Pick up the Pieces: playing tips?

[Jazz Cat]

I still struggle with this one in 2 spots, any tips?:

a) Bb fingering: normally I just use A + side Bb key, favorite…however for this one it may be the single top fingerings, Bkey+Fkey may be better for mid Bbs?

b) tough coming down smoothly in the solo spot, first bar

[Michael]

Hi Jazz Cat,
There were some places where I use the A + side Bb key like you said and other places where I used the Bb key/bis key in the front of the Sax, we’re all different so we just have to experiment in this regard to see what works for each one of us. As you know, there’s 4 different fingering positions for Bb–try them all and see which one is best for you. I posted a video of Johnny’s on these Bb fingerings. Try all 4 of them and see if this help. I personally will use all 4 of them, like for an Instrumental that I’m working on right now for “Smooth Operator”. In the solo, it was easier for me to use one of the other “unconvential” Bb fingerings than we would normally not use/not so popular, but it worked great for me in the solo of Smooth Operator. The real trick in the solo of Smooth Operator was going from High F# to Altissimo G and back to high F# again smoothly like you talk about…easier said that done LOL
Yeah, in Pick Up the Pieces there are some tricky spots for sure in this solo, the only remedy is to take it very slowly–as slowly as you need to–once you start feeling comfortable, then you can gradually speed it up. A great thing to help is certainly a metronome–put the metronome on a slower setting and you can gradually speed it up to par as you get better/smoother. I will say that one thing that really helps is to make sure we practice our Chromatic Scales exercises–I do them every time I start a practice session and without doing them I just don’t get a very good practice session in, so it’s a “must do” for me.

[Z]

I would use the Bb that’s like the B natural key and then the little one right underneath it. I assume you’re playing tenor. And the key is like g minor or whatever, which is a flat key. For flat keys I use that fingering, and for sharp keys, like G major or D major, I would use the one with The B natural note and then the F note. (In those keys Bb would be an accidental anyway) It just lays better for me depending on what kind of key I’m playing in. As for the rest you just need to practice the licks just like with anything else. After time it’ll get easier to play it smoothly. The solo itself isn’t that hard so it won’t be too hard to learn with practice. Good luck!

[Jazz Cat]

thanks… good tips — my whole life I’ve only used A+ side Bb (great for trilling too); makes sense to get more comfortable using the other fingerings….old habits are hard to modify 🙂 thx too Michael re tip for Smooth Operator, I like playing that intro too, Stuart M is an inspiration, great player

[Michael]

For Smooth Operator, I was talking about the Main Sax solo in the middle of the song; not the intro. There’s no Altissimo G in the intro. For the Bb on Pick Up the Pieces, the Bb fingering that Ammin is talking about is very easy to use, I prefer to use it for Pick Up the Pieces. I’ll try to upload it ASAP.

[Author]

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