arpeggios

[paul kelly]

Hi Johnny how should you practise arpeggios I mean is there a right way and a wrong way.to play them, or I am I over thinking this..thanks paul

[john]

Everyone should know every scale and it’s chord. Play the C major scale then play it’s chord from the lowest possible note to the highest. So, C, E G C E G C E then back down. This is the major arpeggio for C major. Only thing I would add is to play it steady and smooth.

[john]

Chords are fantastic tools for improvisation techniques.
I seen lots of piano players, guitar players accompanying singers
just playing chords & arpegios.
If you can try & learn the 7 chords in each scale,
bare minimum at least the basic 3 chords.
I know they say you can play any tune if you know
the 3 basic chords in its scale, but you really shine if
you can throw in more chords. For us guitar players it
takes years of experience & experimentation to become
a good improviser in chords. I would presume this
applies to the Sax?

[john]

Yes of course. A musician must know all chords and scales regardless of the instrument he plays.

[Tim56]

saxpoe: Do I understand Johnny to say, Low C E G mid C E altissamo G C E? Tim

[Anonymous]

Basically for any Scale you need to learn the arpeggio which is the 1st, 3rd & 5th notes of the scale, so in the scale of C major
it is C – E – G.
The idea is that you start with the lowest C on the Sax, then move up an octave and repeat the C – E – G and if you can move up another octave and repeat the C – E – G.
So you end up playing low C, low E, Low G, middle C, middle E, middle G, High C, high E, altissimo G.
Then you work back down from altissimo G to Low c.

Here in England if you do grades in the Sax, for the C major scale they expect you to be able to do 2 octaves –
low c, low e, low g, middle c, middle e, middle g, high c, and then back down to low c at a speed under 100 bpm.
For the F major scale you only need to know 1 octave – low F, low A, Low C, middle F, then back down to low C.
hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Tim i’m 57 this year & only been playing 8 months now and the Sax is a great instrument!
Just recently i decided to have a go at doing grade 2 sax in november, my teacher wanted me to go for grade 3, but i opted for grade 2.
I thought i’m doing all this stuff i might as well chuck a grade in!
I’ve been learning 3 pieces on the blog for the exam, and i have to work really hard to get everything perfect.
My teacher says pass mark is already in the bag – but just that extra bit of work can get higher marks!
But at the end of the day its got to be fun!
Now learning to improvise – moving away from all that theory.

[Author]

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