How long does it take to learn

simonetta · How long does it take to learn

Hi all,

I was wondering how long does it take to learn to play sax and was it harder than what you expected?

How long have you been playing for?

Thanks in advance

JPSaxMan

It only took me about a year to learn all the bare basics, then I started to progress and have been going at it for seven years. I started out on alto, then I picked up bari and have been doin it for four of the seven. Then a year later I picked up tenor and have been doin it for three of the seven. I picked up clarinet and have been doin it for only one year out of the seven. Then I've been hacking at flute for like two months Laughing

.

Sax was the best thing to ever happen to me. It is now my livelihood and I will use it to put something back into the world. Very Happy

Bariman

JP is pretty close with his estimate, but of course it goes quicker/slower depending on if you have a teacher or not, and how fast that person goes. I learned the basics in about 8-9 months, and expanded my knowledge on bari.

Bariman

2thmechanic

Assuming that one knows something about music (music notation, notes, key signitures, time signitures, note interval values, dynamics, phrasing, music flow, etc.) at the outset, the bare basics of the saxophone (embouchure, note fingerings, ect.) could be learned in a year or less. Improvement could/should go on for a lifetime.

JPSaxMan

Right on Dave. Cool

Thomas

I basically taught myself the basics in the first year or so of playing. Once I started taking lessons, however, I quickly found out that many of these things I had learned the wrong way. It took me another year or so to fix these mistakes, and another year after that I had started advancing in my playing, and was learning the right way. For me, it took me about 6 months to learn all my major scales. This was basically all my teacher did with me for the first year or so of lessons.

I've now been playing for 5 years, and I still know that I have room to improve. This is something my band director one told me: "If you are given something which you can't play, you still have room to improve." Musicians all constantly learning new things every day, and even the best professional players are still students in their own right.

altosax4ever · That's Right

I've been playing six years, and i still have to practice scales everyday, for 45 min to an hour. The basicsaren't ever really learned, they are improved, and built upon. You WILL be learning this instrument all your life. You won't ever 'master' the sax.

(Though Charlie Parker came close Wink

)

R

JPSaxMan

And did John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins...hence why they're called "The Greats" Cool

Altosaxophonerules

I got the basics on Alto just under 9 months. Having some theory training and having a good ear helps. Also knowing all the key signatures, time signatures, Major and Minor keys, blues scales, chormactic scale help.
Knowing how to play the piano helps too in sight reading.

Jacob

You can't make any estimates as to how long it will take someone to get to a certain level in their playing. Everyone goes at a different speed, and picks up on certain areas faster or slower than others.

And just because you can practice several hours a day doesn't mean that you've used those several hours effectively. The Greats aren't called the Greats because they practiced rigorously for years, but because they had that special flare inside of them that no amount of practicing can get to. Also remember that the way jazz musicians/students learned to hone their chops back then was a bit different than how it is done now.

altosax4ever

Jacob, you really think someone has to have something different for them to be great?

I think it takes something like that just to practice diligently for hours a day for years.

ANYONE who truly wants to become a pro player can, with hard work and effort. And I would not be surprised to see them on the greats list, if they wanted it as bad as the greats did. Mr. Green

JPSaxMan

But of course, just with anything, one needs a knack that will keep them above the rest. Pro athletes aren't that way just because they did a lot of push-ups, crunches, ate right for years, practiced their sport, took steroids (jk Laughing

), and always were involved in sports in school, etc. They had a burning desire in them to become a good player and a natural talent...talent is not something given to everybody with everything. My talent is saxophone playing. Your talent very well could be computers, or w/e, but does that mean you cannot play? No, but does that mean most likely I will naturally or not, strive to do better? Yes it does, and even if I don't strive to become better, I most likely would have a natural understanding of saxophone, music theory, etc whereas you would have a more natural understanding of computers, and I'd be like..."Huh?".

What Jake was trying to say in laymen's terms was, The Greats had a natural ability, as opposed to a forced one. Cool

altosax4ever · Sorry, but...

I suppose you are correct, but unlike sports, where your talent is dependent upon your body, Music is an intellectual talent. And you can train your mind to do anything. Read sixteenth notes faster, sightread better, discipline yourself in practice. What is playing the sax anyway? Moving your fingers, your tounge,your mouth and your tounge in a sychronized manner, all controlled by your mind's diciipline to it's craft. In this regard, I cannot believe you.

For you see, everything I do on a saxophone, everything I 've accomplished, I've had to work for. Nothing 'came easily', and my feel for the music didn't come until much much later than that of my fellow players. I was one of those people who had a 'forced' gift. Does that mean I am not as good, or can never be as good as my fellow musicians? No, after years of pracitce and hard work, now I sit first chair, and regularly compete in musical cometitions and honor bands. I cannot believe you, because if I believed that, what point whould I have to keep going?

Motivation will, almost always, defeat talent.

