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Rock plus . .

2493 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Grumps, 
widetrack
I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but since there's no "Anti-rock Sax" sub-forum, I'm gonna start here, anyway.

Most of my long-ago pro playing was in rock and the blues. So I got away with what I will charitably call a "primitive" approach. I'm not proud of it, but it served our ultimate ends.

I'm currently working up an act that will certainly be "rock" of various sorts, but will, I hope, appeal to somewhat more sophisticated ears. So I need to make my playing sound more contemporary, and a degree more musically advanced.

I got my scales and chords down pretty well (though never well enough, lord knows). I am working on mixing in major and minor pentatonics and chromatic with regular maj and min scales. But when I record what I do, it still sounds rather crude.

So 2 questions:

1. Who can I listen to that plays what could be called contemporary pop / rock / blues / jazz sax?

2. Can anyone suggest any technical things I can begin working on to make my playing more modern and (musically) sophisticated?

Thanks for any suggestions.
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widetrack
Thank you to everyone who responded. The thoughts and words of the people on this forum are unequalled in their knowledge and experience, and I appreciate all the input I can get.

I am digging in to all your suggestions.
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widetrack
A few thoughts

Grumps: Thank you for posting that cut. It’s a perfect example of what I’ve been looking for. I downloaded it and am going to dig in and figure out what he’s doing.

Neil:
Thank you too for the links and the ideas. The terms I used didn’t apply to the older schools you mention, or to anyone else at all. They applied to my perception of my own limitations. I learned on my own, and always had several holes in my understanding and technique. As I learn some scalar and chromatic ideas, I’m figuring out what I’ve lacked, and what I plan to learn.

I just diecovered Bernie Kennerson’s youtube lessons on bebop scales and chromatics and am working on learning them and working them into my playing as the music allows.

Jon Smith is a monster, undoubtedly, and his ideas have great weight.

But I’m not convinced with his absolute separation of rock and jazz. I hear the Bob Reynolds solo or the approach Jon Scofield took on his Ray Charles tribute, and I hear a lot of mixing of styles. They sound great to me.

I figure it’s worth a try.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.
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