Introduction – Essex, England.

[Warren Bye]

Been learning the Alto Sax for three months now and came across Johnny and this website after seeing Johnny’s Peter Gunn solo on YouTube, which is excellent by the way! I’ve also viewed the members’ videos in the blog section and I’m really excited to be part of such a buzzing and helpful community!

I’m finding it hard to play the very low C# / Db as my little finger on my left hand just doesn’t have the strength to stretch to the final pad. Are there any exercises you can recommend to help build the muscles in my little fingers?

[Michael]

Hey Icnoyotl, nice to have you here; all the way from England too. It’s awesome to meet members on this site from all over the world–a real plus to being a member of Johnny’s site. Johnny’s version of the Peter Gunn theme song is one of my very favorite songs too; timeless in any era. Being able to upload videos to the blog is a HUGE help in the way of learning to play the Sax. How does it help us learn? EXAMPLE: I recently had a problem of not getting enough of the Mouthpiece in my mouth while playing–a mistake I didn’t start out with and somehow just started to creep in on me. Johnny noticed that my notes were falling off near the end and it affected my tone just a little bit. Had I not uploaded to the blog, I would never even had realized what started to happen and it would have become a bad habit that would have been 10 times as hard to break. As beginners, it can be tough to overcome our “fear” of posting videos for everyone to see, but doing so really helps you to see what you’re doing right and wrong. It’s also a great way to track your progress.
Regarding your question about having a hard time with the low C#/Db; this is one of those things that just about everyone has had difficulties with. It’s just part of that learning curve that with practice and time you’ll find to become better and better at. We’re training our little finger to do something that it’s not used to doing. What helped me in this regard was to practice going back and forth over and over each and everyone one of the keys there, all the way around. Start there with the C#/Db, then go up to the G#/Ab key, down to the Bb and then the low A. Start slow, as your starting to condition the muscles in your finger to do things things it’s not accustomed to doing. At other times you can change it up by going backwards in the order that I showed you here, or going up-and-down (G#/Ab to low A) and across (C#/Db across to Bb). As your little finger starts to get more comfortable with striking these keys, then start getting creative by going from C#/Db up to G#/Ab, back and forth, back and forth a little quicker each time. Same applies with the other keys, Bb to low A, low A to C#/Db, and so on. As the muscles in your finger get stronger and you mentally begin to respond to this “akward” type of finger motion; you’ll find it becoming easier and easier. Be patient with this exercise and over the course of time you will see yourself getting better and better. Hope this helps and nice to have you here! Looking forward to seeing your videos on the blog 🙂

[James]

Welcome!

[Warren Bye]

Thanks for your reply, Baboon.

I recorded myself playing using my phone, but the quality is pretty horrendous. What are people usually using to record themselves?

I bought Johnny’s book on ‘How to Play Saxophone’, which I’m finding helpful. I’m doing the exercises in there with all 7 ‘normal’ major keys at the moment. Once I’ve memorised the scales completely I’ll then learn the 5 sharp/flat major scales.

[Warren Bye]

I also posted this on the members’ blog section.

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