The Pink Panther Tenor Saxophone Instrumental

[Michael]

Funny thing is, I shared the video with the Man who gave me the sheet music…he said that everything was “right on the money” He loved the embellishments, the way I played it, etc.. I still have much to learn about these things and I’ll be the first to admit that. I guess I should have just played it “as is” in terms of tonguing the notes, etc. that you bring out. I really appreciate your guys’ help! And I’m just REALLY, REALLY glad that I have access to Johnny/other Members who can point me in the right direction. I still have much to learn, I’m very well aware of that. It’s just very discouraging when you work so, SO hard to perform like this only to realize it was “wrong” 🙁 I put a post under “repertoire” that I need help in the way of getting some good, ACCURATE sheet music for the main melody(please read that post when you get the chance).I just need good sheet music for the main melody, I can Improvise with it myself.

At the very least, sounds like everyone like the sound of the Claude Lakey MP on Tenor…with a good ligature it will sound even better. On the Alto especially, it’s a KILLING mouthpiece..but I need a good ligature for it to. I’ll be taking care of that soon. THANK YOU for your help everyone!

[Anonymous]

Michael – sorry for not responding sooner (just come out of a mild form of depression).
You’ve a lovely sounding Tenor! I had the opportunity to try TJ tenor student model about $1200 was a blackish grey one – honestly the key action was smoother than my yamaha & it sounded great!

i can’t really add any comments – no point copying anyone, Johnny’s right on the pulse! I must say your backing tracks sound great – even the green onion one!!!!

The only thing i noticed when you were playing in the video – be careful swishing the sax sideways when you play, your head looks stationary in some frames and the sax looks to be moving side to side? Sax should move with face imho?

I do a sax sideways movement with a stationary face to create a wah wah effect like in those old clint eastwood movies its a sort of sideways vibrato but not vibrato sounding – more of an eerie effect! whatbit does is raises and lowers the pitch slightly going out of tune! great effect if you can master it!

[Michael]

Good point JB–those little things can affect things like intonation if the Sax/MP is moving like you say and we’re not. I did that and didn’t even realize it till you brought it out–good eyes.
I’m REALLY liking the Claude Lakey MP–it’s so, so versatile for just about everything you can think of….low subtones or high-screaming Altissimo; doesn’t matter. If we find an MP for us that is versatile like this Claude Lakey is for me, then it’s usually the set up for you.
Speaking of set up, the one thing I got to resolve is the ligature for the Claude Lakey. I had a ligature that fit it, but it’s the worst in the world and there was NO WAY I was going to upload to Johnny site with it. The ligature that came with the Claude Lakey is the most freaky, strangest ligature that you’ve ever seen. I actually found a video on youtube someone did on the ligature that you get when you buy it…have a look at it. I think you can see why I won’t use it. I actually tried it and it was horrible. The good news is that I’m getting a good ligature for it now in the beginning of July….anyone who says ligatures don’t make a difference are crazy.
In any case, for the month of July uploads, it’s going to be an “Alto” Saxophone month for me–got a couple of songs of Johnny’s coming on it. Everyone loves the Tenor and I don’t blame them at all…but the Alto is great too! 🙂 Then in August it will be a “Tenor” month for me. I’ve always like to play equally on both Saxophones because it’s great fun 🙂 I have an Alto/Tenor duet coming too. This, plus I’m starting to network with local friends that I’ve made since I nailed my audition for the Talent Show in November AND working on Johnny’s Killer Blues course…I’ve busy these days LOL The guys that I’m connecting with here are not interested in hearing me play popular songs….they want to hear the Blues/Rock and Screaming Altissimo notes LOL We’ve actually talked about starting a band, but I asked them to give me a little bit more time. I don’t feel I’m quite ready to be on a band just yet.

[Anonymous]

that is a weird ligature in the video!!
Get in a Band now Michael!!!! Its the LAw!!!
Ready or Not – nows the time to get used to the band
envirornment (its like the 1st day at the office) you
need to settle down in the music work place – its a weird
surroundings – it has its own territory to get used to!

Its like parenthood – you just get on with it, theres no
manual in life!

