Alto Sax

hello..yes i can help you...where are you? i am in london...if you want i can give you a lot of copies of sheet music...i am learning too..
bye

The # one thing i can recomend is to do scales, they are so important. From there find songs that you know about try matching the rythems with the words. Also Do you know the format to use to play the sheet music here, when you play the sax

Hope It helps

I have been learning the jazz blues 'Bag's Groove' (on tenor saxophone) and, for me, it has been a great learning tool.

The melody for this tune, which is pretty straightforward, should help with learning the blues and pentatonic scales; especially if learnt in a number of keys (as many as you are comfortable with).I agree that learning scales and arpeggios is crucial and getting a solid base of these fundamentals should be a priority (albeit a lifelong one). I would advise spending some time to start with getting comfortable with the tune (listen to it recorded or on youtube too - this has helped me alot) and then, if you can, learning it in different keys (you can automatically transpose it on Wikifonia). Learning about what is going on in the background with the chord progression would be the another task. Just my take on it.

The chord changes providing the harmonic background in this tune can also provide a lot of challenges (learning opportunities). This could be a good one if you are interested in learning to improvise. There is lots of scope for learning to play through the chord progression as arpeggios (knowing or learning all about the various chord types is needed for this), playing the chrods' harmony by choosing appropriate melody patterns (to fit each chord) and using appropriate scales to match the chord. Also its a good way to learn about what function each chord has in a blues (or any tune).

Depending on where you are at it may take you days, weeks months or even years to go through the steps above. I would advise getting a good teacher, if you don't have one already, to assess where you are and help guide you forward.

the website www.8notes.com isn't great, but they do have some introductory music.

I also am a beginner with the alto, but i learned how to read sheet music using sofware. I use band in a box software because it allows me to get the music notation from any midi file (they are everywhere on the web) also, i can very easily change keys (choosing the easiest one to play in) and adjust the speed of the song. Mac users do the same with garage band, but I've never tried it. Anyway, you can manipulate the song in many ways that could make it easier to play. It makes practicing more fun, It helps me play my favorite songs with background music (accompaniment) that I can also change in several ways. It is like singing karaoke or playing guitar hero only you use a real instrument while reading the music on your screen. Well, that's just the software i use but the point I really want to make is that you can get most of the sheet music you will need from midi files that are in abundance on the web, and without spending a penny. Once you have them, the midi files, just about any sequencing sofware is going to make it easy for you to get the sheet music you need for alto sax. You'll have hundreds of songs to play.

If you want to know a little more I'll be glad to help. I'm still working on my English so I apologise if some of my writing sounds a little weird here and there. My email: gcbrigneti@hotmail.com

Keep having fun with the alto.

http://www.free-scores.com

Try that website. Don't just look into sax, sheet music for flute, ocarina, recorder etc. can also be useful for you.

There'a an excellent book by Larry Teal called "The Art of Saxophone Playing", which goes into detail about embouchure, mouthpiece choice, reeds, how to form an embouchure, posture etc. It also includes exercises to improve technique etc.
To learn fingerings and reading music I would use the "Rubank Method" which is a good beginner to advanced band method book.

I'd highly recommend James Rae's Introducing The Saxophone (http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/096437/details.html)

I'm not sure if this is what you're after but having used this book for my students for years - they all love it, and it has a great variety of styles. Covers material at a good pace, the other thing I'd suggest is getting a teacher. Bad habits will take years to remove if you get any as a beginner.

Good luck! If you have any specific question - just message me!

Ross

Gergen,

I am also playing alto sax and tenor. My first learning book is 'Saxologie deel 1 - Speelstudieboek voor beginnende saxofonist' of Jan van Beekum edited by Harmonia. It is in Dutch. I studied it with my music teacher. And the second book is 'Saxologie deel 2 - speelstudieboek voor de gevorderde saxofonist'. The music in the two books is very nice to play. I have also song books to play. The one I am using now often are 'Anthology 30 all time favorites' for saxofone Alto with music CD. And '100 solos saxophone'. The book has a wide range of popular and light classical songs. And with tenor I am using the book 'Essential songs for tenor sax - 130 songs'.