soupy:

Keyboard/piano will definitely help you, especially down the road when you might want to start transcribing solos off recordings. I also began as a trombone player in elementary school, didn’t come to the sax the natural way through the clarinet or flute like a lot of people. And yes, it took me a while to get use to the coordination in the fingers of both hands to get consistency and proficiency with complex musical passages without being heavy handed and “slapping” at the keys.

Hang in there, buddy, and it will eventually come together. From your post above, you seem to possess the introspective skills that will help you gauge your progress. Just don’t be too critical of yourself and invest in an experienced sax instructor. I’m just getting back into playing after a 22-year layoff and have finally found a semi-local instructor in my area because – and just like Johnny has said on this site many times – I don’t want to get back into any bad habits.

Keep pluggin’ away.

Hi Soupy,
the first lot of bad habits that complete novices have are
a – bad posture restricting your breathing
b – having the sax connected to the strap at the wrong height –
when the sax is connected, the mouthpiece should be horizontal and resting on the bottom lip, not pulling your head down or pushing it up. This affects breathing properly.
c – having the mouthpiece to far in or too far out of your mouth
d – biting down too hard on the top
e – don’t puff your cheeks like liou armstrong
f – relax breathe in and out of the mouthpiece without playing a sound, you should hear an even flow of air rushing through the sax. then play a note in a similar manner
g – when you play the keys keep your fingers relaxed at all times – don’t tense up your fingers, this is so you can play faster and nor stomp around the keys later on
h – start on a b key – don’t start another key until you can play this comfortably for the count of 4
i – work your way down the keys a, g, f, e, d and mid c – spend a couple of weeks playing these
j – if you have problems with a note, sing the note, then play the note exactly how you sing it breathing out wise

the problem with all the above, is you can’t see most of them only a teacher watching you can tell you where these bad habits are – he will say look in a mirror to see problems with your embouchure.

k – also when you play, don’t lift your shoulders up when breathing in etc..

i hope i’ve highlighted some of the most common bad habits a sax player can avoid – but to reiterate you need a teacher to see these and tell you