For the alto sax players! The Jackson 5 Bass Line.
Again, you can learn it by ear and disregard the diagrams and learn it by ear or you can go ahead and use them to play along.
It should be played slow enough for you to get it by ear. The first note on alto sax is F. To give you a quick hint upfront.
Let me know what you think!
In October of 2009, I took my alto sax across the country – from Monterey to San Francisco to Atlanta to Nashville. Three flights…. it was something I really wanted to attend. Victor Wooten is an amazing bass player with an ability to teach what he knows very effectively.
George Young had recommended reading The Music Lesson
Then I saw George again a year later and again he mentioned the book. This time I decided to get a copy.
Some really good stuff in there. Changed some of the ways I thought about music.
Victor had been teaching classes at ‘Wooten Woots’ for a little while, but it was formerly just for bass and guitar players. Makes some sense, since that’s what Victor plays.
But then he held the first ever ‘Music and Nature’ camp. Open to all instruments.
I figured I had to go.
So a substantial number of musicians there did play bass and guitar. But there were a couple of trumpet players, some piano players, a few other musicians and one other saxophone player.
It was like Disney Land for musicians.
Live music round the clock. Classes. Stories. And nature. Victor’s into nature, that’s why he teaches classes in the woods.
If you live closer to Nashville, this will probably be easier to get to, but even if you don’t, you might think about it. Two guys flew from Turkey just for the camp.
If you go, say hi to Victor for me.
We were asked to spread the word about the camp, put up the poster in music stores, etc. Figured I would throw it up on Sax Station.
You play saxophone, you may or may not play flute….
On occasion I’ll play the flute, got it from my sister after she stopped playing. But the flute isn’t that much different than a saxophone in a good number of ways.
Read a post on Zalman Studios today about flute maintenance and noticed how many of the ideas also apply to saxophone.
Nathan came up with a short checklist for taking care of one’s flute:
Let’s compare that to what we can do on saxophone.
1. Cleaning, oiling, and adjusting on a regular schedule will help your saxophone stay healthy too.
2. Keeping the tenons clean- there’s only one tenon on saxophone- the connection between the neck and the body and it’s important to take care of.
3. Wiping down the saxophone – keeping the pads clean and dust off your saxophone is a wise plan. You don’t have to get OCD over it, but take care of your horn and you’ll have less problems.
4. Using a Q-Tip- you can use this on the pads when junk starts to build up. They’re made of cotton and are pretty gentle.
5. Blowing the dust off- dust does accumulate a bit on the saxophone too in certain spots, depending on how you play and store it.
6. Brushing your teeth – definitely! And drink water before and during playing the saxophone. I have touched on this issue before!
There are probably a few key ideas missing and saxophone does have a number of differences from flute though…..
Additions to the list for saxophone maintenance:
What would you add to the list for saxophone (and other woodwinds)?
A new sax video lesson for ya’ll.
You can check out the diagrams if you’re a beginning player and need help, or just ignore them and learn it by ear.
Might be better to just have note letter names and/or just give you guys the first couple of notes and have you learn the rest by ear.
The main benefit of a lesson like this is that the music is played slowed down and that’s done by me actually playing it slower on saxophone instead of using a machine to slow it down and distort it.
The editing is a little rough, but the video itself should help you learn a cool musical line on saxophone.
Let me know what you think!
John Coltrane playing tenor sax live in front of an audience in 1962, Stockholm. I liked it, thought I would share.
Enjoy!
Jazz…. bassoon?
Yep.
That’s one of several instruments on which Ray Pizzi plays jazz. He also plays tenor sax, flute, soprano, etc.
I stumbled across his website the other day and listened to some cool music tracks. Songs like ‘Ode to a Toad’ played on bassoon.
L.A Times says that he has a “cutting edge imagination.” Jazz Podium Magazine claims that his “original compositions achieve melodic lyricism to rhythmically propulsive exuberance.”.
Ray Pizzi, born in 1943, is one of the few jazz bassoonists who can be seen as a versatile bassoon player. Pizzi’s love for music began at a young age, studying at the Boston Conservatory and the Berklee School of Music in the 1960s. After finishing his studies, Pizzi started a career as a music teacher, eventually saving enough money to move to California to pursue his true dream – to become a full time musician.
Since his move to California, Pizzi has worked with a variety of artists including Michael Bublé, Steven Bishop, Alan Price, Mark Levine, and Gladys Knight to name a few. His music has also been heard in a variety of movies and popular televisions shows. These include Grease, Star Wars, Forrest Gump, Family Guy, and Wheel of Fortune.
On top of working with tons of artists and playing for movies and television shows, Pizzi has also played in some sweet musical venues around the world. The Hollywood Bowl, the Disney Concert Hall, The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Rochester Symphony Orchestra are just a few of the them.
Who does Pizzi credit for his success? Ray offers thanks to a variety of his teachers growing up including Irving Kams, Joe Viola, Herb Pomery and Albert Harris. In highest regard is Pizzi’s bassoon teacher, Simon Kovar, who Pizzi refers to as the “Father of the Bassoon.”
