Rock Sax Effect

[jazzsurfer]

Hi Everyone - This is my first post here on this great site and it's nice to be part of it (thanks Pete !).

Question: Does anyone know what Scott Gilman is doing here when he plays this effect during his solo ? It's almost exactly 1 minute into the solo and I think that he is playing 'A' (tenor) in the upper register and flapping the bottom 3 right hand keys very fast. He also seems to be alternating the note 'A' with the note 'C'. It's difficult to see what he is doing as the video is pretty poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhevBvNfLwI

Anyone know if this is standard rock & roll sax trick ?

Thanks

 

[thomsax]

Hi Everyone - This is my first post here on this great site and it's nice to be part of it (thanks Pete !).

Question: Does anyone know what Scott Gilman is doing here when he plays this effect during his solo ? It's almost exactly 1 minute into the solo and I think that he is playing 'A' (tenor) in the upper register and flapping the bottom 3 right hand keys very fast. He also seems to be alternating the note 'A' with the note 'C'. It's difficult to see what he is doing as the video is pretty poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhevBvNfLwI

Anyone know if this is standard rock & roll sax trick ?

Thanks

It's not std Rocksax tricks for me!! I can't see what he is playing but he can it can be a "A" (octave key+A+G) and "C" (octave key+fork key D, fork key Eb) or "A" (ok+A+G+F+E+D) and "G" (ok+ fork key D+fork key Eb+fingers for C1) or .... . There are differnt ways to do this tremolo. Depends from player to player, sax to sax, setups ... . I just know two altissimo tones, beside F#, and it's B and G#. Good tones if you're playing in the Rock 'n' Roll keys! The altissimo tones needs lots of practising and a metrome and tuner helps up. Practising overtones execersises (flageolet?) is the key for succes when it comes to altissimo tones. At least that what my friend says, who is very good on this!!

Nice videos covering the best rocksax solos through the 70's and the 80's.

Thomas

 

[Taz]

Welcome to the Cafe, JS I have no idea how these legends are producing these fantastic sounds, but thanks for sharing it with us. Great videos.

 

[jazzsurfer]

Welcome to the Cafe, JS I have no idea how these legends are producing these fantastic sounds, but thanks for sharing it with us. Great videos.

Thanks Taz for the welcome

 

[Pete Thomas]

Looking at this very quickly, it appears to be an alternate fingering, and you may be spot on with "flapping the bottom 3 right hand keys ".

ie play an A and alternate the A + the RH 3 fingers, a good effect.

Which fits in with what you say and the fingering on the page I linked to.

 

[thomsax]

Upper register. I thouhgt it was the altissimo tones!! Sorry. It's the part around 55-60 seconds? Yes, I also think it's A2 and alternative fingers or double tone or "Doo Wop" !. He is doing some "flappering with his fingers" when he is raising his sax in the end of the clip. I thought you meant that! I don't know what his doing there. BTW, "Urgent" is a great song!!

Thomas

 

[jazzsurfer]

Hi Thomas - Thanks for the response on Altissimo. I have been working on these for a while and am starting to get the hang of most of them. I use Pete's recommendations for the fingerings and can now play them all with varied degrees of success on nailing them first time. Interestingly, 'A' is one of the notes that I would rate as 6/10 in terms of hitting it. However, I can hit 'G' much more consistently. I have been trying the A fingering with a side 'C' fingering. This seems much more consistent. Horn is a Mark VI, mouthpiece is a PPT 9*, reed is a Plasticover 2.5