The Journey begins! cont- from, Lifelong ambition realised!

[breathless]

Well, all I can say is WOW!
I visited Sax.co.uk today and was assisted by a gentlemen named Simon, who I can only say was brilliant, listened to my story and then listened to what selection of sax`s I was interested in and instantly set about collecting those weapons from the vast rack and taking them into an audition room.

he then very clearly and concisely proceeded to describe what was what and how to start to produce sounds, first from the neck then attached to the horn.

(I think I will always remember the shock/buzz on hearing that first sound emitted from the mouthpiece and neck), well to cut a long story short, I could not believe I spent 3 hours in that audition room ! I tried the Yamaha 62, Bauhaus walstein pro and the Yanigisawa T901.

Simon gave me some instruction ( baring in mind ive never as much as held a sax before today), he advised me while I attempted to follow that instruction then once id got it he left me alone to practice returning every once in a while to check on me.

well after 3 hours (that seemed more like 30 minutes) I had managed to run up and down the scales and had tried all 3 sax`s.

I tried a few different mouthpieces and finally had made my mind up.

and the winner is!!! Im now at home looking at a nice shiny Yanigsiawa T901 on a stand in my living room.

Sax.co.uk were fantastic and I have to extend my thanks to everyone on here that also recommended them to me.
I had a fantastic day and felt like I learnt a lot for my first encounter.

Rgds Lee.

 

[Sunray]

Sounds like you had a great experience to start you on your journey Lee ...

Congrats mate ... [Nice choice]


Only one problem mate ...

I am only up the road from you [Norfolk] and I can't hear you honkin yet!! ;}

No good looking at your nice shiny Yani on it's stand ...

Get it on mate - and scare some neighbours away!!!

 

[breathless]

Sunray! LOL!

I can barely speak from mouth ache! unfortunately the kids are in bed so Id rather have them sleep than have a bit of fun!
im not back to work until Thursday so i have a bit of time to play.

Lee.

 

[Pyrografix]

Congrats on the arrival of the new baby!

Happy blowing,

Amanda

 

[breathless]

thanks Amanda, i think im gonna enjoy this.

I have to say though, today I experienced something quite special, ive been wanting to learn the sax most of my life and to finally get one in my hands and actually get notes coming out of it! WOW! its hard to explain.

Lee.

 

[kevgermany]

Really pleased for you Lee. Have fun.

 

[trimmy]

Well done that man :welldone and well done to sax.co.uk for giving you such a great experience :welldone

 

[Jeanette]

Great news I am sure you will continue to enjoy your sax for many years to come.

Jx

 

[TomMapfumo]

So, you are finally a paid up trainee member of the Sax Fraternity!!!!!!!!!! What mouthpiece did you return with - was it the stock Yani HR that comes with the sax or did they sell you something else? I hope you also got some reeds.

As Taz would say you just need some Shades and a Hat, especially if you play tenor. It will also help to put on weight and come up with a cool alias such as "Slim Dunimow"

Question is, which sax to go for next...............?;}

 

[andyb1970]

Congratulations, that feeling of finally picking up a sax and playing it is something a lot of us share. Nice sax too, the T901 is a great place to start and will do you well for a long time. Enjoy!

 

[ArtyLady]

Fabulous! Enjoy the journey

 

[gladsaxisme]

Great result now the fun really starts sounds like your a natural at it. Enjoy the journey....John

 

[Taz]

Did someone say shades and hat? You mean you don't have shades and a hat? Allow me to recomend a great little emporium..... What am I talking about, enjoy that yani. Don't let the kids near it, they'll want their own!

 

[breathless]

Oh dear, excuse me while I stop myself laughing!!!

Thanks again everyone for such welcoming words!

Tom- that did make me laugh, mainly because I already wear shades and a hat! no seriously I have done for some time???

I like the name, Ill have to remember that in the event of needing a stage name should I one day develop some talent!

as for the Yanig-, I tried the Yamaha 62 first with what was thought to be a standard supplied 4c and reco 2 read.

