[mallyjames]

Hi everybody;just thought I would share this true story with you.An old friend phoned me up and said he had bought an alto sax from this guy who could not get a single note out of it.He asked me to pop round to his house to give him some advice because he had never played a saxophone before.When I arrived at his house I found out why the first guy could not get a single note out of it.He thought the reed went inside the mouthpiece haha. idont know what he thought the ligature was for.To make matters worse it was a soprano reed.So my mate bought it for a well reduced price .The moral of the story being if the first guy had a teacher he would have told him where to stick it. :|

 

[Pete Thomas]

The moral of the story being if the first guy had a teacher he would have told him where to stick it. :|

When I was (very rarely) a teacher I often told people where to stick it.

Now you know why i didn't do a lot of teaching.

 

[extradarcafe]

I love the ads for saxophones that say "almost never played," and include a photo with the mouthpiece mounted upside down, or the neck inserted backwards.

 

[datsaxman]

Well ... rarely played indeed !!

 

[ChrisGates]

hahaha...it's a joke pls

 

[Sigmund451]

I was lucky. I bought my first sax on a whim off ebay. A YAS-23 for only 100 bucks!
It was in really good shape for that money...good pads etc...

I found a teacher pretty quick but I was lucky to have a lady a few houses down who taught band in school. She at least told me how the mpc and reed worked and to download fingering charts. I could already read music so at least I could mess around. Without a teacher there is no telling what people will do.

Great example

 

[Raccoon1400]

Reminds me, when I started playing sax, in school band in grade 7, I started using the palm D key instead of the octave key. I'd asked the teacher what key I was supposed to use but he didn't know. I started private lessons a couple weeks in and I was set straight.
I was also the private teacher who told me to wet the whole reed and not just the tip.

There's just all these little things you could do wrong for a long time if someone doesn't set you straight.

I love the ads for saxophones that say "almost never played," and include a photo with the mouthpiece mounted upside down, or the neck inserted backwards.

Or the sax the wrong way on the stand. Many of these are from people who have never played I believe. You don't get far if you don't know how to mount the mouthpiece. Little hints like that tell me I'd be buying from a non player. Specifying that a reed or two is included is a giveaway too.

Or for guitars I know it is not a player selling if it says "needs tuning". Like saying "car for sale, needs gas".