Learn how to play different Sax solos

[Michael]

😎 Hi Johnny,
A couple days ago I read a post someone put asking for help for the solo to Tequila here in the Repertoire category and it looked to be an older post–there was a recent reply to it by one of the members, so I shared an Older video I made for the blog on Tequila which had the solo in it. Have you considered making available to buy sheet music/tutorials that show how to play different kinds of Sax solos? I would have loved to have a tutorial when I did Tequila, all I had was sheet music and the actual song to go by at that time and that was all LOL.

[Dazza]

Hi fellas, That was me reviving an old post which I think is now lost behind other posts. My question was that when I play the tune on alto the written F# (on the part leading up tot the e,e,e,e,e,e,a – sorry I dont have the sheet muisic around to name the bar )sounds better to me as natural and wondering if that is ok to play it that way as an option.

[Anonymous]

Michael – you’ve raised a good point there about having a video of how to play a specific piece!
There’s loads done on youtube for popular tunes.
I had a similar experience, my sax teacher if i had any piece i wanted to play,
so i just randomly picked up “Cry me a River”.
The piece was far too advanced for my music theory knowhow, and sheet reading level!
I got through the piece slowly but was mainly playing it in time to how i thought the song went,
as it was far too difficult to play the note times accurately from a 1st time attempt!
Looking at the sheet measure by measure – i could slowly work out how each piece should sound.

But what threw me was the fact that my Sax Teacher, stepped in
and said “right, theres a way to play this phrase, it’s more of a technique, which the sheet won’t show you, but you will learn to recognize it when you see/hear these type if phrases”

So yes, there are certain nuances that Sax players do, that unless you’ve got a really good interogating ear for identifying what they are doing in that phrase, it a lot simpler for someone to do a lesson on it!
But fortuneately there are lots of pieces out there that are simple enough.
Most of Johnny’s Sheets are brought down to my level of playing as i’ve seen some identical ones written in far more complicated ways!

[Michael]

Sxpoet: You make a great point—there are LOTS of pieces out there that are simple enough to learn. Johnny is just awesome, he writes his sheet music out in a way that is simplified and really helps in the way of learning these great tunes. Many people tend to think that simple songs are to “easy” to play and just ignore them. Actually, these simple songs can actually magnify our errors! I love the song for Elvis “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I’ve learned both of them but just haven’t gotten around to uploading them.

Hey Dazza–that post isn’t buried, I responded to it recently. Just click on “Repertoire” and you should see my reply there. I responded to it just a couple of days ago. In terms of your question about playing the solo on Alto Sax, I had actually started working on that while out here in New Mexico because everyone wants to hear it but the problem was that my Tenor is at home. I was simply not going to chance bringing it on the plane and something happen to it. The airlines are not very “courteous” when it comes to treating delicate items with respect….Johnny has said how he has dealt with broken Sax parts and all for this very reason. I was able to put the Alto overhead with me while in my seat, it fit perfectly. The great news is that I’m supposed to be back home in just a little over 1 month (trying not to think about it). Been so busy tending to family that I’ve been doing good just to get a regular, 1 hour practice session in and haven’t had much time to work on the solo to Tequila for Alto. I do have 3 new songs of Johnny’s for Alto Sax finished and will upload then sometime after I get back–they we’re already almost finished before even coming here. I’ll try and transpose the sheet music that I have for the solo on Tenor to Alto for you. Please be patient with me, got a lot happening right now helping family out here.

[john]

Dazza you’re absolutly right! I must apologize for that mistake. After checking it out I realized I also didn’t have the right arrangement to fit the backing track. I had used a different one originally then forgot to make the proper changes way back when I first made that upload available. This was my very first one when I started the sight and so I was anxious to get more songs up and had forgotten all about it.
Anyways I just spend my morning fixing this chart for tequila and have uploaded it for both Eb and Bb. It now has the correct notes and the arrangement matches up perfectly with the audio backing track which copies the original featuring Chuck Rio.
Later I will do a lesson video going over the solo, key/scales/chords and more so you guys will be able to really play the heck out of this most important sax song! I’m also planning on doing this for “What Does It Take” and these will be full and in-depth lessons in the premium section.

[Michael]

WOW….thanks Johnny!!! 🙂 “What Does It Take” is one of those songs I think of as a “mega-tune” for the Saxophone, just like Harlem Nocturne is. That term of “Mega-tune” is just my little way of looking at it LOL I only wish I had a lesson for the Tequila solo, even with sheet music and listening to the song it was still tricky and wasn’t by any means perfect when I did it…not with allergies anyway.
If you had to fix the chart for Tequila, does that mean I had learned it wrong? When I played it, nothing felt wrong about it for the Tenor. It’s great that Dazza was able to detect that for the Alto. Here’s the link when I did do it some months ago:

[john]

no, yours is perfect Michael. the wrong note was just in the alto chart (F# instead iof the F natural).
I will work on a lesson for it with the solo etc.

[Dazza]

Cool. Thanls for that. Pleased my ears are “in tune”! I am also working on the notes to have a crack at some sort of solo. Clearly there aren’t many notes in that solo section it’s more about the feeling with which they are played. BTW – is there any simple programs out there to that allows you to write music on a sheet and then change the key with the press of a button. I am transposing some songs I got from Musicnotes to lower the register on the alto as to me they sound too high (eg Always on my mind) but I cant write as small as printed sheet music and it gets too messy. I am sure your program Johnny would be a pro version but anything out there that is simplified that could achieve this?

[john]

have a look at Sebelius there is a demo version that would do it.

[Michael]

Hey Johnny, in time to come I was wondering if you could look at doing “Walking with Mr. Lee” not necessarily as an online lesson with all the Sax Lines like we’re talking about with these posts, but the backing track/sheet music. I LOVE the way you capture the essence of all these classic songs 🙂 Even 50 to 100 years from now, they’ll still be great songs for the Saxophone.

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