[Michael]

Good point JB, I have 4 kids and maybe parenthood doesn’t come with a manual, but in any case it does take some planning, preparation, etc.. and you can jump into it too quickly if you’re not ready for it. We can literally bite off more than we can chew, if we’re not careful. Sure, we can make the mistake of playing alone for too long and that is something I certainly don’t plan on, but it can go the other way too. I’m working to make sure I have everything absolutely under my belt with Johnny’s course on Killer Blues first and I am getting there. There’s more in that ebook to “digest” than you may realize. I’m looking at being in his new Improvisation course sometime this coming year and it appears to be very, very different than what I’m doing right now, but that won’t hold me back from being on a band…here it’s all about the Blues. And the one thing I did not mention was that the guys and I made a deal: The audition for the annual Riverfest here in Little Rock is in December..if I nailed that audition then I was “obligated” to join a band LOL. It’s only been like a week that we’ve been getting together, the talk of a band just started this week. The audtion I just got picked for was less than 2 weeks ago…..they seem to have more confidence in my playing that I do myself LOL One thing that’s important is, if you’re going to make a band, you got to talk things out to make sure everyone is on the same “page” otherwise it won’t work out.

[jake]

You sound like me Michael, we are def our own worst critics. I felt the same way before I started playing with other musicians, but once I started I feel my growth has developed exponentially. I know what you mean about wanting to get more under your belt, totally understandable, but don’t wait too long. LOL. My wife recorded some of Johnny’s Can’t Help Falling In Love from that wedding I played at and then posted it on Facebook without me initially knowing about it. I was like, why did you do that, I wasn’t totally happy with the overall presentation although the responses I got back from it were totally the opposite!! As we play and learn our ears and skills hone in far better that those that do not play and that is evident in how we hear the music we are playing. Everyone that’s posting videos here are making great strides and it is fun to see and participate in, as it helps all of us!!

[Michael]

Those are great points Jake–thanks for sharing those with me. I’ve had like 2 instances where I was playing for some friends using Johnny’s backing tracks and I made a mistake….no one knew it; not even remotely but I sure did and there’s no question that Johnny/everyone else here would have easily noticed it. Take, for example, this very upload of the Pink Panther. I, myself, didn’t even realize there was a mistake in the sheet music that I was given until Johnny brought it out. The guy who gave me the sheet music thought that the embellishments that I used, per his advice were “right on the money” and sounded great, but look at the great points I was given here. Of course I can tongue the notes, don’t let it fade off at the end. I did those scoops, fade offs, etc.. intentionally and I shouldn’t have done it and it’s funny that you mention facebook and your wife….my wife posted this Pink Panther video on her page and it has gotten 47 likes from her page, everyone posting encouraging comments, or family who have known I was learning to play but never heard me do anything saw the video and were in disbelief that it was me LOL No one even remotely noticed that I should have not used those embellishments and tongue the notes instead, great points from Kevin, etc..

You also make a great point about not waiting too long and the guys I’ve started to get with over the past week told me the exact same thing. They said that they’ve personally seen really good guitar players, drummers, etc.. that got to a point where they either stopped improving or they slowed down in their progress dramatically for those very same reasons that you mention. Those are great points and thanks for sharing them with me, very encouraging. In any case, it looks like good things are starting to happen for me and without Johnny’s website, his instruction, everyone’s support/valuable feedback, none of this would be possible. It will be interesting to see how things look 6 months or even a year from now. Whose to say what I, or any of us for that matter, will be doing in another 2 years from now? 2 years ago, if someone had told me that I would nail an audition, play high-screaming notes, have guys start contacting me out of the blue and start talking about putting a band together, I would have laughed and said you we’re crazy. But it just goes to show we never know where music/Saxophone take us. So many things have already changed for me because of it, and it’s all been good changes 🙂

[Anonymous]

lifes a gamble Michael- when we tske on new chsllenges! “fear of fsilure is a negative outlook” – you must chsnge it to “What have i got to lose?” Fight back – think of all them fish that have taken the bait of your hook and got clean away!!

over here when a job is advertised you get like 700, 800 and even more people apply – seriously!

One thing that really annoys me – is there are people out there who will lie about their abilities and experience and qualifications – and the land the job!!!! While honest joes get over looked!

[Anonymous]

just to add to that, when my eldest daughter was in her teens in school, she worked hard and always did well in all her exams,
and i was getting worried – and i was honestly glad when she did badly in one of her exams and was in the dumps – i said i’m glad you’ve fsiled because you need to experiance failure for later on in adult life, because believe me in adult life you have to expect msny dissapointments and get over it and get on with life – don’t make a big deal out if it.

[Michael]

Thanks JB and Believe me……I have experienced many, many, many failures in life….I would have to take a very long walk with you on that one if you ever wanted to hear about any of it LOL

[Author]

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