Best products from r/Saxophonics

We found 52 comments on r/Saxophonics discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 128 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

13. USB Microphone,Fifine Metal Condenser Recording Microphone for Laptop MAC or Windows Cardioid Studio Recording Vocals, Voice Overs,Streaming Broadcast and YouTube Videos-K669B

    Features:
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  • Gaming mic for PS4 with additional volume knob itself has a louder output and is more sensitive, your voice would be heard well enough when gaming, skyping or voice recording.
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USB Microphone,Fifine Metal Condenser Recording Microphone for Laptop MAC or Windows Cardioid Studio Recording Vocals, Voice Overs,Streaming Broadcast and YouTube Videos-K669B
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Top comments mentioning products on r/Saxophonics:

u/lejazzvp · 28 pointsr/Saxophonics

Long tones. Overtones. Transcribing. Patience and perseverance.



For TONE, if you're on your own, I'd recommend using "A Complete Approach to Sound for the Modern Saxophonist". It takes the best of classic books like Rascher's "Top Tones", as well as adds its own exercises, but above all explains everything very clearly - that makes it easier to follow if you're practicing without guidance.

You can download demonstration sound clips of some of the exercises [HERE](http://www.benbrittonjazz.com/completeapproach/Complete%20Approach%20Sound%20Clips%20(Demonstrated%20on%20Tenor%20Saxophone\).zip "20MB zip file!!").

Ben Britton also wrote a follow up book for more advanced overtone exercises: A Complete Approach to Overtones: Vivid Tone and Extended Range.



BUT, "sound" is not just about "tone", it's also about articulation and time feel. You can have the most mind blowing harmonic approach and tone, if your time feel and articulation isn't solid, you will always sound like an amateur. A few things to work on to develop good time and articulation:

  • make your metronome your new best friend
  • slow scale practice with mixed articulation (fundamentals never stop being cool...)
  • transcribing and focusing on imitating articulation and time feel. Coltrane and Rollins had radically different approaches for example. Transcribe both guys and find out why and how.

    One of the best exercises for developing a solid time feel is to play bass lines on the saxophone. After all, if you can't play quarter notes with a solid time feel, with that forward momentum a good bassist has, how can you expect smaller subdivisions to sound better? It's also a fantastic voice leading exercise, and makes refreshing or learning tunes efficient and entertaining. I'd explain more of the concept, but I got it from a Will Vinson video lesson so I'm not sure it would be cool. This and the other lesson on melodic improvisation are well worth the price IMO (less than the price of a box of reeds...).
u/levitas · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

Since this post hasn't gotten any responses, I'll do my best

You've covered a TON of ground in one post, it comes of as a bit scattered, and therefore pretty hard to respond to, but I'll do my best.

>Are there any recommended books with or without accompaniment (I need recordings since he isn't here)? I bought this book, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769233775/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .

I have no experience with that particular book. There's a frequently referenced book, Klose's 25 daily exercises for saxophone, that I'm fond of and is held in high regard. Also look on the sidebar on that top link for some ideas.

> I think that I've adopted a double lip embrouchre; when I try putting my teeth on the mouthpiece pads the vibrations sometimes kind of hurt my teeth.

Okay. Some people do better with that, I hear, just be sure that you are staying in tune with all your notes and that your tone is good across the range of the horn. I've always found that I sound best with the standard embouchure, and people I've played with tend to have the same experience, but there are people out there that do the double lip embouchure and sound good.

> So right now I'm trying the 2.5 orange box reeds on my Yamaha YAS62. I just recently bought Hemke 2 reeds because I wondered if it was the reed.
I also own a YAS-275 which is sharing this problem.

I'm assuming this is about your lip hurting. A common problem that this sounds related to could be that you are using too much pressure on the lower lip and pushing on the reed. A symptom of this is that your upper range will sound sharp and the lower range comparatively flat. If that's the case, push in your mouthpiece and try to use less pressure from your jaw on the reed.

> When I play the notes don't sound smooth they sound a little bit abrupt. They sound a little bit restricted like the notes are singular or alone with the other notes around. Am I playing too staccato?

I have no idea what you're saying. You could be dampening the reed by pressing on it with your lip like I've mentioned above. Without hearing your sound, I won't know. "playing too staccato" doesn't make sense to me. Typically, you're maintaining air pressure when you're playing, and staccato is tonguing in such a way as to stop your tone put space between your notes. Given that tonguing in such a way is deliberate, I don't think that you're doing that?

