Great tips! To sum it up: There’s so much to practice. Breathing, finger tech, rhythm, ear training and.. the list goes on. One way to get it more digestible is to divid it in two main blocks: Technique and musicality ( listening) So, for me, the biggest challenge and only additional tip is a thing that has taken me many years to realize: Try to be where you’re at! In other words. Make things smaller. Take it in smaller bits. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the huge amount of things to practice and ending up doing not one of them properly. Leaving you with a feeling of stress and disappointment.. So if you can’t manage a C major scale, just stick to that thing until it’s done. And be kind to yourself for what you accomplished. Every step of the way. Don’t run ahead. There are no chortcuts!
I have a question: A lot of the greats say you should always transcribe. BUT do you guys think there is a limit to this? I have to admit, literally all I do when I'm not playing in band is transcribe -- let me be clear, I mean playing along by ear, not writing it down or thinking about it academically.... kinda like how people just sing along to songs I guess -- now, my playing does seem to get constantly better but I do think it has "enabled" the lazy part of me that hates structural learning. I don't practice scales, arpeggios, long tones etc at all and I know a lot of the RUclips guys would highly recommend that at minimum in each practice session.
LONG TONESSSSSSSS!!!!!! Literally man, take some time away from youtube and try and sound like your favorite players. I would practice scales till your mouth muscles are tired. I would develop a consistent practice schedule that targets your weaknesses. If you want to be a good player please start practicing your fundamentals.
I don't do basic technique other than during warm ups, whatever that might take, if I'm playing daily I warm up in 5-10 minutes, if I grab the bari that I don't play often I might be warming up for 30-40 minutes and playing the music I have to for 20 and it's much more effective and efficient at delivering the results I'm looking for. I always try to mix it up and warm up with recent issues I've found when playing, if I struggle with a tune in a certain key I warm up in that key, certain passages go into altissimo and I can't play it consistently? I guess today I warm up with altissimo. Am I boring myself playing too many 3rds and arpeggios? Let's warm up with 4ths and 5ths and keep it in mind later. That said, I have thousands of hours of technique under my fingers and I've come to realize that the academic approach is 1, extremely flawed, and 2, very situational and rarely applicable to the real world beyond a first glance. I have all the technique understanding and abilities I need, and having so much work put into that means that if I encounter a new challenge I have the tools, knowledge and experience to solve it quickly (in my own terms). Personally long tones have became mandatory as I grew up and it's the only thing I'm 100% sure to do every day I play, I stopped playing for a while because I was learning sax repair, flute and clarinet, and coming back to the sax really made me see how much more I improved by warming up with long tones and then only playing the technique that I needed to play the music I wanted. If you want to get a degree you'll need some academic grinding to pass certain requirements but if you are playing just to play, as long as you are certain that you don't have any bad technique either in your embouchure or fingers, whatever takes you where you want to go should be enough.
Amazing tips...just one more: blow the saxophone, do not be afraid. Your neighbours will be hate you, bit you will be improve your embouchure and dont for forget to do it using Long Tones
hello London, i learn to play the alto saxophone and with you i learn english too . . . have a nice day teachers !! from belgium . . . .
Great tips! To sum it up: There’s so much to practice. Breathing, finger tech, rhythm, ear training and.. the list goes on. One way to get it more digestible is to divid it in two main blocks: Technique and musicality ( listening) So, for me, the biggest challenge and only additional tip is a thing that has taken me many years to realize: Try to be where you’re at! In other words. Make things smaller. Take it in smaller bits. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the huge amount of things to practice and ending up doing not one of them properly. Leaving you with a feeling of stress and disappointment.. So if you can’t manage a C major scale, just stick to that thing until it’s done. And be kind to yourself for what you accomplished. Every step of the way. Don’t run ahead. There are no chortcuts!
How much do you squat George?
Different content, great idea. Looking forward to your next one 🎶🎷🎶
Nice
Excellent tips!
I have a question:
A lot of the greats say you should always transcribe. BUT do you guys think there is a limit to this?
I have to admit, literally all I do when I'm not playing in band is transcribe -- let me be clear, I mean playing along by ear, not writing it down or thinking about it academically.... kinda like how people just sing along to songs I guess -- now, my playing does seem to get constantly better but I do think it has "enabled" the lazy part of me that hates structural learning.
I don't practice scales, arpeggios, long tones etc at all and I know a lot of the RUclips guys would highly recommend that at minimum in each practice session.
LONG TONESSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Literally man, take some time away from youtube and try and sound like your favorite players. I would practice scales till your mouth muscles are tired. I would develop a consistent practice schedule that targets your weaknesses. If you want to be a good player please start practicing your fundamentals.
I don't do basic technique other than during warm ups, whatever that might take, if I'm playing daily I warm up in 5-10 minutes, if I grab the bari that I don't play often I might be warming up for 30-40 minutes and playing the music I have to for 20 and it's much more effective and efficient at delivering the results I'm looking for. I always try to mix it up and warm up with recent issues I've found when playing, if I struggle with a tune in a certain key I warm up in that key, certain passages go into altissimo and I can't play it consistently? I guess today I warm up with altissimo. Am I boring myself playing too many 3rds and arpeggios? Let's warm up with 4ths and 5ths and keep it in mind later.
That said, I have thousands of hours of technique under my fingers and I've come to realize that the academic approach is 1, extremely flawed, and 2, very situational and rarely applicable to the real world beyond a first glance. I have all the technique understanding and abilities I need, and having so much work put into that means that if I encounter a new challenge I have the tools, knowledge and experience to solve it quickly (in my own terms).
Personally long tones have became mandatory as I grew up and it's the only thing I'm 100% sure to do every day I play, I stopped playing for a while because I was learning sax repair, flute and clarinet, and coming back to the sax really made me see how much more I improved by warming up with long tones and then only playing the technique that I needed to play the music I wanted.
If you want to get a degree you'll need some academic grinding to pass certain requirements but if you are playing just to play, as long as you are certain that you don't have any bad technique either in your embouchure or fingers, whatever takes you where you want to go should be enough.
Amazing tips...just one more: blow the saxophone, do not be afraid.
Your neighbours will be hate you, bit you will be improve your embouchure and dont for forget to do it using Long Tones
This Sucks!! You don't teach NOTHING Practice 🙄🤡