Saxophone Forum


by bigtaveras
(3 posts)
15 years ago

I need help in general

well,to start off im a tenor sax player who is first chair at my schools jazz band.i am alot better than i ever thought i would be when i first picked up my horn but at the same time i know that most people in other schools would whoop my butt.i recently made it into an honor band where i got a chance to talk to dale underwood and learn a little bit from him.i dont have enough money to get a private tuitor but i do have my own horn.i tell people the same thing that im writing here but they always give me the same answer,"practice, listen to other people, yata yata yata."i wanna learn how to improv alot better but i dont even know where to start.i know my major scales,my blues scales and im starting to learn a little bit about chords. Any help or words of advice would be great!

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  1. by kelsey
    (930 posts)

    15 years ago

    Re: I need help in general

    bigtaveras, listening to CDs and practiceing is good advice. Scales and Chords are also important. Not being able to afford a private tuitor donsen't make you the Lone Ranger. When learning to play jazz, I didn't find any short cuts. I didn't have a tuitor and I learned to play by ear. I would do this by getting away from everybody and try to play what I was hearing in the world without reading music. Then I didn't have a computer or anyone around who knew anymore than I did. I'm not saying that tuitors, computers, hip band directors, reading music really well or any aid is not very helpful. You know Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane didn't have as much stuff that you have now and they did all right. Spend some time learning to play what you hear......Kelsey and Rosie
    Barry Kelsey

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  2. by clamness
    (13 posts)

    14 years ago

    Re: I need help in general

    i'm a teacher in the yorktown central school district with a blog on this stuff which you could find with google, and you should. I was where you are many years ago, and can sympathize. what i would recommend doing next if i were in your shoes is play a lot of the "omnibook" . If you can, analyze some of the lines you like. pick out each notes relationship to the chord change printed above. Is the note the 3rd, the 9, etc. Step 2 - with a standard tune you like, write out the 3rd and the 7th of each chord, with the smoothest voice leading (meaning most of your 7ths will resolve to the thirds of the next chord). Step 3 - solo trying purposefully to hit those notes at the beginning of each chord change. Then you are playing the changes and not just blowing the blues scale. Step 4- Take a small pattern you liked from the omnibook and work it out in every key, ii-v licks are good because they come up so often. Good luck.

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