[Martin Allott]

Hi there! I've just brought a YTS-62 series 3 new and was hoping you could answer a couple of questions for me.

First off though I'll say that I have been playing and studying music since primary school (I'm 29 now) My main instrument is guitar, though I can also play clarinet, have a basic understanding of keys and understand music theory quite well.

My first question is can you recommend some good books or youtube channels for learning Tenor saxophone, preferably with a cd though not essential. I can not get in person lessons from an instructor as I live in a rural area.

I am interested in blues, jazz, funk and rock music. However, I'm not so keen on extremely technical jazz if you know what I mean.... Additionally, if you have any ideas on resources based around improvising with others that would be great.

Third question, is it normal for the low F to be somewhat difficult to sound out at first? It seems to be getting easier to play and might be a matter of developing correct embouchure/ adjusting the mouth for the lower notes...

Thanks for the help.

Martin

 

[datsaxman]

Hey there. Welcome to SOTW.

There is a ton of stuff out there. Lots of playalongs on YouTube (Learn Jazz Standards is a favorite) if you like that format.

Lots of good books too (Jamey Aebersold publishes over 100 books with CD playalongs).

Confused about low F. There are another 7 lower notes. Are those troublesome as well?
Short answer is NO. F1 should not be especially difficult.

Sax embouchure and angle of entry should be rather different from clarinet.
If you are not taking in a lot more mouthpiece, that will make things difficult.
You will also need a lot more air to go through the horn.

 

[GaSax]

Rubank Method books are good. They got Method books for beginners to advance players. Each book also has a fingering chart in it.

Since you can play the clarinet and read music you can probably start with the intermediate level book. I don't play jazz so maybe someone else can get a good suggestion for jazz lessons.

I watched several videos on Better Sax and McGill Music Sax School YouTube channels. They do a lot of reviews but also give online lessons. Haven't tried their lessons, (don't care to learn jazz) but I thought their reviews of various saxophones and or related products were done well.

As for the low F, are any of the lower notes hard to play?

 

[Martin Allott]

Hey there. Welcome to SOTW.

There is a ton of stuff out there. Lots of playalongs on YouTube (Learn Jazz Standards is a favorite) if you like that format.

Lots of good books too (Jamey Aebersold publishes over 100 books with CD playalongs).

Confused about low F. There are another 7 lower notes. Are those troublesome as well?
Short answer is NO. F1 should not be especially difficult.

Sax embouchure and angle of entry should be rather different from clarinet.
If you are not taking in a lot more mouthpiece, that will make things difficult.
You will also need a lot more air to go through the horn.

Thanks for the reply, I will have a look at Learn Jazz standards. and Jamey Aebersold. I only have the essentials for band book (tenor sax) which is clearly aimed at children, though there's nothing wrong with having a bunch of basic songs to let me focus on fingering rather than rhythm.

I received my sax on friday so literally just starting the book started on G and went up to A and then started introducing lower notes (I haven't yet moved to anything lower than F yet. It is possible it needs an adjustment but will first see if more practice solves it. If the embouchure is quite different to clarinet than it probably is just that. I feel when I change the pressure and force of air in a way I can't yet explain F comes out better.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Martin Allott]

Rubank Method books are good. They got Method books for beginners to advance players. Each book also has a fingering chart in it.

Since you can play the clarinet and read music you can probably start with the intermediate level book. I don't play jazz so maybe someone else can get a good suggestion for jazz lessons.

I watched several videos on Better Sax and McGill Music Sax School YouTube channels. They do a lot of reviews but also give online lessons. Haven't tried their lessons, (don't care to learn jazz) but I thought their reviews of various saxophones and or related products were done well.

Hi there, thanks for the reply. I did notice the Rubank books when I was researching, I will give those a go.

While we are at it, can you think of any lightbulb moments that really helped you advance as a player?

Thanks for the help

 

[GaSax]

Hi there, thanks for the reply. I did notice the Rubank books when I was researching, I will give those a go.

While we are at it, can you think of any lightbulb moments that really helped you advance as a player?

Thanks for the help

Not sure.... I guess when I got a better mouthpiece in school. It made everything easier to play, especially the lower notes and it sounded better. Wanted to practice and play longer too. Also enjoyed rehearsals more.

 

[lydian]

Lightbulb for me was when playing along with records, copying the sound, style and inflections as perfectly as I could. This is the moment I began to actually sound like a sax and enabled my embouchure, ear, time and technique to develop quite naturally and easily.

 

[fudidudi]

Several light bulb moments. Still having those. Some notable ones from my early years, "your mileage may vary", of course:

• Relax the jaw, don't bite at all. Don't "smile" while playing, and don't bunch up your chin. To me, lips forming an "O" is a useful starting point. (Also relax your tongue, your shoulders and your hands, etc. Tension doesn't work so well.)
• Warm air. This might be a bit contentious, but the point is to "exhale" into or through the instrument more than "puffing" into it. This involves a relaxed open throat, but the anatomy aspect is probably not something you need to start focusing on very consciously.
• Maybe take in a bit more mouthpiece into your mouth than you'd think. Experiment to find what sounds and responds better.

 

[artstove]

A lot of teachers have shifted to online lessons because of covid, so you may have more resources available that way now.

 

[datsaxman]

Yes to a lot more mouthpiece. It is not a clarinette. It is a very different embouchure.
Mouthpiece needs to go into the mouth perpendicular to the teeth more or less.
And more air into the horn. Lots more air.
Low notes are going to take 3-5-8 times as much air.
Then you have to put the air through without forcing it, but smoothly.
Whatever that means. You will be fine. Give it some time.

