Question about backing tracks at the end of Killer Blues ebook

[Michael]

😎 Hi Johnny,
I officially started with “How to Play Killer Blues” this weekend and was looking over everything in the way of an Overview of things to come now that I’m getting started—the backing tracks that you have made available at the end of the course are extended backing tracks based off of the previous lessons, correct? That would make for some great stuff for blog uploads! As I got to overviewing things to come; it seems like it would be almost impossible to play with a band without having a solid foundation in this stuff?

I was reading in your introduction how you define what the blues are, and you mentioned it as having its roots “in the post-war of the Southern United States.” I’m right smack in the middle/heart of exactly what you describe there….we see it all the time down town here with guys and their harmonicas and guitars; out till 3-4 am at the local clubs. It’s like it’s not just part of their life…it is their life! Most of the Saxophone players here are more into smooth, contemporary-type Jazz v.s. blues and rock.

Many questions to come from me so as to learn HOW to do this stuff…..I just can’t stand it anymore LOL. Thanks for your patience Johnny 🙂

[Anonymous]

hi michael – i’m starting the killer blues in november, i’d be grateful for any tips you pick up, other than the ones about cheating ourselves. lol

[john]

yes, the backing tracks are extensions of the examples I play over thru the course, or rather, they are shorter versions of the tracks you can download at the end. These are tracks of my actual band recorded live in a professional studio. All very straight ahead blues so very good to experiment/practice with.

[Michael]

Did you guys record these tracks when producing your CDs? I was wondering because I was trying to “put my finger” on at least one of the backing tracks that sounds very, very similar to one of the songs you guys made—what I mean is on cdbaby.com there’s a “demo” or sample that’s like 30 seconds long (something like that anyway) so that you can click on and listen to before you buy it (I’m getting ready to get your CDs and continue my Collection to build on “The Big Horn”) and at least one of the tracks you let us download from the ebook sounds almost like one of your songs? Or maybe it just has a similar feel to it?

Did you guys ever play “Brown Sugar” live before people? Now that……is one Sax solo I’m really looking forward to learning 🙂 If I remember correctly, there’s an Altissimo note in the solo, like Altissimo G? So cool knowing I can incorporate the notes in my playing now 🙂 I’ve been making good use of the last lesson you posted on the Altissimo course….the things I learned in that course are now part of my everyday practice routine. On the next upload I do, it’s one of your songs, I will be throwing some of these notes.
SXPOET: We’ll do….I started working on the first exercise this past weekend, in conjunction with the “Improvisation” lessons here on the home page and I can see why; if you ever have the hopes of playing with a band, we better know this stuff inside and out. Playing & Memorizing songs is terrific fun; but it’s just not enough. Not knowing how to Improvise over Blues and Rock is like being a “handicapped” Saxophone player because we’re limited in what we can do on the Saxophone. This stuff is so wide and open and this is the direction where I want to go. As time progresses, more of the uploads I do for Johnny/other members to see and help me improve is going to be geared more towards Improvising with Blues and Rock….I’ll still be learning Johnny’s songs too.

[Anonymous]

Hey Michael,
rather than waiting till November, I’ll start it tomorrow, and try and shadow you, or try to keep up with your pace!
That makes it more interesting as i can compare! problems i find on it! with yours!
What pages in the e-book have you done, or are working on?

[Anonymous]

Michael – i’ve also got the ‘big horn’ collection
& would be interested on hearing your thoughts
on any of the songs on it?

[Michael]

Sxpoet: Make sure you “finish what you started” with regard to the course of Johnny’s on daily practice routines. If you go back to Johnny’s post to me when I posted the Altissimo video; he made a great point that people will start something and, when they don’t get the results that they expected & in the time they expect, they abandon it and start something else, only to repeat the cycle of jumping from one thing to the next without having completed the first thing they started. That’s one of the reasons why he couldn’t “guarantee” results regarding the Altissimo course in the sense of not knowing who would put in the work and go through with it and not skip steps v.s. others who won’t follow everything Johnny has to teach. I’m living proof that his Altissimo course works……but I didn’t “pond hop” like a frog from one thing to the next, nor did I worry about trying to keep up with anyone else. Take your time and focus on one thing at a time and have fun doing it 🙂

[john]

ya the solo in Brown Sugar goes up to the high G if you’re on tenor. When ever a band asks me to play that song with them I try to pull off the solo just like the original cause people love to hear it the same as the record of course.

[Anonymous]

Michael – absolutely right about the pond hoping!
I was introduced to the Sax by my sax teacher, who lent me one of his spare Sax’s for a couple of weeks, to see if i would like it. Originally i wanted to do the clarinet, but my daughter objected because she was learning the Clarinet.
His lessons are and have been my number one priority. A couple of weeks later i found Johnny’s site, so i completed his e-book at the same time.
Then i started the Altissimo course & got as far as the Altissimo C, by which time my intructor recomended doing grade 3 sax exam, but i opted for grade 2 as i felt the pace was going a bit too fast when i’d only been playing 5 months.
The problem with doing grades, is you can only do them at certain times of the year. The next available date is this November, so it was a case for me of putting the altissimo course on hold & spending serious time on concentrating on the grade to be on target for november.
But when Johnny’s daily practice course came out, i bought it, had a look and thought – hey this is something i can do every day as a 30 minute warm up before doing my grade 2 work.
I’ve now done all the work for my grade 2, and pass mark is in the bag!
The altissimo i will pick after the grade 2, like riding a bike , i can still do all the altissimo stuff i’ve learnt.
I can actually make the time to do the killer blues now!
Come november, i will only be doing the daily sax warmup, the altissimo, and getting my sax teacher to show me how to do some songs properly, currently doing ‘cry me a river’.
He gives me tips on how to play it, not shown on the sheet music.
So if you’re still up for it? i wouldn’t mind following you on the killer blues.
If not – no problem.

[Michael]

LOL Sxpoet….of course you can learn along with me; we’re here to all learn along with each other–we learn a lot from each other. In time, it would be cool to do a duet with you, with one of Johnny’s songs, like Jake and I did. Johnny has a good number of songs that are very-well suited for duets. We just got a little polishing to do on it; with Johnny’s help. He picked up on something regarding the backing vocals that both us of must have mentally-lapsed on or something. There is another member who I’m doing a duet with after Jake and I both “finish what we started” but after that you’re more than welcome to do something with me.

[Author]

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