If you Can Move your Mouse you Can Burn on Tenor
Thanks to accomplished UK sax man Ben Castle, I recently came across what’s become a fabulous way to suck away precious hours of my life. It’s called “Virtual Sax!” and it allows any of us to put together a funkyjazzy solo by merely moving our mouse in rhythm to two different pre-recorded backing tracks.
Regardless of your horn, mouthpiece, or reed, the truth is, to the outside listener, you sound pretty much like...you. It's not that gear doesn't affect your sound at all, but your biggest and richest sound will only come by developing the skills within both your body and mind to sound great on any setup.
So if you're willing to move beyond having your day ruined by a lousy reed, then sax legend David Liebman's course, Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production is where you're going to want to go next.
Broken down into bite-sized lessons, this streaming video program covers just about every single aspect of saxophone sound production. It represents his entire life's work teaching the techniques and concepts that were handed down to masters such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, and Harvey Pittel (among many others), and then refined over the course of decades teaching countless lessons and masterclasses worldwide. Click below to see for yourself why so many professional saxophonists consider David's thorough, methodical, and practical approach the "real deal" for players at any level.
SAXOPHONETONE.COM
The Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production
How this Works
It’s quite simple really. First you choose which of the two different backing tracks you’d like to play along with. From there, you move the mouse over the keys on the goofy-looking virtual saxophone. Most of the keys trigger great sax licks (played by Ben himself, I presume) while the rest of the keys on the upper left-hand site of the horn trigger individual notes for those looking for a more expansive means of virtual self expression.
This is especially great for those of us working on laptop or notebook computers where one can enjoy the benefits of the trackpad, since that trackpad works much better than the mouse for these type of shenanigans.
Anyhow, I can yammer about this all I want, but the best thing to do is hop on over to Ben Castle’s site and take it for a spin!
April 7, 2015 @ 2:10 pm
Ben’s dad Roy broke several world records. Playing the same tune on 43 instruments in 4 minutes. Also the worlds fastest tap dancer. Good singer, fine trumpet player and funny comedian. Complete all-round entertainer. Brought lung cancer to the public’s attention, helping to get the smoking ban introduced in clubs. Check out wikipedia.
PS: I bought the ‘rain’ LP donkeys years ago – interesting theme subject.