Introduction I recently had the chance to speak with San Francisco Bay Area sax pro, Tim Lin, and he was nice enough to share some examples of melodic shapes, which I believe could benefit any player, whether they are beginning or advanced. My hope is that the exercises included in this article will be a [read more…]
Obviously, there's more to great sax playing than playing a bunch of fast notes. But without being able to get around the horn quickly and smoothly, you can't move your audience with that feeling of musical adrenaline that got you excited about the sax in the first place.
The problem is that too many of us feel like practicing boring scales and arpeggios is part of the dues we all have to pay, without realizing that practicing technique can be a fun and creative process.
With his new streaming video course focused 100% on technique, renowned recording artist, Adam Larson takes you way beyond what "falls easily under the fingers". Instead, he gets you rooting out anything that might be tripping up your fingers - all while adding new melodic and harmonic sounds to your vocabulary. So if you're ready to tear it up without wanting to tear out your hair, click below and let's get started today!
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Lightning-Fast and Crystal-Clean Saxophone Technique
Introduction There are more and more talented saxophone players hitting the scene today. With so much talent and fewer gigs, you really need to hone your skills as a saxophonist, but most importantly as a versatile musician. One player I really see making strides towards not just being accomplished on his instrument, but also becoming [read more…]
Introduction I am continuously speaking to saxophone players on the scene today and am always asking “are there any new players I should be checking out?” Recently, the name that has come up quite a bit is a saxophonist named Chris Bittner. Fortunately at NAMM 2020, I ran into Derek Cliff Crane who runs SaxSpy [read more…]
The argument for and against “shredding” is as old as music itself. In this article I will define the term “shredding” and try to look at it from a perspective that I think is overlooked by most musicians who are anti-shredding. I will also explain, with examples, why I believe shredding is probably a good [read more…]
Maxim Shalygin’s Todos los Todos el Fuego (2019) is a new, nearly 90-minute long work for saxophone octet, inspired by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar. While there have been other original works for 8 saxophones, no work has ever combined tonal and avant garde elements with the scope and scale found in Maxim’s piece, called [read more…]
I’m writing this list at a coffee shop in Des Moines, IA before my forty fifth show on a 44-day tour. In the last 44 days I had the pleasure of playing in multiple cities in WI, MI, MN, ND, SD, WY, MT, ID, UT, WA, BC, OR, CA, AZ, TX, Mexico, NM, CO, NE [read more…]