[Frank D]

I can't play my saxes for a while for reasons I won't get into, so I'm trying to use the EWI 4000 that I have lying around to maintain some facility, make sure I remember tunes and keep some momentum going on several projects.

One thing I could use some help with is getting some facility on the octave rollers. I've adjusted the sensitivity and turned off the slides, but I can't seem to maintain good control there, getting unwanted jumps and peeps, mostly upwards. I'm using the forward part of the thumb closer to the tip, since I've developed a bump over the knuckle area from playing sax I suppose. Should I be trying to contact the rollers further down the thumb?

Another factor might be hand position. I'm trying to keep the left hand so that the fingers are perpendicular to the EWI as much as possible, but it always winds up at more of an angle, hand down, fingers pointed upwards.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

fd

 

[Nefertiti]

I had a hard time when I was trying to hold the EWI like a sax with some of the wight of the EWI on that left thumb. It made it way harder to roll. I found it is much easier to point the EWI down to the ground with little to no pressure on that thumb and then keep a lighter touch with the thumb so that you can roll it easier. It helped me a ton!

 

[Frank D]

Thanks Steve, that makes a lot of sense, I'll give it a try.