Saxophone Forum


by YanagisawA-901
(312 posts)
20 years ago

Bending Notes

alright guys, this might be a long one, this is my 1st year in jazz, im a good player all around, but in jazz i pretty much suck, but im gettn a lot better super quick now. my sax teacher was listenin to me play yesterday and sed i was doing alright, just Forte Piano anything "dotted" and whatnot. he wants me to use more vibrato, and he wants me to be able to gliss notes, and bend notes. the vibrato i kno how to get better at, but its tuff, so i was hopin u guys would tell me how ur developing your vibrato and keeping it steady and free flowing. also i kno how to gliss so thats not a problem.. but i need to learn how to bend notes, i know u use ur jaw, but what do u do? cuz theres like a gliss from an A to a B and i was like how do i gliss that? and the teacher wants me to bend it over like 2 beats.. but how to u bend?? do you start below pitch and work your way sharp untill you get to the next note?? or what?? and im workin on improving now too, any help on that? i have a practice cd with dominant 7th's chromatically up the scale, and down...i have 251 major and minor progressions, and 2 blues scales, and im really tryna get good style..any tips?? ideas?? books i should buy?? and at school were just workin on improv with the Bb concert scale which is an easy scale but i wanna find a way to practice it this weekend and make everyones jaw drop on tuesday..ideas?? ideas ideas ideas ideas!!

Reply To Post [Report Abuse]

Report Abuse

Replies

  1. by johnny_hodges
    (15 posts)

    19 years ago

    Re: Bending Notes

    All right! Bending notes, my biggest attribute when playing jazz. Actually, it's kind of hard to explain. The bending part happens like in my mouth using my tongue as well as dropping my jaw as well as fingering up to the note. It's harder for some people, but hey, that's life! Anyway, Johnny Hodges (my favorite bending sax player) is the master. You should transcribe some of his solos with massive bending, like Star-Crossed Lovers, or I Got it Bad (And That ain't Good) with Billy Strayhorn and just copy his playing exactly. That's what I did, and now I'm the best EVER (not really).

    Reply To Post


  2. by golferguy675
    (600 posts)

    20 years ago

    Re: Bending Notes

    Well, there's a few ways to bend. One which is fun and easier, for instance going from A to B, just run over the Bis key really quick like a grace note. Or start the note with your jaw or bottom lip dropped. Also, once your get farther down the road with this, you'll start using your throat. No, don't start on the note below to begin with. If you want to hear some insane bending, listen to solos by JOHNNY HODGES. Preferably when he was playing in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. For beginning improv, try the minor pentatonic scale, it's the blues scale without the flatted 5th, just use the flat 5 occasionally. Concentrate on using mostly the 1, flat 3, 5, and flat 7. And don't go up chromatically. Then half the notes will be wrong. Go up the scale regularly with the lowered seventh. Another name for that scale is the Mixolydian Scale. Also, you need to learn your dorian, melodic, natural, and harmonic minor scales. Also, work on rythmic and dynamic variety.

    Reply To Post


    1. by Spike
      (248 posts)

      20 years ago

      Re: Bending Notes

      whabababa? think of it this way: your goal is to extend the airstream, and to do so, you need to change the angle of your air. usually it goes something like straight forward, try to get it to go up. this is done like guy said by dropping your jaw. just do it over and over. getting a good bend takes time. as for using your throat, keep it open all the time in jazz. ALL the time. that's where your huge jazz sound comes from. and chromatics wrong? whaa??? i admit, beginers usually can't handle it, but try. the best improv advice i ever heard was "there are no bad notes, just bad resolutions"-bob washut. think of your solo like a pizza. the root and guide tones(generaly 1, 3, 5, 7 or some alteration therof for beggining solos) is like your crust. never deviate from these and your solo will be correct, but borring. Next come the non chord scale tones(2, 4, 6) these are like sauce. It's a little tast now, but still lacking. lastly, add non scale tones(as indicated by your knowledge of the changes in context) these are like some spicy pepperoni. hot, but tasty, and it makes your pizza way better. i can't think of cheese. maybe style? haha. just as an example, the Em from impressions would be dorian, so E, G, B, and D are your crust. F#, A, and C# make a tasy sauce, and E#, G#, A#, B#, and D# are spicy pepperoni. too much and you get heartburn. too few and it's bland. I guess your cheese on impressions would be a light swing. Maybe a backtongue, but only a light one. for mad crazy bending style listen to basies sax section too The last thing is right P.S. learn all your major modes for now. Minor modes can wait. Learn your whole tone scales too(there's only 2 of them). that'll just make you look cool^_^

      Reply To Post


      1. by abeolugbenga
        (1 post)

        18 years ago

        Re: Bending Notes

        i would like to know the methodology involved in playing this

        Reply To Post


      2. by Redsax
        (27 posts)

        20 years ago

        Re: Bending Notes

        Dang Spike, now he doesn't know whether to bend notes or call Domino's...haha. As for me, light on the sauce and extra cheese please.

