C G C G C
F A F A F A F A F A F A
F B F B F B F B F B F B
F C F C F C F C F C F C

 

[AndyB]

Maybe it's not the ring finger to blame, but posture of the left wrist.
Maybe it would be useful to post a picture of your wrist while playing.


Cheers, Guenne

Thank you for that. I will observe that when I practice. I know that I've been struggling to find the best left hand wrist position to make the Bb table key more accessible.

EDIT. You were right on target. After working jbtsax's exercise a couple of sessions today I caught myself actually shifting my left hand wrist position for no good reason when I release the left hand ring finger. Thanks a million.

 

[AndyB]

You might break it down to practicing trills and tremolos using those fingers starting slowly and then increasing in speed:

G A G A G A G A G A
G B G B G B G B G B
G C G C G C G C G C
F A F A F A F A F A F A
F B F B F B F B F B F B
F C F C F C F C F C F C

Thanks. I just worked that drill just now and will continue practicing that routine and let you know. It seems a very logical way to isolate the issue.

EDIT. I worked that drill a second time and it was very effective at isolating the problem and realizing what I was doing wrong. Thanks a million.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Best way to sort a ring finger is not to get married in the first place. I married twice. I'll get me coat. 😉

 

[Dr G]

Awareness is the first step toward change.

Yes, this also applies to Colin (don’t forget your hat again).

 

[Colin the Bear]

I'll leave my worries on the doorstep.

 

[helen]

There are A LOT of great exercised in the Universal Saxophone Method. It is even available for download from the University of Toronto library, in case you don't want to buy a hard copy--although I don't know why people are so adverse to using books and sheet music these days.

Anyway, a number of months ago I developed an Exercise Index for this saxophonist's bible of sorts.

It will have what you're looking for, and more. Good luck!

 

[AndyB]

There are A LOT of great exercised in the Universal Saxophone Method. It is even available for download from the University of Toronto library, in case you don't want to buy a hard copy--although I don't know why people are so adverse to using books and sheet music these days.

Anyway, a number of months ago I developed an Exercise Index for this saxophonist's bible of sorts.

It will have what you're looking for, and more. Good luck!

Thank you Helen. That's very kind of you. I will definitely try it out. I also have Pete's Taming the Sax book that I'm starting to use for practice. I just started playing again about 6 months ago after a 3 year layoff and I found that I had to spend a long time working on my breath support and tone before I could really start digging into technique work seriously. Being an old man makes me have to work a lot more deliberately.

 

[Colin the Bear]

The older I get, the better I was. 😉