 

[Martin Allott]

Lightbulb for me was when playing along with records, copying the sound, style and inflections as perfectly as I could. This is the moment I began to actually sound like a sax and enabled my embouchure, ear, time and technique to develop quite naturally and easily.

I will definitely be doing this when I get the basics under control. Thanks for the tip

 

[Martin Allott]

Several light bulb moments. Still having those. Some notable ones from my early years, "your mileage may vary", of course:

• Relax the jaw, don't bite at all. Don't "smile" while playing, and don't bunch up your chin. To me, lips forming an "O" is a useful starting point. (Also relax your tongue, your shoulders and your hands, etc. Tension doesn't work so well.)
• Warm air. This might be a bit contentious, but the point is to "exhale" into or through the instrument more than "puffing" into it. This involves a relaxed open throat, but the anatomy aspect is probably not something you need to start focusing on very consciously.
• Maybe take in a bit more mouthpiece into your mouth than you'd think. Experiment to find what sounds and responds better.

I will keep this in mind as I'm playing. It does seem that I need to relax a bit more for those lower notes. I saw a clip with a chez someone lol who said to make more of an ooh rather than ee shape for the lower notes. She showed her the shape of the chin changes a bit and that seemed to help with getting the lower notes out. It is definitely seeming a bit more natural now. But I have to do other stuff in the day too lol so I've stopped for the day.

Thanks

 

[Martin Allott]

A lot of teachers have shifted to online lessons because of covid, so you may have more resources available that way now.

I will definitely look into having a couple online lessons or maybe even try to get into town for a lesson or two in person.

I just live about 2 hours from the closest town with an instructor.

I know it will help though so i'll try to figure something out

 

[Martin Allott]

Yes to a lot more mouthpiece. It is not a clarinette. It is a very different embouchure.
Mouthpiece needs to go into the mouth perpendicular to the teeth more or less.
And more air into the horn. Lots more air.
Low notes are going to take 3-5-8 times as much air.
Then you have to put the air through without forcing it, but smoothly.
Whatever that means. You will be fine. Give it some time.

I think I know what you mean about more air but smoothly. I just need it to click, which it should with a bit more practice. It's a matter of developing the embouchure. I do find the higher notes are very easy to play compared to anything under F.

It wanted to come out as a vibrato or to split between octaves. I tried a tip chez said to purposefully split the note between high and low octave without using the octave key to learn how to get the right shape. It was a good tip and seems to have helped.

Thanks again.

 

[datsaxman]

Sure. Being able to make the octave jump without the key is good exercise.

 

[PigSquealer]

I just live about 2 hours from the closest town with an instructor.
I know it will help though so i'll try to figure something out

For $13 as a E book you'll get your monies worth. Play along & practice lessones too.

Saxophone For Dummies by Michael Villmow, Denis Gabel - Books on Google Play

Saxophone For Dummies - Ebook written by Michael Villmow, Denis Gabel. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Saxophone For Dummies.

play.google.com

 

[Elliot G.]

A big light bulb moment for me was when I started doing long tones, or any sax practice, consistently. It can really help and improve your tone and if you have trouble with certain notes. When I started I always had a problem with the note G (Concert F) and it was an embouchure problem. Work on your embouchure, air flow, and tone quality. It'll really help.

 

[Pete Kelly]

Get a teacher NOW, even if it's online. Don't wait because there are fundamental issues that you can get correctly set from the beginning. I played for a year and thought I had a good sound (long notes are your friend) until I had a conversation with a master saxophonist, Paulo Levi, about my embouchure. This made a huge difference to control. Such a little thing that produced a big result and is very difficult to get from books or Youtube . He also gave me great exercises for sounding the bottom notes. Again very difficult to get from books or Youtube. Set-up what you want to get from them ie, I want to work on sound or technical exercises or speed or transcribing (another important activity I got from my regular online teacher, Casey Greene, that I would have shied away from). Here is Casey's contact: Online Saxophone Lessons | Narooma | Casey Greene Music Lastly great choice on the horn, I bought a 62iii about 2 months ago too and I think it's a fantastic horn, highly underrated/valued

 

[CJ1972]

Thanks for the reply, I will have a look at Learn Jazz standards. and Jamey Aebersold. I only have the essentials for band book (tenor sax) which is clearly aimed at children, though there's nothing wrong with having a bunch of basic songs to let me focus on fingering rather than rhythm.

I received my sax on friday so literally just starting the book started on G and went up to A and then started introducing lower notes (I haven't yet moved to anything lower than F yet. It is possible it needs an adjustment but will first see if more practice solves it. If the embouchure is quite different to clarinet than it probably is just that. I feel when I change the pressure and force of air in a way I can't yet explain F comes out better.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes

I remember when I started I could get every note clear apart from a G, it really bugged me at the time. Other notes would be clear but the G was warbly and weak. I wondered if there was a mechanical issue but it was purely down to embouchure. One session with my good friend, and sax teacher, had it all sorted.

 

[Martin Allott]

For $13 as a E book you'll get your monies worth. Play along & practice lessones too.

Saxophone For Dummies by Michael Villmow, Denis Gabel - Books on Google Play

Saxophone For Dummies - Ebook written by Michael Villmow, Denis Gabel. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Saxophone For Dummies.

play.google.com

I will look into this, I just bought Snidero's, O' neill's and the rubank books. I will soon look at Jamey Aebersold's books too. Thanks for the suggestion