Vandoren reeds are AWESOME.

[Michael Bishop]

Hey Johnny,

Ordered my No.6 Mouthpiece from Amazon this morning and also went and bought some new 2.5 reeds I needed-I wore the other Juno reeds out LOL and decided to try Vandoren reeds this time…….amazing! The difference was like night and day from the size 2 Juno reed. I went from a high C# STRAIGHT to a high F. Then I took is one step further and even got a few times going from a MIDDLE C to a high F! I was working on going from high D# to high F#-last part of Over the Rainbow to play an Octave higher-and the F# was coming out much better. This is on my No.4 Yamaha MP, so the No.6 Mouthpiece should easily solve the F# problem. Not only does this mean I got the combination right, but also means I was ready for a little thicker reed and little wider mouthpiece. It’s AMAZING what the little things like this can do for us without having to spends load of $ on a new Saxophone!
[img]https://howtoplaysaxophone.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/vjw5i-DSC00702.JPG[/img]

[john]

alright good Michael!
But the thicker reed might be a little tougher when you get the 6 mp…interesting to see.

[Michael Bishop]

Will be interesting for sure–if worse case senario came couldn’t I lightly sand down the surface of the reed, just a little bit, if necessary? I had read that somewhere on the blog. I have the No.5 Otto Link that you have cautioned me to stay away from right now this early in my playing–I’ll save it for when I’m ready/later, and I toyed with it (for just A FEW minutes LOL) too see how I would do with a 2.5 reed and a metal MP, nailed it! 🙂 So I feel that now a No.6 Hard rubber Mouthpiece is up my alley, will help me improve my range/tone/diaphragm.
I was looking at the sheet music for “Mack the Knife” and “Take me to the Moon” and, suprisingly, the notes on those songs are within my range of ability 🙂 I didn’t think I was ready for anything on your “Saxophone Music” section yet and it kind of just hit me…..when I read the sheet music v.s. watching you play them, seems like there’s lots of licks, riffs, etc. that you’re throwing in to really make those songs shine! Are these the kinds of things that “Learning to Play Killer Blues” will teach me?

[john]

All notes ranges for the songs I record and write out are within the regular saxophone range… yes I often will leap up to the altissimo range but always write it out lower for those that don’t use this high range yet
Most of the music charts are written in an easy and very “basic” fashion so most everyone can play the proper melody (most songs are easier than some exercises you are doing) but as you mentioned, yes, adding little extra’s and embellishments to the basic written melody really makes you shine and everyone does this part a little bit differently.
Killer blues isn’t about embellishments but improvisation, which is way beyond embelishing a melody…
I wrote a blog post on this here:
https://howtoplaysaxophone.org/saxophone-sheet-music

If you already have one or a few of the saxophone music charts that come with the audio backing tracks, listen to the way I play it while reading the music…you will notice some of the embelishments. These are listed on the blog post.

[Michael Bishop]

Thanks Johnny–I watch your videos A LOT and, watching you, I have noticed exactly what you’re saying here about embellishing. When I got to looking at your sheet music, it dawned on me what you mention here that the exercises I’ve been working on in your ebook are actually harder than than some of these songs.
I’ve started to learn “Mack the Knife” and it’s no harder than “Over the Rainbow”, provided we’ve learned our scales for that song. Anyone who has started/is learning to play that song will know why I say “scales” and not “scale” for Mack the Knife. Really looking forward, though, to learning about Improvising in your Killer Blues ebook; I’m starting it after I have my private lesson with you.

[Dan Fleming]

I love Vandoren reeds too. All except the green box tenor javas which give me no quality of tone at all. Just honkers. Makes no difference in the mouthpiece I use either. I mainly play a Ponzol SS M2 110 and lately a Guardala MBII. Now the red box Javas are great. Nice, full, rich, expressive tone and I love them. I have heard many other players use the greens, including Johnny, that some great but not me. Guess that’s just the way it goes. As long as they make the red box reeds (alto and tenor) I’ll be happy and sound better.

[john]

I’ve never tried the red box ones but will keep it in mind now. I’ve only used the green Java ones and they’re the only ones that work well on my Michael Brecker Guardala. Actually, Brecker used the Java as well, according to Dave Guardala who sent me a Java reed along with the mp when he mailed to me many years ago and I’ve always stayed with them. But I’ve tried them on other mp’s and they didn’t work so well.
This is a good example of how we can never just go on what others say because we’re all different and our equipment is different too… and too many variations going on with each of us. In general, Vandoren is a top reed manufacturer.

[Michael Bishop]

Funny thing is,now that I’m practicing with alto and a tenor 🙂 this No.6 MP/2.5 reed for my alto feels VERY small to me–I almost feel that I could swallow the whole thing LOL My wife told me today that, since practicing on the tenor, that she is noticing a tone that is “rich and full”, maybe she’s just being nice/biased LOL?
When I went to the music shop to get the Vandoren reeds, the guys told me that the Javas in the Green box don’t stay in stock very long..players coming to get them as soon as they come in. Much the same holds true with Vandoren reeds for the alto. When I get my Michael Brecker Guardala in the Spring for the Tenor-along with my Meyer MP for my Alto-through Johnny’s links here on his site(remember his site benefits when we go through his links) that I’ll will order the Javas from Amazon too. They just don’t stay on the shelves/in stock here for very long, I was fortunate to get the ones that I have now when I did. My Alto is also getting a complete 100% in the spring like the Tenor just did, so I’ll be good to go for quite some time to come.

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