Wingin' it by Ear

[Kevin]

Here is a “quicky”. Heard this song sometime in the last 2 weeks and was inspired to try to attempt an unload. I chose to try to do this one all by ear, making it’s own backing track in a key that would use the lowest Bb on the Alto (not sure why, but hey that was the inspiration). I had acquired a bass guitar years ago that hasn’t seen the outside of it’s case in decades, and it was to be part of my “3pc band”. I used a drum track from my zoom digital recorder and snapped my fingers along to the beat as well.
Sometimes as a musician we’ll be put on the spot to try to play along to a tune “impromptu”, so this exercise was done with that in mind- to play a familiar melody by ear hoping my fingers would find all the notes without too many mistakes.
Fortunately the song is just a I-IV-V chord progression repeatedly, so the bass part was relatively easy to lay down without too many bobbles. I threw in the Alto harmony part again playing something simple that I heard in my head to add.
My fingers still don’t reliably find all the notes I hear in my mind, especially in the more unfamiliar keys.

[Mark Kiziuk]

That was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
Mark

[john]

very nice kevin…way to swing!

[Anonymous]

Well played Kevin – thanks for taking time out to upload and share a piece you are working on! I really enjoyed it!

Thats put me in the holiday mood, reminds me of the background music they play in hotels in the west indies – puts you in a chilled out mood while you drink cocktails in the pool by the bar.

Its great to hear what people are working! The I IV V blues i’m learning, the person teaching me says welcome to the blues – you’ll spend the rest of your life learning the blues – lol

[Michael]

Pretty cool stuff Kevin 🙂 For my $, there’s nothing quite like the Blues. Just about everywhere you go, people love everything about it….especially on the Saxophone 🙂 I wish I knew how to play the guitar like you can, an added plus for sure. Are you using that Jody Jazz MP here in your playing? I’m hearing a very different sound in your Sax v.s. the Meyer–which is also a great MP for the Alto. That was a lot of work on your part to put that upload together, not just putting it together but learning/playing the parts for it; it’s much appreciated Kevin. Speaking of much appreciated, thanks so much for the MP re-facing work you did for me; that was super-generous of you. The one thing I noticed before the re-facing v.s. afterwards is that the Altissimo notes popped out effortlessly, especially Altissimo G and G#. The projection was also much louder too, but it was also great in the lower registers in the Sax. You found a great balance of refacing the MP so that it was loud and gritty without being too difficult to control. The danger with a lot of MPs designed for Blues/Rock is that they shine in one area like Altissimo but can be difficult to control in other areas like Ballads, subtones, etc.. That wasn’t the case with your finished work. Have you had the chance to mess with the other MPs I sent you? Keep up the great work Kevin, nice to see your upload 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Michael – so nearly 3 months have passed? when’s your next upload? judging by your expert knowledge, working with a pro teacher, new recording gear, refaced mouthpieces etc.. You’re keeping us in suspense?

[William Cingolani]

Nice one Kevin. Fantastic

[jake]

Great job Kevin, I always look forward to hearing your videos. I have thought about doing some songs like this using all of my saxes but it def takes time and work to work out the different parts. Just don’t have that time at this current point. Again, very nice!!

[Kevin]

Thanks all for the encouraging comments, they are appreciated!
@Michael- Glad to hear your satisfaction with the re-faced Jumbo Java MP. Since I did my first cuts to my own MP’s it has been my opinion that an accurately CNC machined facing to a true theoretical geometric profile would have a higher likelihood of playing well than one refaced by hand (we are in the 21st century with some pretty impressive technology!). Also I did do this upload trying out the Claude Lakey MP. There is something about the facing that I’m not liking, but the roll over baffle that this MP has gives that little extra buzz, and good lower notes. I also liked the higher notes and altissimo, but I cringed at some of the mid range notes when re-listening(the one’s I struggled the most with in this upload).

[Anonymous]

@Kevin – for someone whose been playing over 2 yrs, i figured you’d notice your own glitches.
Never the less it’s still great to hear people uploading to hear how their playing is progressing, what setup they used, and any other recording tips.

I’ve yet to do an error free recording, probably never will.

[Author]

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