[silentwing26]

My friend on guitar, my other friend on piano, me on alto sax. I'm a noob, so please have mercy, lol.

 

[Dr G]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Articulation, please.

 

[silentwing26]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

We had another version with more articulation but I prefer the smoother playing than articulating every single note, lol. Is that what you mean when you say articulation? Play each note with a more "stacatto" style? Is more articulation a better style or just something dependent on preference?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[MyMartinTenor]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Its not about "more" or "less" articulation, and its also not about "stacatto" or longer or shorter notes. Its about refining your techniques for articulation so that you can use it to say what you want to say, and then consciously and critically deciding how and when to use those techniques to adopt a more pleasing sound. No silver bullet of "more" or "less," just an area where you could stand to focus your improvement.

Improvisational ideas are not bad for an early improviser. You find some nice moments of tension and release. I have a general feeling that you're "surprised" by what comes out of your horn -- I doubt you could sing any of the notes or phrases before you played them. As you build vocabulary in terms of scales, phrases, etc, that's the goal -- the "hearing" should come before the "playing" so that you are communicating.

 

[Dr G]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

No, not staccato - I'm talking about starting the note, not cutting it off.

It sounds like you're often puffing the note to get it started.

Phrasing would be nice too but that's beyond what first took my attention.

 

[silentwing26]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Got any videos to demonstrate better articulation? I'm definitely interested in learning more.

MyMartinTenor, that's a good point - I was definitely surprised sometimes, since I wasn't always expecting what I'd play. But to be honest, I have an easier time singing / humming the melody than playing it. Mostly because I'm still unfamiliar with scales and sheet music. I'm not entirely comfortable with which keys make which notes, haha. Cause I don't practice enough.

Note - we didn't use sheet music. Just played whatever we thought of.

 

[Dr G]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Give this guy a listen...

Articulation, phrasing, dynamics...

 

[silentwing26]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot. Very much appreciated. Is that you?

 

[MyMartinTenor]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

EVERY video of a saxophone player will teach you something about articulation if you listen to when they tongue, and how their notes start and end. Every good horn player does it slightly differently WITHIN CERTAIN LIMITS. The clumsiness to note initiation goes away.

Best technique I know. Set a metronome. Slow. 60 bpm. Pick your favorite note (it doesn't matter what note, but stick with one). Initiate that note every time the metronome ticks. Try to make the note start with a light tongue perfectly every time right on the metronome beat. LISTEN to how the note starts. Does it thunk out all clumsy, does it awkwardly honk, does it barely fade into being, can you really hear the tongue cracking the start, is it fuzzy, etc? All those are problems. Focus on a simple, clean, consistent start to the sound using your articulation.

This exercise will take you 3 hours of practice, minimum. I'm not kidding. Keep going at the same slow speed until you are cleanly starting the note consistently. Once you think its sounding good, get more self-critical. Remember that its not that good yet, figure out what can improve, and then practice it more.

NEXT WEEK, speed up the metronome SLIGHTLY. Do it again. By focusing on clean starts to the note, and working out how that feels, you will improve the professionalism of your sound substantially.

Re improvising -- we can all hum/sing the melody. That's not the issue. Its also not the issue whether you can read music or are improvising or whatever. The question is whether you HEAR THE NEXT LINE YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY, in some form, before you play it. If your fingers are playing rather than your mind, you're just using an instrument to make noises. If your mind is telling your fingers what it wants to hear, you are communicating your message through your instrument. The mind has to be in control, long run, not the fingers.

 

[MyMartinTenor]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

That's a nice video, Dr. G. I wish he had a little less reverb on the sound so we could hear more of the tone. But the style and approach is really nice.

 

[silentwing26]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

EVERY video of a saxophone player will teach you something about articulation if you listen to when they tongue, and how their notes start and end. Every good horn player does it slightly differently WITHIN CERTAIN LIMITS. The clumsiness to note initiation goes away.

Best technique I know. Set a metronome. Slow. 60 bpm. Pick your favorite note (it doesn't matter what note, but stick with one). Initiate that note every time the metronome ticks. Try to make the note start with a light tongue perfectly every time right on the metronome beat. LISTEN to how the note starts. Does it thunk out all clumsy, does it awkwardly honk, does it barely fade into being, can you really hear the tongue cracking the start, is it fuzzy, etc? All those are problems. Focus on a simple, clean, consistent start to the sound using your articulation.

This exercise will take you 3 hours of practice, minimum. I'm not kidding. Keep going at the same slow speed until you are cleanly starting the note consistently. Once you think its sounding good, get more self-critical. Remember that its not that good yet, figure out what can improve, and then practice it more.