Annonymous

JPSaxMan

Of course ya have to work at it! Laughing

...in the athlete example, even those guys had to work at what they did before they realized it was their knack, but to only keep working more. Does it mean if you have a talent you can slack? Heck no, I have to work every day, but the thing is, if you have that talent, you might get the feeling that the 'work' you're doing really isn't work at all, not the sluggish stuff everyone dreads getting up to do in the morning, but the stuff needed/wanted to go further in your area. You worked hard to get where you are today....no question. But did you feel it soley as work to get to a certain point or did you just fluidly do it, maybe knowing the reward at the end? There is a difference, and one of them is a natural-based answer and the other a force-based answer. The one who answered with the natural-based answer will tend to comprehend music/music theory/playing etc easier than the one who it was forced upon.

This reminds me of my first second tenor (that made sense, right?) in jazz band. He's been doin sax for a full year now, and he thinks he's hott stuff. Wrongo, why is he not? His humility gets in the way and he thinks he's the best of the best. He thinks he is musically inclined just because he does clarinet "well" (which is debatable btw), and can "play" saxophone and now can "play" flute after six months of playing (oh boy Rolling Eyes

). But aside from humility and his case, he stinks. He's a clarinet player by nature. Last summer I decided to take up clarinet. I've been doin it for a full year now. IMO and in the opinion of the band director's, I have a solid understanding if not a higher level of understanding of the clarinet than he might of the saxophone. As a sax player, he lacks breath support which also hurts intonation, his embouchure for saxophone, while it looks good, also hurts his intonation (not enough chops).

But my point was if I have a true musical inclination, I can master musical stuff in no time. My friend who thinks he's good, well, he's still biting the dust. I doubt he has any clue on music theory, chord changes, chords themselves, etc etc. He just thinks he's hot stuff. And I bet he had to WORK at saxophone, with obviously little progress. I had to work at clarinet, and I did find it a little more tenacious than with saxophone because I was new at it, but I did enjoy learning a new instrument.

His talent most likely in some other field, and if it's not, he better get one quick because with his ego, he will never fit in well with other musicians. He was just an example in my case, a well abiding example. If you don't have a musical talent, you may do well, but not as well as one with a musical talent.

Now my friend, I am not saying by any means that you don't have talent, or you stink, so don't come back and say that to me because I just said I didn't... Shocked

. I'm just saying, in general, if you don't have a talent in music, you will only do as good as you are physically and mentally able to do. Some people, believe it or not, cannot train their minds to do certain things because they do not have the will power or their minds are not open enough.

But that's enough for now. I'm sure half of you will need glasses by the time you get done reading all of this Laughing

altosax4ever

I'm sorry, but didn't you just repeat what I said?

JPSaxMan

No, you're saying (to my understanding) that ANYONE can become "great" at saxophone with work. I'm saying that not just anyone can become "great" at saxophone with just work. I've said my mind, but that's what I've interpreted your statements as. Confused

altosax4ever

So what do you think someone needs to have a talent at to be able to

be 'great'?

JPSaxMan

To be "great" (as in like, master the field, become a professional, not just a weekend-warrior or a hobbyist) one must have a talent, yes.

Jacob

You need to be able to do something that no other player can do, or has done for that matter. You need to take risks in your playing, break out from the norm; become an experimentalist; innovate. Anyone can shed and play Bird licks like the back of their hand and whatnot, but it's another thing to develop a true personal style that can truely speak to how you feel, to the point that you feel a very strong connection to the music and your soul. One thing about the Greats that is so intriguing is that I can tell who the player is by a few notes hands down. Not many players nowadays can live up to that. Most saxophonists nowadays have the same style, same general tone, almost to the point of me being able to anticipate what they're playing.

Basically, digest to the Coleman Hawkins quote: "I don't play like no one, and no one plays like me."

THAT'S how you will stand out from the enormous pool of saxophonists around the world. It takes a lot of risk to be great, and not just "Good" at what you do. It's what separates a professional painter from Vincent Van Gogh.

You can't be shy about it. Treat music like it is the last thing you ever taste.

altosax4ever

None has shown me ONE talent that people have that can't be honed and practiced, whether or not you have a natural talent for the horn. The improvisation and tone requires imagination, so I suppose that narrows the field somewhat, but everyhting else can be practiced.

JPSaxMan

I'm sorta sick of goin around in circles, I guess you'll believe whatever you want no matter who tells you what Confused

altosax4ever

Sorry JP, I just can't understand your point of view, I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one, huh?

I apologize if I said anything to offend you,

R

JPSaxMan

Yep, we just don't see eye to eye on this one Confused

furtherdefinitions · Re: How long does it take to learn

darby dylan

About being good or not doesn't go with pro or with it beign a hobby.
You know what i mean

dylan Darby

How long does it take to learn

That's Right

Sorry, but...

Re: How long does it take to learn