Skip to main content

We’re Over One Year Old!

By November 22, 2012January 12th, 2018saxophone articles

Hi sax fans and members! It’s been well over a year now that we began this website HowToPlaySaxophone.org. This is just an update to what’s happening, what’s coming up and your chance to chime in to what you’d like to see and learn.

 

It was actually a keyboard player friend of mine who kicked me in the butt to get it going. He thought I could somehow get something up that would have some value for others to learn and with so many people signing on, I’m glad that I started this thing.

I’m happy to be in a position of having more time to devote to this ongoing project which I truly love, besides playing, it’s one of my favorite things to spend time on. Well, there’s my boat too but that’s another story!

My original intent and vision here was to put together a complete saxophone instruction course… books, DVDs, the whole nine yards. This, as you can probably imagine is no minor undertaking, both time-wise and financially. I am however staring to sort things out towards achieving this goal.

There are a series of lessons/courses being planned, each with specific goals in mind and each with the content that arms you with the best possible ways I know of that will help you achieve them.

First one up has just been completed – “How To Play Killer Blues And Rockin’ Sax Solos With 7 Notes Or Less”. Not only is this a subject that’s very near and dear to me, your survey results showed that many members here are looking for improvement in this area.

The other high number of requests were for a complete step-by-step beginners course. This is what I am working on at the moment and may have it out in the very near future. Meanwhile we managed to put the very first few lessons of this complete beginners course together and make it a quick-start guide and called it “So You’ve Got a Saxophone – Now What?

This guide will truly help the person that wants to learn sax but hasn’t even gotten a note out of it yet. These first few lessons will glide smoothly into the course I’m currently writing called How To Play The Saxophone – A Complete Beginner’s Guide which will take ones playing further along to reading and playing notes and scales, exercises designed to develop technique and phrasing, and finally playing real songs to develop your repertoire.

Other popular requests are:

altissimo
improving technique
daily exercises
learn more songs

These are topics I will be looking at so if you have some requests or thoughts let me know!

22 Comments

  • Paul J says:

    Been a member since Feb 2012 and have enjoyed all the great stuff you have shared.

    Thanks,

    Paul

  • SaxoKlaus says:

    hi johnny. never heard such a great sax sound like yours. what kind of mouthpiece do you use? your site is very helpful to improve my sax knowledge. many thanks & best regards Klaus from Austria

  • SaxoKlaus says:

    Just downloaded the ‘Killer blues’ lesson. It’s really great and easy to handle. Thanks a lot..

  • Randy says:

    I’m a new member and very grateful that I found your site. You are very good at what you do and generous for sharing that with us as a mentor and teacher. I look forward to spending time learning from you. Thanks

  • Tim56 says:

    Johnny: Your site is outstanding. There are many out there, but not as complete and informative. I just found out that my ligature is not so good. A new one is on the way. I’ll let you know. Your lessons are fun. The best way to learn. Tim

  • SaxoKlaus says:

    Hi Johnny Yes, it helps a lot to download the backing track for the basic blues scale exercise. But miss the download for Pentatonic, lessons 2 and 3 ? Would be helpfull to have it on my phone or i-pod for exercising….
    Anyway, I enjoy your lessons.. Best regards Klaus

  • Tim56 says:

    Johnny: I got the lig like yours. saxxas from Germany. Have not received it yet. I found it off the advice from my post on the forum. Tim

  • SaxoKlaus says:

    Happy easter to everbody !!

  • Michael says:

    My wife got me an Alto Sax for our 16 year anniversary-she will be the first to tell you that I have been wanting to learn to play the Sax since we were dating. So I jumped right on learning how to play it and so glad to have found your site 🙂 Everything you teach here has cut the learning curve in half for me! It would have taken me way longer to learn the fundamentals of the Sax without it. Keep all the awesome info coming, the more the better!

  • Michael says:

    For my own sake, I’m glad that your keyboard player friend did kick you in the butt to get this site going–I’ll have to thank him for that should I ever meet him.

  • stumpy says:

    Hey Johnny,Great site I’m learning the scales. If I want to play blues do I need the major scales too or just the blues scales?

    • john says:

      Learning the major scales should be your first project. Everything else relates to them, whether blues, minor etc you will be clearly ahead and ready to absorb everything better once you know and understand the regular major scales.

  • I had ordered the Christmas Music through PayPal Pair-a-dice on 11/6/13. Receipt #4779-9729-9747-3005 total $20.00. I did not see any instructions on how to download the music.

    Thanks,
    Carl

  • Murphy says:

    Hello Johnny,

    I’m 63 and have always loved the sax but never pursued. I just purchased a soprano sax and I’m excited I found your web site. I’m a beginner and never held a sax before, so I purchased your lesson so I can learn the proper technics so I don’t develop bad habits. I’m assuming soprano sax is covered in your lessons? I look forward to growing through your lessons, thanks for sharing your time and talent.

    Murphy

    • john says:

      Hi Murphy, yes, the lessons I give on tenor or alto are the same for all the other saxes such as baritone and soprano. They are all the same as far as the fingering, mouthpiece, reeds, blowing technique, embouchure etc. Each sax will have their own little things that are a bit different than the other, such as the tenor needing more air than the alto… the soprano doesn’t require so much air but is a little harder to play in tune at first. I always recommend people forget about these little differences and go for the type of sax that you love the most and just deal with their little problems as you go because they all have something that’s gonna drive you a little crazy at the beginning.
      Good luck to you!
      Johnny

Leave a Reply