Question

I’m very frustrated right now because every time I’m playing a phrase that involves, let’s say, E# going to G# then resolving to F# (F# harmonic minor), it won’t come out evenly.

It’s like my pinky finger is lagging behind and its causing me a lot of problems in my playing, this has never happened to me before and right now I’m trying to practice slow to see if I can figure it out.

Please let me know what do you think i should do because I’m not a beginner, I’ve been playing and this is not supposed to be happening right now.
(Playing for seven years)

-Louis

My response:

Try to lift/press your pinky early and see if that makes it on time.

Practicing slowly is a great idea, that should help you work it out.

It’s possible this was happening before and you didn’t notice it. Or potentially it is a new problem, in which case you have identified it and have an idea of how to work it out.

Possible that you slowly developed a bad habit of the pinky moving more slowly.

Another possibility is that a key on your saxophone is sticking, I would check for that too.

Overall, many note transitions simply involve more coordination than other transitions. If you’re only moving one finger, it’s difficult to do it wrong. When you need to do a combination of pressing/lifting of seven fingers, you need a lot more precision.

Check out Saxophone Tribe if you want to work more with me on technique.

-Neal