Blues in the Night, on Tenor Sax

I have been playing this a while (still cannot nail it though) a nice simple blues that I somehow manage to overcomplicate. This short version means I don't get much time for a slow build up after the head. I don't think I'll ever be a good blues player, but I keep trying to improve. All constructive advice gratefully received! My own comments are: Too busy, timing a bit off, and tuning a bit wayward due to tired chops. This is on my otto link HR7 with a 3 reed mouthpiece, for those that care :-)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• blues
• tenor
• sax
• improvisation
• scale
• saxophone
• solo
• otto
• link
• mouthpiece
• yanagisawa
• T901
• crazydaisydoo

[drmckittrick]

What background did you use for this recording?? It's excellent.

[crazydaisydoo]

It is a faber play-a-long called I Got Rhythmn, very good it is too,

[flyhalf2]

Another enjoyable video Matthew.

Can I pick up on your answer to Lyandra?

I recently started taking lessons and my teacher says I play too quietly, how loud do you sound to yourself when playing tenor, especially when playing the ballads?

I use an Otto Link 6* with a Daniels 2.5 or Rico Royal 2 reed.

[crazydaisydoo]

Hi flyhalf, I would say quite loud. Sometimes I overblow and cause squeaks and harmonics. This is where long tones help, try holding and playing tones for as long as possible, 1 whisper soft, 1 medium soft, 1 x loud 1 x very loud 1 x from whisper to v loud and back again. Do that for every note on the horn. Boring but amazingly effective!

[Lyandra]

aww I can never get such a lovely tone from my sax.. I wondre if it is cause of me or its due to my shitty saxophone..:(

[crazydaisydoo]

I can give you benefit of my experience here :-), highly likely the way I record (nice room, nice microphone, Logis software with slight compression and a little reverb) and a little bit of effort from me.... saxophone..... not that important. Mouthpiece and reed.... very important. If you like this spread sound try and otto link hard rubber, but you need good air support to get the best out of them. Thanks for the kind words again :-)

[betgilson]

Hi Man! I really enjoy to watch your clips. Tell me, are you playing on a bright T901? the Link HR gave it more warmness right?

what would be your preferred Yanagisawa Tenor and why, please?

cheers

[mys5]

keep at it / i ll nail it very soon ] / lukas

[Scarlett1b]

great job.

[pichu103]

wow



[dtecum]

You rock man!!

[NickTheGreek06444]

can u send me the notes?plz reply to me....thanx

[zoro07able]

great sound -I like also the way you fill the harmonic blues progression - any chance to get your sheet music ? could help in building my own solo( i am a beginner)

cheers

[BOPPPPER]

Nicely played!

[TTmaniax]

I know this is a older, but here are constructive observations after watching your videos:

You tend to only overblow in the upper range. I think you should mix it up in the lower ranges for more unpredictable sound. Let the low end ring out a bit more.

the melody here should been loosened up and lilted more than so strict sounding in terms of time. You said "out of time" but it was the attempt at holding the melody precisely in time that may have caused this.

Listen to Cab Calloway sing it.