Leo Salu

Thanks SP I was trying to sound a bit like Johnny’s cover, could have done a little better on some of the growls playing is always a work in progress. I listen to his
playing all the time, here is his version.

SP I also have a couple of other lists of his songs so yes i can resort the titles whenever a new song comes along and i do add the new ones to the other spread sheet so i can use the title as a link. I just passed the 170 song mark with johnny songs definitely need a spread sheet to keep track of all those songs Its a great…[Read more]

SP I occasionally refer to the yts62 as “Baby” the rest just by the company name and yes we do have names for our two cars! As for the collection when i move on to the other world, my wife will donate all the saxes to our local high school band. So a young musician will have access to a sax.

SP The tenors are a Yamaha yts 62, Yamaha yts 23, Selmer bundy 2, and a Etude, the altos are a Selmer AS 200 and a Etude, soprano no name, the c melody is a Conn.
the collection was basically created thru the years as i saw the need for a better sax and hated to get rid of the old originals. LS

Howdy SP, that was quite the listing, bravo on all that work, I have a similar listing that you might like to try, I set up a excel spread sheet named “Johnny’s songs”, then i go to the alfa listing that Johnny has on his site, i simply copy the first set “A’s” and downsize the site and open the spread sheet and drop the copied section on to…[Read more]

SP would agree with you on personalized instruction if that is available, in my area there is not even a music store never mind a sax teacher, so the internet has filled in that need nicely, Johnny is very helpful, many times i would ask him a question by email and he always offered great advice, latest was the MP i was using he suggested i use…[Read more]

Dr Walley is quite the comedian always fun to watch.

Hello SP, i see you have found Jamie (a fellow GB/UK guy) like Johnny he has a great deal of good advice to follow. Back in the fifties and sixties when i was starting to play we did not have any of this kind of help, but today you can learn just about everything from the internet all good stuff. Our guy Johnny still offers the most…[Read more]

Hello SP great article hopefully it is true, at my age i need all the help i can get, BTW i am working on a new song “smooth operator” and the first bar of the solo is extremely fast too fast for me to read and play, so i believe it was you who said some passages need to be memorized rather than read as you play boy that really is true on…[Read more]

Howdy Mark, great choice for a song, we were hovering around 8 degrees with a wind chill factor to about 5 with snow. Love it.. wife hibernating!

SP I have that track and sheet music, i modified it a bit since i had trouble with the solo section never thought of it as a timing exercise will take a look at with that in mind.

SP that’s why i like Johnny’s music so much, he does an amazing job transcribing and re-composing all of these pop songs mostly from the sixties which i am very familiar with. I usually just prior to playing the song take the sheet and follow along on it with him playing i make notes all over the sheet on how he plays it especially where the…[Read more]

Hey SP, i actually benefited from your timing videos tonight, was playing a song cold with out any sax player to follow and the practice with timing the notes 1/8 1/16 etc helped me time the song correctly so thanks for them. LS

PS good luck with your clarinet, tried playing one back in the late fifties and all i can remember getting was…[Read more]

Hello Mark sorry to hear you caught covid again, hopefully you will have a full recovery soon. That temp you are having is something else, we on the other hand in the NE USA have the other extreme, it just went below 15 tonight with light snow not sure which i prefer freezing to death or dying of the heat. I think i will go with the cold, my…[Read more]

I have the same trouble if i don’t have a track with a sax player, a lot of the older Johnny songs come down with out his full track, that’s when the fun begins trying to accurately play the song in time with out a guide, then i actually have to start paying attention to the notes and time not always fun.

Howdy sxpoet those were pretty good, felt like i was sending morse code, have to admit the way i get to read the sheet accurately is to listen to the full track (by Johnny) and play along with him to i can play it in time, also it is a lot easier if i am familiar with the song to get the beat of it. Most of his songs are in 4/4 time which is…[Read more]

Hey Wayne thank you for your kind words those high notes are a challenge so easy to make a squeak but i try to practice hitting them on a daily basis and that helps a lot the tricky part is that the embrosure changes so much from the middle group to the high group and if the song has a quick beat it is sometimes hard to remember to change…[Read more]