new years resolution

[Anonymous]

well after 2 years of playing i’ve now finaly got the itch to get out there and start playing the sax – regardless of how i sound or what other people think of my playing.

playing in recording sessions and playing in public are two different art forms – playing guitar in a church band in the past years has more enjoyment than playing home alone, and less costly (all that recording gear).

Its the cross roads for me – time to let the bird out the cage.

[Ridge]

I have not practiced much in the last year, but the piano player asked me to play a couple of songs for church. So I practiced Johnny’s version of Silent Night and Greensleeves for about a week and played them last Sunday. I had to play them loud for everyone else was amplified but I wasn’t. It went well and I got a few compliments as well. Our Church band is small, a drummer,electric bass, piano/electric guitar player, and now me me on alto. I attend a Pentecostal church and they like their music, music service last about an hour some times more. I will have to learn to improvise and I can work up some songs that I can play solos in also. Getting out and playing with others will be a challenge, but it is good to be with others and socialize a bit. I live in the country and I don,t work much any more since I had a triple by-pass and I am 64 yrs. I have heard you play over the years here on this sight and think your playing and sound are good so go for it…..Ridge

[Ridge]

I forgot to add that we played the song as an extended version, of silent night. It changes key for the second verse, so we did 2 verses in the first key and then went into the key change for the third verse.

[Anonymous]

good for you Ridge.

My only concern with playing sax in church is – lots of songs have 4 verses – one verse alone can leave me short of breath! I’ll have start running things through 4 or 5 times to get the stamina

[Anonymous]

Snap! I sometimes play songs with one chap on Tenor Sax and another on Bb Trumpet.
We were recently asked to play a couple of hymns for a musical afternoon event at church.

I think we get too caught up with ‘achieving perfection’ at times as we practice the songs over and over again.
To the person who hears it if the first time, they are impressed by the sound and don’t hear the small mistakes, most couldn’t care less anyway.
If people have to choose between silence or a musical item with a couple of mistakes, they go for the item every time!
Anyway, we played the items and people thought it was wonderful.

This forum is a rare opportunity which motivates one to practice and perform songs, plus we receive constructive comments by those who have the same goals.
Some of the songs I’ve done, have compelled me to practice them many times over before making the final recording.
One thing is for sure, by making the effort to record at the end of the day one’s playing skills are always improved.

As a beginner I encourage everyone to have a go at a song or two for this forum, as practice makes perfect!

[Anonymous]

i’ve taken up the opportunity to get back in the church band in february – if i don’t get out there in the next few months i’m going to go atir crazy!

[john]

I think church would be a great venue for a sax player. I have done a gig at the big cathedral downtown here in Vancouver a few times with my 4 piece or 5 piece band and it sounds great! the acoustics are awesome and a live band goes over really well. we do it for free but the priest passes around the hat and the collection is enough for me to pay the guys a couple hundred dollars each so they don’t complain.
as for sittin in with the band/choir as a sax player could be good as well. like someone mentioned, improvising would be good in this case, just to weave around the vocalist or other instruments.

[Ridge]

Here Is A video Bob Henderson, a sax player and guitar player I have been listening to lately. He is a good example of what Johnny said about improvising and weaving around the vocalists. this is just one of many videos that he performs in on youtube.

[Ridge]

I must have done something wrong as this is not the actual video I wanted to post, but I suppose that it will do.

[Anonymous]

thanks Ridge – can’t wait till february to get out there and start playing in the church band again. Just got to build up the stamina of playing a song at least 4 times in a row, non-stop to be able to play all those verses.

not interested in doing a load of recordings at home, got rid of my youtube account. Its time to move on and play in the real world, get some proper experience.

[Author]

Posts