        Reply To Post Yahoo!


        1. by sax_maniac
          (984 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          The most awesome bend control I've heard is from the group "Sex Mob". I don't know the names of the saxophone and trumpet players, but they do synchronized (and harmonized) note bending so well, it is awe inspiring. They'll bend so slowly and smoothly, you would think they were playing trombone.

          Reply To Post


        2. by KingNecron
          (76 posts)

          18 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          Sex Mob? Sounds like my kind of group!

          Reply To Post AIM


        3. by golferguy675
          (600 posts)

          18 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          Haha, why do people insist on bringing up 2 year old threads? Chances are the person who started them isn't even around anymore.

          Reply To Post


        4. by Redsax
          (27 posts)

          18 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          that's true...maybe they dumped the sax for the guitar...haha

          Reply To Post Yahoo!


        5. by golferguy675
          (600 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          Spike; going up a scale chromatically is too easy. It's like cheating, and only every other note will be right. Your little pizza example or whatever the hell that was made sense, but that's not what I was talking about. Also, if you go through and use that for your solo every chord sequence, that is going to worst "pizza" ever made. Patterns are fine, but you still need good resolutions, and how can you do that if you end on a nonchordal tone? Generally, you would go from the 7th of one chord to the 3rd of the next. What you said to do doesn't show much creativity at all. Soloing is about being original. How old are you? What do you do for a living? Think about that before you tell someone who improvs for a living that they are wrong about theory.

          Reply To Post


        6. by saxyfire
          (9 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          Okay if the kid is in 8th grade do you think he would really be able to follow a chord progression and actually hit the 7th and the 3rd. I definately agree with you spike on the fact that in a solo being original is so very inportant. When i started out playing Jazz i had know idea what the chord progression was but I put a lot of spirt in it and that just made it so much better. Every exceptional solo i do i put a piece of me into that song......to a begining Jazz student I can not stress that enought. As for the Glissing thing.....any teacher who teaches their student that and makes it sound soo importaint is an idiot. Kids in 8th grade who know how to gliss use it way too much and therefore it make a good solo sound oh so cheesy.

          Reply To Post


        7. by Spike
          (248 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          Cheating? WTF??? There's cheating in improv? do you get points as well? Geez, man. And if you would use the eyes connected to the brain i assume you have, you would notice my comments about resolutions, and how that's most people real problem. I am 18 I am a Saxophone Education student at the university of northern iowa i gave yani more credit than you did as for talent. True, someone with no backgroud would be served well by your minor pentatonic, but it's pretty limiting, and i asumed he could handle something at least a little challenging. Are you seriously a professional musician? Anyway, despite our little fued, this is supposed to be about style anyway. I say don't bend so much anyway. then again, that is just my opinion.

          Reply To Post


      3. by YanagisawA-901
        (312 posts)

        20 years ago

        Re: Bending Notes

        im not in 8th grade..im a junior

        Reply To Post Yahoo! AIM ICQ


        1. by howard
          (2 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: Bending Notes

          ok i know im about a month late coming into this but i think that an easier way to explain bending would be to take your air stream and point it at you knees, that will drop the pitch... second of all why are you guys fighting over how to imporv...theres no wrong way so let the kid just express himself how he sees fit...with out worring about a minor 3rd or a flatted 5th or somethings thats not in the chord..... there are NO wrong notes...just bad choices : )

          Reply To Post


          1. by golferguy675
            (600 posts)

            19 years ago

            Re: Bending Notes

            A quote by Thelonius Monk, if I'm not mistaken

            Reply To Post


            1. by martysax
              (148 posts)

              19 years ago

              Re: Bending Notes

              It's not the notes, it's the spaces in between. Just make sure that when you're bending, you're also still blending.

              Reply To Post