Want to develop an even technique on saxophone and learn how to get those difficult lines up to speed? Well, join the club.  We all want to get faster fingers on sax. No matter how long we’ve been playing the saxophone, we all struggle with passages that we just can’t execute cleanly. There are times when we feel like we’ve hit the wall and we just can’t play that line any faster. Get started with Sax School Faster fingers on sax We get frustrated. Maybe we feel like we just want to give up and throw the saxophone out the window. Of course, this has never happened to me.  In this le ..read more

 Do you want to be able to access the full range of your dynamics on saxophone? Do you want your low and your high notes to pop out every single time without any over-blows or under-blows? We all want to sound better on sax. And knowing how to approach these techniques is the foundation of good tone  – and it’s all about mastering your air.  Get started with Sax School What is air control? Air control is the ability to master your air flow as it goes towards the saxophone. And it’s done by using different internal mechanisms inside the body. Understanding what each mechanism does, a ..read more

Saxophone mouthpieces are confusing, right? If you’re just starting to make your first steps at upgrading your mouthpiece, then you’re probably as confused as I was when I first tried to do that too. You’re wondering, what’s the best sax mouthpiece size for you?  There are loads of different brands, and loads of different styles and materials.  But also, every single mouthpiece comes in different sizes from 5 through to 9. Get started with Sax School So which mouthpiece is right for you and which one should you go for, particularly if you’re relatively new in your saxophone journey ..read more

We all know that the only way to improve playing the saxophone, or any other instrument, or anything, is by putting in the work, and practice. But when it comes to practicing saxophone, it’s not that simple. Everyone is busy. We all have so much going on. There’s work, family, running errands, and of course, keeping up your favourite TV show (mine is the Great British Bake Off. )  Time to practice One of the topics that come up all of the time in Sax School is how to find the time to practice and how to make that time for practicing saxophone count. Get started with Sax School So, if you ..read more

I want to talk about your tone on saxophone. Because you want to improve your saxophone tone, right? I do too. Today I’ve got some tips on how you can improve your tone on your saxophone. And I’e also been testing the new Légère French Cut reeds, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on those too. So we’ve got loads to dig into today. Get started with Sax School New Reed So Légère just released these brand new French cut reeds. They’re the darkest reeds that they make. And on their website, they say the French Cut Légère reeds are “dark with the perfect amount of resistance for the discerning music ..read more

It’s fun to play with a singer and it sounds good when you do it the right way. But when you’re playing sax behind a singer, if you don’t have a clear plan, it can get pretty bad. So in this lesson, Matt Berman from our Sax School tutor team shows you 2 essential tactics to sound great when you’re playing with a singer.  Get started with Sax School Learning on the job I learned a lot in school, but I mostly learned on the job. Touring with Brandon Flowers (the Killers), recording for Snoop Dogg, and doing all of these super high-pressure gigs, –  it wasn’t easy. But if I could do ..read more

Ever wondered if there was an easier way to get great sounds over both major and minor 2 5 1 chord progressions? This easy 2 5 1 hack for saxophone makes it super-simple for anybody to play all their major and minor 2 5 1s. And in this lesson you’ll learn how get a clear sound using just two simple shapes. So let’s get into it. Get started with Sax School The flavours of 2 5 1 So the 2 5 1 is a  common progression in jazz, and in all music. And there are two flavours of 2 5 1. There is the major 2 5 1 which consists of a minor 7 chord, a dominant chord – chord V, going to the 1 chord, a ..read more

 Today I’m testing the new CloudVocal FlashTrack microphone – a compact USB studio microphone. The guys at Cloudvocal say if you’re looking for the easiest mic for sax players, this is a great option for making great-quality recordings on your saxophone. Get started with Sax School I’m going to check it out and find out whether it is easy to use. And in fact, I want to put it to the test by making a recording using just the FlashTrack and my iPad.  A simple recording process So we all know how important recording your saxophone is for making fast progress. That’s why it’s such an importa ..read more

There are lots of different ways to play certain notes on the saxophone using alternative fingerings, but imagine if there was one simple fingering that could convert simple shapes and entire scales into more complex ones. This ultimate technique hack for saxophone is what we’re going to look at today.We’re going to look at how to use a certain key that’s not talked about a lot. So let’s get into it.  Get started with Sax School Why we need technique hacks So it’s important as a sax player to know the options we’ve got technically on the instrument, for different notes. Not only can they ..read more

How to the world’s best jazz musicians learn the skills that set them on that path? Sax School member Charles Benoit finds out what it’s like studying jazz saxophone at one of the most prestigious music colleges in the world – the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, USA. The Eastman School of Music Drop in Java Joe’s coffee shop in Rochester, New York, and you’ll find students from the legendary Eastman School of Music huddled over laptops, scores, and double-caff cappuccinos. Among them, saxophonists in Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media degree program, a competitive and demandin ..read more