Forum of the Saxes

simonetta · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 10

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 · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:04 am Post subject:

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

_________________
JP
Student of Saxophone
Music Education (BME) Major-2011
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Bariman · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:36 am Post subject:

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
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Resident Conn Aficionado, Baritone Saxophonist
Currently Moderating 'Vintage Horns', and the Usergroup for Bari Saxophonists!

2thmechanic · Joined: 19 Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Location: Mesa, Arizona

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 · Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 6:30 pm Post subject:

Right on Dave. Cool

_________________
JP
Student of Saxophone
Music Education (BME) Major-2011
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Thomas · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 223 Location: Alberta, Canada

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.
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Thomas Hay
Sax player, music student, composer, Finale user, and part-time slacker/procrastinator.

altosax4ever · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:47 pm Post subject: 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
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Music IS Life

(and the saxophone is breathing)

JPSaxMan · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:11 pm Post subject:

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

_________________
JP
Student of Saxophone
Music Education (BME) Major-2011
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Altosaxophonerules · Joined: 25 Aug 2005 Posts: 130 Location: Canada

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 · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:03 pm Post subject:

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.
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altosax4ever · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:54 am Post subject:

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

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Music IS Life

(and the saxophone is breathing)

JPSaxMan · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:24 pm Post subject:

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

_________________
JP
Student of Saxophone
Music Education (BME) Major-2011
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

altosax4ever · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:41 am Post subject: 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
_________________
Music IS Life

(and the saxophone is breathing)