Joined
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31 Posts
About 5 years ago I retired from climbing the greasy pole of a business career and started to try to play again having picked a Tenor up on and off for about 30 years.
I got a student Tenor and started to take some basic steps—lessons / practice, knowing that I would never be that good but wanting to be the best I could be.
Got myself some music software that created backing tracks to any tune I wanted, in any key and used real musicians not just synth—probably the one thing I found that helped me practice the most as its great to practice with a real backing track rather than just on my own
I eventually started to play in a small amateur band and performing in public, although not that often, but kept up practicing and taking lessons and eventually decided to get a better Sax so bought a Mauriat 66R after trying about 6 —loved the dark mellow sound-- got a basic ebonite Otto Link 6 and Rico Royal reeds and ploughed on
In truth I never got to the sound that was in my head (Young / Getz) so I started to read as much on this forum as I could, especially about mouthpiece / reed combinations.
BUT also started to fool myself that if I got a great sax I would sound better and talked ad-nausea to my wife about Selmer MKVI’s
Lo and behold when it was my 60th birthday a year ago a 1972 Selmer MKVI arrived as a birthday present, just had a full overhaul at a well respected place in the UK and it did sound very good, beautiful sweet centred sound, very different to the sound I had been getting from the 66R, and so I have played nothing else for the last year—all the time carrying on experimenting with mouthpieces and reeds.
However, it was never that easy for me to play, slightly sharp in the upper octave and sometimes the low notes were difficult, but I carried on and eventually it went and had another check over and came back with a clean bill of health—so I had no option but to realise the problem was me and not the MKVI
By now I had refined my mouthpiece selection from about 15 down to a Vintage Brihart Tonalin and an Otto Link “Vintage” Ebonite with unfiled reeds—LaVoz, Vandoren Green Box Java
About a week ago I picked up the Mauriat 66R just for a bit of fun and out of a bit of frustration with the MKVI and I simply couldn’t believe how easily it played and good it sounded
Perfectly in tune and very easy low notes—yes, darker than the MKVI but not as much as when I had first started playing it, in fact everyone in the group now thinks I have a great warm mellow sound.
The MKVI is either too good for me or I’m not good enough for it—same thing really, so it will probably be sold--– not so easy when it’s a present from your wife
—I’m sure a good player will make it sound great.
Having learnt my lesson the hard way I realise that it’s the mouthpiece and reed that colour’s the sound the most and that having a great horn definitely doesn’t make you a good player, just practice, practice and practice.
I got a student Tenor and started to take some basic steps—lessons / practice, knowing that I would never be that good but wanting to be the best I could be.
Got myself some music software that created backing tracks to any tune I wanted, in any key and used real musicians not just synth—probably the one thing I found that helped me practice the most as its great to practice with a real backing track rather than just on my own
I eventually started to play in a small amateur band and performing in public, although not that often, but kept up practicing and taking lessons and eventually decided to get a better Sax so bought a Mauriat 66R after trying about 6 —loved the dark mellow sound-- got a basic ebonite Otto Link 6 and Rico Royal reeds and ploughed on
In truth I never got to the sound that was in my head (Young / Getz) so I started to read as much on this forum as I could, especially about mouthpiece / reed combinations.
BUT also started to fool myself that if I got a great sax I would sound better and talked ad-nausea to my wife about Selmer MKVI’s
Lo and behold when it was my 60th birthday a year ago a 1972 Selmer MKVI arrived as a birthday present, just had a full overhaul at a well respected place in the UK and it did sound very good, beautiful sweet centred sound, very different to the sound I had been getting from the 66R, and so I have played nothing else for the last year—all the time carrying on experimenting with mouthpieces and reeds.
However, it was never that easy for me to play, slightly sharp in the upper octave and sometimes the low notes were difficult, but I carried on and eventually it went and had another check over and came back with a clean bill of health—so I had no option but to realise the problem was me and not the MKVI
By now I had refined my mouthpiece selection from about 15 down to a Vintage Brihart Tonalin and an Otto Link “Vintage” Ebonite with unfiled reeds—LaVoz, Vandoren Green Box Java
About a week ago I picked up the Mauriat 66R just for a bit of fun and out of a bit of frustration with the MKVI and I simply couldn’t believe how easily it played and good it sounded
Perfectly in tune and very easy low notes—yes, darker than the MKVI but not as much as when I had first started playing it, in fact everyone in the group now thinks I have a great warm mellow sound.
The MKVI is either too good for me or I’m not good enough for it—same thing really, so it will probably be sold--– not so easy when it’s a present from your wife
—I’m sure a good player will make it sound great.
Having learnt my lesson the hard way I realise that it’s the mouthpiece and reed that colour’s the sound the most and that having a great horn definitely doesn’t make you a good player, just practice, practice and practice.