NEXT WEEK, speed up the metronome SLIGHTLY. Do it again. By focusing on clean starts to the note, and working out how that feels, you will improve the professionalism of your sound substantially.

Re improvising -- we can all hum/sing the melody. That's not the issue. Its also not the issue whether you can read music or are improvising or whatever. The question is whether you HEAR THE NEXT LINE YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY, in some form, before you play it. If your fingers are playing rather than your mind, you're just using an instrument to make noises. If your mind is telling your fingers what it wants to hear, you are communicating your message through your instrument. The mind has to be in control, long run, not the fingers.

Wow, thanks a lot. This is great advice. I'll definitely work on that. Thanks man.

 

[silentwing26]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Yeah, I was listening to it again and I can see what you meant by it sounded like I "puffed" out the notes. Definitely gonna practice.

 

[ismail]

The piece as a whole:
Snare, ride, synth-strings, guitar, keyboard, synth-horns...the beginning sounds totally aimless, is there anything coming from a computer??? Get rid of that, it sounds cheesy anyway unless it's really done with a lot of knowledge. It seems you have enough "real" instruments to make a song. If you want a "piece", there could be something like a melody or at least an easily recognizable, catchy phrase or else it might sound arbitrary.
Your pianist seems to have good rhythm, so I'd get rid of the computer-generated beat and let him keep time. A bass player would be great. Or a real drummer. You will play much more dynamic instead of - like here - always on the same energetic level.
Personally, I find playbacks like these awfully cheesy and unnatural (sorry but this is as constructive as i can express it plus, it's none of your personal playing). You can create great beats and sounds with a computer, but it takes probably just as much learning time as a real instrument so I'd rather go and look for a drummer and bassist.

your playing sounds good so far. i have to go so I'll stick to the piece as far as constructive criticism is concerned. bye!

 

[silentwing26]

Yeah, the percussion is a standard beat from the computer. I'll talk to the guys about avoiding that in the future. The guitar, keyboard, and sax are us, though.

 

[Dr G]

How 'bout you ask the moderator(s) to merge your threads so you're not cross posting???

 

[Dr G]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot. Very much appreciated. Is that you?

Nah, he has more hair.

 

[kcp]

Moderator Note

How 'bout you ask the moderator(s) to merge your threads so you're not cross posting???

Thanks for reporting.

So this thread is the product of two threads by the same author on the same topic, where both threads got several replies each. After a thread merge the replies appear according to the time at which they were submitted. In turn, this can create some incoherence or somewhat make the discussion flow a little bit difficult to follow. Sorry but there's nothing I can do about that. Besides fragmenting the follow-up comments and dialog, that's the other reason why Cross posting is discouraged in the first place.

 

[Bubba06]

Re: A recording of a jam session with a few friends. Feedback would be appreciated.

EVERY video of a saxophone player will teach you something about articulation if you listen to when they tongue, and how their notes start and end. Every good horn player does it slightly differently WITHIN CERTAIN LIMITS. The clumsiness to note initiation goes away.

Best technique I know. Set a metronome. Slow. 60 bpm. Pick your favorite note (it doesn't matter what note, but stick with one). Initiate that note every time the metronome ticks. Try to make the note start with a light tongue perfectly every time right on the metronome beat. LISTEN to how the note starts. Does it thunk out all clumsy, does it awkwardly honk, does it barely fade into being, can you really hear the tongue cracking the start, is it fuzzy, etc? All those are problems. Focus on a simple, clean, consistent start to the sound using your articulation.

This exercise will take you 3 hours of practice, minimum. I'm not kidding. Keep going at the same slow speed until you are cleanly starting the note consistently. Once you think its sounding good, get more self-critical. Remember that its not that good yet, figure out what can improve, and then practice it more.

NEXT WEEK, speed up the metronome SLIGHTLY. Do it again. By focusing on clean starts to the note, and working out how that feels, you will improve the professionalism of your sound substantially.

Re improvising -- we can all hum/sing the melody. That's not the issue. Its also not the issue whether you can read music or are improvising or whatever. The question is whether you HEAR THE NEXT LINE YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY, in some form, before you play it. If your fingers are playing rather than your mind, you're just using an instrument to make noises. If your mind is telling your fingers what it wants to hear, you are communicating your message through your instrument. The mind has to be in control, long run, not the fingers.

Ran across this thread... I've been trying to think of ways to work on my articulation. Kind of takes it to a long tone-esque fashion.

Thanks,
-Bubba-