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Baker Street Saxophone Sheet Music and Backing Track Update

By February 21, 2019April 19th, 2019saxophone articles

If you downloaded Baker Street from this site in the past that means you have the version in Eb

This is a good key for alto but not so good for tenor.

One of the reasons for this Baker Street sheet music update update was to have it in a key that’s ideal for the tenor sax. So on the updated download page you have two options;

1. the song’s original key of D
2. the key of C, which is the ideal tenor sax key

The updated sheet music is also a better looking, better reading PDF. If you’ve downloaded it the past few years or so you can still find the link in your “Checkout” tab in the top menu. If not, you can order it from this page:

Baker Street Saxophone Music & Backing Track


*Premium Members can request it from the “Repertoire” page in Premium Access.

Okay, Baker Street, what a great song from 1978 written by Gerry Rafferty. Some of us might even remember him from an earlier band called Stealers Wheel. They had a big hit called Stuck In The Middle With You.

Baker Street was definitely his biggest hit. Fun fact… right after it was a hit I read somewhere that saxophone sales worldwide increased by 40%. That tells us a lot of people were inspired to play the saxophone simply from listening to this song.

It was an alto sax that was used on the original recording. That brings me to why I did this update. The original key of Baker Street was in D Major. That’s a D note on the alto when playing that sax line which is perfect, nice and high sounding.

On the tenor, this key really sucks because you’re playing it down in the middle range which does not sound right, doesn’t pop out like the high notes on the alto. One of my new updated versions will fix this problem.

One of the two new versions is in the original key, which is good for the alto sax, and also includes another key which is C. This is the one that’s perfect for the tenor sax. This key will allow you to play the sax line in the preferred upper range where it’s going to be the most effective and have the most pop, closer to where the alto sound is as in the original recording.

When you get to the download choose the one that says” recommended for the tenor saxophone”.  If you remember the video I did of Baker Street, I played the alto on those parts and I played the tenor on the vocal melody. If I had played tenor on those other parts it wouldn’t have sounded right because it needs to be higher to sound right like the record. So I used the alto sax because that’s the range that it’s in and sounds best. This new key of C will get you there now on the tenor.

Some people call the sax line in Baker Street a sax solo. It’s not a solo, it’s a sax line written specifically for that part. It’s a very deliberate line, not an improvised solo by any means.

There is a solo in this song but it’s a guitar solo. I have transcribed the notes of that solo so you can play it on your sax. It gets kinda high at points so if you’re ok with some altissimo you’ll be fine, if not, you can get by, just play it in the middle octave.

I know some people are playing with bands, some with guitar player friends or piano player friends. These people probably want to play this song in the original Gerry Rafferty key so it’s a good idea for you to have both these new versions; the one in D and the one in C.

2 Comments

  • Joy Stawarz says:

    I was one of the people who mentioned the key to You…..thanks heaps I need to me notified of any changes please as I don’t get them. I love truly love the solo lesson of tequila…can’t print the solo but Il learn it hahah thanks heaps for updating…you are awsum xxx

    • john says:

      Hey Jon the tequila solo is also on the sheet music which can be printed out.
      also, if you’re registered with the site you will get my email notifications with updates etc.

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