I went on to try the Yanig and the Bauhaus walstein pro mk2 using the same mouthpiece and as time went on and I started to produce tones more consistently and realised i needed to start concentrating on what sax I preferred, it was at this point Simon went and got a Yanigsawa mouthpiece No5.
as he removed the yamaha he realised I had actually been playing a 5 all along, so he suggested as I had coped very well with that I could try a No6 Yanig and if I was happy he explained I would be slightly further downthe road (metaphorically speaking)!

well I tried the Yanig No6 for around 30 minutes and honestly couldn't claim there was any difference, so it was the No6 I came away with.

unfortunately I had to take the wife out today for some retail therapy at Bluewater and lakeside (only fair considering what I spent yesterday), so I didnt get much sax time today. I got about 1.5 hours in 2 sessions this afternoon and i have come to realise that I produce a lot, and I mean a lot of saliva!! it was running out of some of the ports!
I hope thats a learners trait, cant say im looking forward to leaking that much for years to come!!!!

Oh and they gave me 5x reco reads No2s, "well i say gave", I got a floor stand, a long cleaning stick and a small for the neck, a better quality neck strap and some cork grease for something in the region £50.
But the service was excellent, and could say I got a basic lesson thrown in which lasted 3 hours, certainly cant complain at that.

a really enjoyable experience!

and im booked for my 1st lesson this week, so looking forward to some instruction ( I do like to be told what to do, LOL ).

Lee.

 

[navarro]

Hi Lee, one newbie to another new lease of life for me since I had my sax transplant (Alto TJ custom raw) great fun though and lots of help willingly given by the Ladies and Gentleman on this forum. Good luck and happy lungs. Regds N.

 

[Justin Chune]

Hi Lee, welcome to the cafe. Have fun with that sax.

Jim.

 

[breathless]

Thanks Jim. 2 weeks in now, practising every day, 2nd lesson tomorrow, definitely learning although still struggling to remember the keys and reading music! albeit slowly but I am remembering bits slowly.

Lee.

 

[breathless]

Hi all, thought I'd do a bit of an update (for those that might be interested, and I've often learnt 1 or 2 things from other people even beginners ), oh and if I can accuire some opinions at the same time could be helpful.

Well I'm around 6 weeks in now and I must say I can clearly notice a difference in my own abilities, 1 of the biggest being that my shiny Yanag no longer controls me and dare I say it now I know where allthe basic notes are my confidence is growing.

I'm at the point where I'm just starting to commit scales to memory and no longer need to read the sheet to play 1 and as of today maybe 2 scales! However I'm struggling with the high notes on the octive key, I have been having lessons from the word go and I know for certain I wouldn't be half as far as I am without her tuition and patience and she addresses every problem I mention so although I am being guided in the right direction it would be good for others opinions especially those that are either in a similar position or can remember a similar problem.

I'm finding that with for example the scale of Pentatonic A, when I get to the highs on the octive I can rarely get a clean note, either I'm way off tone or it breaks up. I have more success if I slur into the notes.
I've found that it takes a great deal of tightening of my umberchure to be able to hit these notes, to the point of it being uncomfortable.
Is this discomfort temporary and ill get used to it or is there something else going on?
My tutor has suggested a method of dealing with it which I'm going to do but as I said it's good to hear others opinions.

As I've learnt more and more my practice sessions are getting longer and as I work shifts I'm finding on some days I can loose 3-4 hours practising but spread threw the day. I start by playing long tones then practice scales until I'm playing them without error a few times,then I play threw a few of the pieces in the tune a day book, it's at this point that I reward myself with a bit of what you could call freestyle noise making, in a bid to improve my coordination of the saxophone,but until yesterday this was quite an assault on the senses however yesterday and today dare I say it, it actually sounded like I was playing threw a piece of music, or maybe my ears are de-sensitising as a defence against the rucus!

Rgds Lee.

 

[md90065]

Congrats and have a great journey yep and don't forget clean the sax after you play will save your pads.

 

[breathless]

Cheers MD-, oh I'm a compulsive cleaner anyway. Got my ken Dodd giggling sticks and have cleaned the horn after every practice session since I bought the shiny beaut-.

Rgds Lee.