Home Alt › Forums › Repertoire › Awesome backing tracks Johnny–my nephew and his band love the quality in your recordings……
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October 31, 2014 at 3:09 pm #9820
😎 Hey Johnny,
I added your 2 recent releases to my collection of your tracks/sheet music today, and just gotta say that your backing tracks are just great, plain and simple. Even though my Tenor is at home, just from listening to the track of “I was Made to Love Her” and following along with it, mentally, I felt like I was already playing this song in my mind. I guess that just comes from listening to King Curtis play it so much? Kind of reminds me of your Altissimo lesson of Ear Training, that if we can hear it then we can play it. This backing track, in particular, sounds almost exactly like the original release 🙂 I love how your backing track of Harlem Nocturne has those characteristics in it that the Viscounts had in their version.
I showed both of these backing tracks to my nephew and his band just a few minutes ago as I am here at one of their practices tonight and they said to tell you that the quality of your recording is “very, very professional and genuine, not that MIDI garbage” I’m not sure what they mean by MIDI? I think he typed that right. My nephew and his band is also asking me do you own your own recording studio at home or do you make these tracks in a studio that charges hourly? They can’t tell the difference…said to tell you that is a compliment to you and your recordings….but they tell me recording in a studio that charges hourly is very, very expensive. They looked into it and it was like $150 per hour or so.October 31, 2014 at 3:23 pm #12902Ya you can really get ahead in learning a song just by going thru it mentally. when you finally grab your sax it won’t be automatic but it will ve easier because you have the melody in your head already so then it’s just a matter of getting the notes… that’s what the music sheets are for!
Although I really loved several of the HN versions I found the Viscounts one was the best for capturing that mood. I copied their groove and tremelo guitar sound but did change the chords and arrangement a little bit since their version was under 2 minutes I think.
I have my own home recording studio. I find I can make good recordings if I take my time.October 31, 2014 at 3:44 pm #12903I’ve found the best way to learn your songs, or any song, for me personally is just by learning a few notes a day v.s. trying to memorize a bunch in one session. I just don’t have the time to be learning sheet music for hours in one session and the likelihood is that, come the next day, I will have forgotten over half of it anyway. The bulk of my practice sessions revolve far more around exercises v.s. just memorizing songs all time. I feel like really working and focusing hard on the fundamentals of the Sax that I’ve learned from you is what really helps us as Student players to progress in our playing and that when we learn songs, Improvise, etc.. that’s where we get to “put it all together” so to say and let it happen. I much prefer to learn and play them from Memory v.s. putting sheet music out on my music stand and playing along. Sure, I could play your stuff a lot more quickly that way, but the benefits are no where near as good (I don’t think they are anyway, but everyone is different in this regard I guess, maybe?) as taking as much time as I personally need and committing them to memory. I actually have found the I can commit Improvisation/my own licks to memory even faster than memorizing songs; not totally sure why that is the case? Getting ready to pull out my Alto Sax with my nephew and his band now…..I just wish I had my Tenor here with me.
November 1, 2014 at 12:44 am #12904You are dead right Babs. I spent two hours today learning Always On My Mind – Elvis…and didnt like the alto key of the only music I get get my hands on as it was in D and is too high so I took it down to F by transcribing and mostly working it out by ear after playing it in the higher key. What a mission but very rewarding. I now find myself playing almost all the way through and the notes just seem to land right under my fingers without thinking about it at all too much and doing little runs as well. All inside a day! WTF – who is this man?. A white Gerald Albright perhaps! LOL
November 1, 2014 at 6:26 am #12905LOL Dazza, only wish that I was a white Gerald Albright…….I had a dream about that once though, only to wake up and realize I was only dreaming 🙂
I’m just really, really looking forward to getting back home and get back to my practices with both Alto and Tenor, not just the Alto only. Having both Saxophones, I would alternate from one practice to the next between Saxophones–love them both–but practicing with just the Alto only right now makes me feel like something is missing. The good news is I get back home sometime in December and told the medical staff I work with over there that I’ll be back to at work there in January and they’re totally cool about it. So I’m taking like 2 weeks off to get some rest and do nothing but Saxophone. I’m thinking my tone on Tenor may be off just by a little because of not playing it for a couple of months because of being here with an Alto, but like Johnnny says in his new intro video on the home page “Blow! Blow! Blow!” After a couple of weeks of being at home and having to do nothing but “Blow! Blow! Blow!” on my Tenor and I’ll be just fine. Nothing has changed with the Alto though, so it’s not like I haven’t been playing at all. -
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