How’s Your Approach to Saxophone?

Is it working out for you?

If so, awesome!

It took me a little while to figure out how to approach music and saxophone.

These days I practice every day (mostly) in twenty minute segments with breaks in between and practice less material. I also try and think musically about what really makes a difference and work on elements of music separately. So I’ll work on sound with long tones, rhythm using a metronome, dynamics in ballads, articulation with technical exercises, microscales for my fingers, etc.

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If you have a good approach to saxophone, you’ll progress much more quickly.

However, if you spend a lot of time but aren’t efficient it will take much longer and you’ll feel like you never get better.

So it might be time to think about how you practice. It could be a decent approach, but maybe you can make it better.

Help With Improvisation on Sax

By Neal Leave a Comment

Got this question from Robert on facebook the other day:

Any help with my improvisation on the sax? Where do u start?

I would suggest you learn the blues form and some melodies of blues tunes. Get an Aebersold book like Maiden Voyage, and play along. Another important part is just to listen to the kind of music you want to play and improvise in.

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Knowing the blues form is important since it came before jazz and is still an important aspect in many jazz tunes.

In its most simple form, the blues only has three chords too. So you won’t get too lost in complex harmonies.

Becoming a better improviser on saxophone has a lot to do with experimentation. John Coltrane wasn’t playing Giant Steps when he picked up the saxophone, he developed as a musician.

Saxophone Signal vs. Saxophone Noise

By Neal Leave a Comment

You can play a lot of notes during your solo on sax.

That can sound ‘impressive’.

But sometimes you can take away half those notes and sound just as good or better.

Some parts are just ‘filler’ or noise.

In science and engineering, we talk about signal vs. noise. The meaningful part and the random noise that sometimes covers up the meaningful signal.

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There’s also the matter of making the pieces you want people to hear stand out. That means landing on certain notes of the harmony, hitting and accenting specific places, bringing the dynamics up or down, etc.

One exercise you can do is to write out an etude over chord changes using a solid line of eighth notes. Then go through and eliminate some of them.

See how you can make it sound.

The solid eighth notes might be a starting point, but it’s not what you want to play onstage.

Using space is important, and it makes your saxophone solo more musical!

Saxophone Vision – Where Are You Going?

By Neal Leave a Comment

What’s your saxophone vision?

Where are you going with it?

If you know, cool. If you don’t, you might want to think about it….

Otherwise…..

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Things might turn out funky!

Seriously though, you could practice every day and not really go where you would like.

Consciously practicing elements that need work and that you know will take you where you would like to sound is important.

If you want to play blues, you need to immerse yourself in the music and culture and listen.

If you want to play salsa, learn Spanish, go to concerts, and listen.

Listen to others and listen to yourself.

And adjust your trajectory if you feel you should!

So You Can Play Your Saxophone Loud, Can You Play Soft?

By Neal Leave a Comment

You might think it’s the goal to play your saxophone loudly.

But a lot of people can do that.

Many musicians play too loud. And just like if someone yells all the time, you kind of stop listening…..

What’s impressive is using dynamics effectively.

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Playing sax softly can be tough too. It requires more skill to get a good sound with a very soft note.

So practice playing notes as softly as you can (part of the time). I do that with part of my long tones.

Saxophone players who can play softly usually have the ability to play loudly too.

And when they play softly, they can still play with power. The volume just comes down.

You want to keep the intensity in your sound, even when it’s not loud.

New Sax Mouthpiece? How to Adjust Your Setup

By Neal Leave a Comment

So you just got a new sax piece that you love!

Will your reeds and ligature that worked with your old mouthpiece work too?

Possibly….

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But there’s a pretty strong possibility that you’ll need to make adjustments.

That means trying out new reeds and maybe a new ligature.

You can also make smaller adjustments by just trying different strengths of the reeds you like and switching out plates in the ligature if you have that option.

If the new mouthpiece has a wider tip opening, you probably want a softer reed.

If it’s more closed, you might need a harder reed.

Experiment with your saxophone sound and figure out something you like!

Saxophone Ligature & Reed Micro Adjustments (Can Make a Big Difference)

By Neal 5 Comments

Your reed being off (on either side) by a millimeter can totally mess up your sound on sax.

Other adjustments, like how far the ligature is up on the reed also make a difference.

Even how tight the ligature is can change your sound.

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If your reed seems a little bit too stiff, then put the tip of the reed very slightly below the top of the mouthpiece. And you can also tighten the ligature at the bottom-most part of the reed.

If it’s a little soft, then put the tip of the reed very slightly above the top of the mouthpiece. And you can also tighten the ligature at the top-most part of the reed.

These small adjustments affect the physical movement of the reed and thus the sound.

If you place a ruler on the edge of the table with a large portion of it hanging over the side, it will vibrate if you make it. However, if most of it is on the table and only a small section over the edge, it won’t vibrate very much.

There are equations for how this stuff works, if you’re interested I can explain them.

How to Get More Volume on Saxophone?

By Neal Leave a Comment

Sometimes you want your saxophone to really cut through.

Could be your solo or another part that you want to give some emphasis.

And if you’re playing with a loud group, you’ll need to bring up your volume.

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An equipment change may help facilitate your ability to get more volume.

Be careful though, some mouthpieces will make it easy to play louder but very very difficult to play softly and you don’t want to sacrifice your dynamic range.

For example, an old metal Otto Link might be great for a big band, but you’ll get funny looks left and right if you brought it to an orchestral setting.

A bigger factor in getting volume on saxophone is you.

Your lung capacity, your fitness level.

According to the biography by his daughter Nancy, Frank Sinatra used to think about lyrics while swimming underwater to increase his air capacity.

That might be a little extreme.

But exercising can help you out as a saxophone player.

Yoga also places some focus on breathing and it has been recommended to me by several musicians.

Haven’t gotten into it too much yet though.

Vocal Jazz – A Lesson in Story Telling for Sax Players

By Neal Leave a Comment

A great saxophone solo is supposed to tell a story, right?

There have been a handful of talented vocalists who took great saxophone solos and put words to them.

King Pleasure did it with ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’ taking the solo of the great James Moody and writing his lyrics.

After him came Lambert, Henry & Ross. They toured the world and recorded many songs. And the way they sang was similar to Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, James Moody, Gene Ammons, a lot of the great saxophone players and horn players because they took their inspiration from these guys. And they actually sang as if they were horn players.