What advice does Pizzi have for practicing musicians? According to Pizzi, if you want to make it in the music industry, you are going to want to move to Los Angeles and aim to have your music heard in movies, recordings, and television. He advises practicing artists to start saving their money now and head to Los Angeles later.
Why? Making it big in the music industry requires a lot of spirit, talent, time, and commitment. Trying to hold down a job, while at the same time searching for gigs and auditions can be tiring and can lead you down a path of failure.
If there is one piece of advice for upcoming musicians to take from Pizzi, it would have to be the “Hollywood rule” – If you want to succeed, you need to make yourself available.
Ray Pizzi has a number of recordings available to check out on his website as well as a number of albums for sale. Website isn’t exactly a dream to navigate, but it’s got cool stuff on it.
Received another question about saxophone embouchure from Chester asking how to strengthen it quicker.
Q: I was wondering if you had any exercises for strengthening the embechoure [embouchure] I make my own exercises and it’s effective but extemeley time consuming.
Why I plan to do is go through the twelve major scales holding each note for twelve beats at around one beat per second, while alternating dynamics on each note crescendo one note, and decrescendo the next. I was wondering if you had something that could work better without taking up as much time?
-Chester
My response:
Hey Chester, if you’ve got an exercise that’s effective, you probably should keep it up for a little while. And if you’re still mastering the major scales, the exercise will help you get them down in a really solid way.
The basic answer is that there aren’t really any dramatic shortcuts to getting a stronger embouchure. But there are a couple of things you can do…..
It’s similar to strength training any muscle group, there are two basic approaches: many repetitions (and more time) or harder exercises (faster).
Long tones are probably the thing we play on saxophone that is most taxing on the embouchure and therefore develops it the most. However, whatever playing you do will develop your embouchure on sax. So play more long tones to concentrate on it and just play more in general to work on it while you work on other dimensions of your playing.
You’ll be able to play a certain amount of time before fatigue and if you continue past that you may hurt your lip. You can push yourself to some extent, but don’t push too far!
One thing you can do is take breaks in between. You’ll be able to do more long tones that way. It’s like doing pullups, you can do more and increase your strength faster if you take breaks.
You might do some long tones at the beginning of your practice and at the end.
Another option is to practice long tones for some time and also work on ballads and slow music that has a similar effect to long tones. That will be more interesting and continue to strengthen your embouchure. Maybe even focus on ballads for an extended period of time. It will definitely help strengthen your embouchure.
Posted Charles Neville playing Nature Boy on alto sax a little while ago. Made me interested in hearing some more. And a few fellow sax players liked it too. Tim sent me a link to another one.
This one seems to start off with a little 3-2 clave.
Centers around a simple riff and lays down a groove with some funky improv on tenor.
Played in 1995 in Stuttgart, Germany. I stayed with a math professor that’s a family friend there for a few days. Pretty cool city, that’s where the Mercedes museum is too.
Enjoy!
If so, why?
I don’t have a good reason. You probably don’t either.
If there’s a leak and you need to press hard, you should probably get your saxophone fixed.
Pressing with a lot of energy/pressure is sometimes done when you tense up or if there’s a tough section and you really want the notes to come out right.
The problem is, if you are pressing with a lot of pressure, most of that is excess.
To sound a note on a guitar, you need very little movement.
To sound a note on saxophone, you can use even less. The sound doesn’t come from pushing the keys, it comes from your airstream.
Pressing too hard isn’t good for your hands either, just like tensing your shoulders. Playing saxophone should give you as little pain as possible!
So be aware of the pressure of your fingers. Back off if you need to. A lighter touch will let you play faster and with less problems. Pretty directly, it will make you sound better.
Try it!
Let me know how it goes.
Tim pointed this sax video out to me. Love the song and Charles Neville plays a cool version of it here.
Check it out!
When you’re typing on a computer, 
being able to type quickly and efficiently helps you communicate faster and easier.
However, no one really notices how fast you type.
It’s convenient to be able to do efficiently.
And you probably won’t hurt yourself if you’re using proper technique, or you’ll at least be less likely to.
But it’s not exactly a spectacle to see someone type.
People care about the message that’s being typed.
Saxophone technique is similar, no one cares about the technique itself, (well, it could impress a few people) they’re mostly interested in what you’re saying on saxophone. What the music is about.
There is a major benefit to working on technique though.
Recently, I went back to some of the fundamentals of technique on sax, cleaned things up.
Want to play saxophone, but feeling lost and not sure how to get started?
In this online/downloadable class you will see methodical lessons in a sequence and you can get feedback and ask questions at any point.
Learn more
Want to take your playing to the next level?
You’ll learn fundamental saxophone skills, building past the basics. Master rhythms. Learn about phrasing, tone, and more. Here you will get feedback which is crucial to developing good habits.
Learn more