2018. 12. 30: PSBE#3

Hey YB, I'm really glad you've made it this far. Being able to set aside time each day for a practice session is really all it takes to improve on the saxophone. I hope my Play Sax By Ear Crash Course can help you get into this good habit long term. Remember, at any time, if this is moving too slowly for you, you can jump ahead of the line and get the full version of the Pentatonic Foundation Course here. If you've done your homework from Lesson 2, you can now play the pentatonic scale up and down from memory and in sync with the metronome at various tempos.  There's no rush to go fast, and everyone progresses differently with regards to tempo. Just remember that your strict speed limit is the point where you can no longer play smoothly, in sync with the metronome and without mistakes. Today we are going to take what we've learned so far to the next level and play our now very familiar pentatonic scale over the entire range of our instrument.  This means that we are going to start the scale on the lowest note on our instrument that is in the scale and play up until the highest note in our comfortable range that is in the scale. When we start playing melodies and improvising, we are going to need the whole horn so it's important that we practice using it all more or less equally.  From now on when I teach you exercises, they are always going to be played over the entire range of your instrument.  This will eliminate the problem of being unfamiliar with fingerings in the upper and lower register of the saxophone. I'm talking about the pinky keys and the palm keys.  It will also greatly improve your saxophone technique! Let's get started and learn what I call Pentatonic Exercise 1 or (PE 1) for short.

Click one of the links below to take lesson 3:

Alto Sax - lesson 3 Lesson 3 Eb Instruments (Alto Sax) Tenor Sax - lesson 3 Lesson 3 Bb Instruments (Tenor Sax)

In Part 4, which you will receive tomorrow, we are going to jump ahead to the really good stuff, but you will need to be up to speed with the first 3 lessons in order to succeed. See you then... Your Saxophone Professor, Jay Metcalf