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Home Alt Forums Saxophone Tips Staying in time with a backing track

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 11 total)
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  • #74715
    Martin Pavíček
    Participant

      sxpoet, it looks reasonable, thanks for the idea

      #74721
      RockinRobin
      Participant

        I never know when to start the count. When does the first bar begin..I hear the band or orchestra.

        #74726
        Anonymous

          That answer William will vary from backing track to backing track.
          Backing tracks that have a count in shouldn’t be a problem.

          Worst case scenario, is by trial and error, if you start off too early or too late, carry on clapping and you should at some point in the backing track be able to notice you are out of sync with the track. Make a mental note or a mark on the music sheet where that occurs, then restart the process from the beginning.

          With various tracks, you often have to wait for a specific instrument to sound, or a certain note to be sounded, which is a signal to start playing (not necessarily to start counting/clapping). Listen out for that signal and start playing, it may not be the first beat of the bar.

          In some cases, i get my teacher to play the backing track, and tell me where to start playing, or how to count in, as some backing tracks can be very tricky.

          #74727
          john
          Keymaster

            william, some songs may have a pickup but if we take Besame Mucho, the count starts on the first note which is at count 1 of the very first bar so this makes it easy to start your counting right. follow sxpoets advice from above post…clapping along is a lot easier than playing so you obviously won’t play it right if you can’t clap along right….right?!

            #74755
            saxomonica
            Participant

              Hi Guys i am finding the hand clapping working good for me as per earlier lessons blues page
              But reading the music still rather hard
              i am trying to memorize the sound
              and then put to the musical notation
              i guess trying to song in my head and make the sound on the sax
              later the music notation makes more sense as the tune is in my head
              hoping to progress
              i love that song, wild weekend, say
              i sing Dah Da da-da / da da dah-ah
              if i could put another sound then just dah i would be able to memorize tones and the sycopation
              sha, la, ra, bah etc
              looking for a better way of memorizing songs
              any ideas?
              Thanx

              #74761
              john
              Keymaster

                there’s some holes in that theory and I wouldn’t teach how to read that way…
                if you can read a note, then eventually you’ll be able to read a bar. when you learn to read that bar you can learn the following bar and so on.
                when I work on learning or even memorizing a tune I simply start learning one bar (or phrase) at a time. If we just attempt to plough thru making mistakes all over the place, the next time we try it it’ll sound basically the same cause we haven’t worked anything thru yet.

                Take it one bar at a time – learn to play it perfectly then move on to the next on – this is how we learn

                #74764
                john
                Keymaster

                  also guys, for those in the premium Membership, there are those music reading helper videos in the “Theory” section were I do clap along with the music….this is a great place to practice clapping along with me in those videos! Most of the exercises there will topple many of the song sheet music so if you can master those beats you’ll be prepared for much of the repertoire offered.

                  #74765
                  Jazz Cat
                  Participant

                    re on the beat, i always have this problem; the only solution that worked for me is to get bg tracks that include an optional click track so theres a click on every beat.

                    exactly right j re mastering one bar at a time, thats how i worked thru charlie parker’s omnibook decades ago, it works

                    #74802
                    saxomonica
                    Participant

                      thanks @JazzCat i’ll get Clickin’
                      and try some clappin’
                      hey mate i like those you tube lesson vids you sometimes see where a cursor goes along the staff in time

                      yes @Johnny thanks for the brilliant clarification
                      the holes in my theory are from being a harmonica player
                      i think of all my scales and song riffs in hole numbers
                      say, 2suck 3suckpartbend 2suck 1suck 6blow 4suckbend-warble5suck 9blow 2suck

                      after nearly a year on the sax i still can’t read the music
                      i can’t get my head around it or my ol’ eyes on the page even
                      man i wish i was blinded by the light ..
                      i just can’t any sax tunes locked in my head
                      even like
                      cee ay a-a eff ef gee-eh
                      c c-c ay a-a eff ef gee- eh

                      Here’s a thang,

                      @Johnny
                      could you do a tutorial on ‘Wild Weekend’in your Premium page?
                      Thanking you ever so much!

                      our hands are clapping in anticipation ..
                      let there be light!

                      Hi5 🙂

                      #74803
                      saxomonica
                      Participant

                        Pardon my manners ‘eh, i forgot to say, please. Cheers cobber

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