> I can play the C Major scale and it sounds fine legato. When I play the arpeggios it sounds really bad at the top going back down. I play the lowest C, E, G, C, E, G, C going up. The problem is going down from the C when you are pressing your middle finger with the octave key then transitioning to the G. It almost sounds like a little bit of vibration or it is going inbetween the notes. I tried looking up online and it says that I should increase the speed of my air stream. I did this and the problem largely went but was still slightly there. It just made this kind of fluctuation shorter and less obvious basically. I think this thread means what I mean: https://www.saxontheweb.net/SOTW_Archive/alto/08-04-02/boardset-saxweb-boardid-alto-thread-83-spec-4558793.html
Also I left it on the stand for like a month last year when I was thinking of getting back into it and my mum hit it off the stand a while ago which I was wondering if that would ever need to be checked again (the other suggested solution to the weird st I found online was taking it to a tech). I'm thinking that I'm just out of practice but I do remember the YAS-62 used to sound really good.

Work on your intervals. If you can hit the note just fine on a scale but you're having issues with arpeggios, then there's a couple of things that can go wrong. Things that could go wrong include:

  • your fingers aren't closing all the tone holes at the same time. Try the problem interval with the notes completely separate, then start narrowing the space between the notes gradually, working on moving your fingers together.

  • The sax's mechanisms might not be fully responsive, due to a sticky pad, weak spring, etc. If the step above did not resolve the issue, watch in a mirror to make sure that everything is moving right, and right away when you go between notes.

  • It might be a voicing issue. Get the note in your head. Sing the note, make sure you know what notes you're going from and to. If you have the wrong (or no) note in your head, you may actually disrupt the primary pitch of the note you're playing and that can result in that "in between" sound.

  • Also, keep an eye out for leaky pads. If you're not sealing right, it can cause an issue. You'd have problems with the scale though, too.

    > Also if I do have to take it to a tech, I'm in London what is the best value one (not priced, best value)? I really hope I'm just shit and I don't need to take it to a tech but tell me what you think thanks.

    Sorry, can't help here.


    > Also my mum is only paying for half of my lessons since she would only pay for every other week and I think that I probably should have weekly lessons. What is a fair price for lessons (I'm guessing half an hour)? I don't know if I could get a discount since I'm paying for half of it; is that a reasonable reason to ask for less?

    Respect the people that are trying to teach you. If you can't afford their rate, then either find someone else or explain that you can't afford their rate. Not sure how old you are, but if you're in middle or early high school, you might be able to get someone a few years ahead of you to give you lessons, and that should be somewhat cheaper.

    > Thanks for reading and getting back to me (if you do)
    Not sure if it is the reed hardness since I can play the low Bb and B okay.
    Edit: Oh wow the PDF links for the real book in the FAQ are actually legible Another dumb question, when sheet music has chords like Bb7 or whatever is that transposed? If someone was trying to play guitar accompaniment could they just play those chords?

    If the real book does not specify what key it is written in, it's likely C. You'll have to transpose the chord if you want to read it as a saxophone. For instance, a Bb7 would be played as a G7 on alto or a C7 on tenor. A guitar could just play them.

    > Also does the dent in the neck matter?

    Probably not if it's small. I'm assuming it's small because you didn't mention it till now.
u/SaxSalute · 3 pointsr/Saxophonics

Depending on your playing ability, this book may be acceptable if you prepared your lines ahead of time. I use it with my teacher for sight reading but I played lead alto in my school system's honors jazz band, so I'm certainly not new to jazz. I have friends who aren't at the same level I am and I really like playing the duets with them when they practice ahead of time and we can just play. The lines are really interesting but it might be a bit too high level. If you do get it, go to the middle of the book first. The front is the hardest and the back is pretty dumb. The first 2/3 is all really good, but the most manageable stuff is smack in the middle. I can give you a pretty definitive answer if you give me something more to work with like what book you're in, how long you've been playing, your experience, etc.

u/DieAllRight · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

"Sorry nobody is answering your question..." Kind of discouraging. Here is an answer! I've been experimenting with making my own reeds for about a year now. As far as resources are concerned here's what I've discovered. Obviously the majority of the materials that cover reed making are meant for double reeds and clarinet reeds.

  • Reed Making Method
  • Clarinet Reed Making
  • "Handbook for Making and Adjusting Single Reeds" - Kalman Opperman (This book is kind of hard to find)
  • The Art of Saxophone Playing - Larry Teal - A general account of saxophone technique and practice. Takes some reed making and adjusting into account.
  • Trial and Error!

    In my experience reed making is kind of expensive to get into as far as getting a good reed knife (around $100) but buying the cane in the form of pre-cut blanks, is relatively cheap (about $1.20 per blank). Getting into making your own blanks would more or less require a small mortgage. Keeping your knife sharp is very important so it's usually good to invest a sharpening stone. I use a water stone which is great for reed knives because they only need very fine honing.

    I would also research specifically where reeds and cane from, which is mainly France, South America, and now China/other Asian countries. It's good to know about what reeds are (from the plant Arundo Donax) and how they react to environmental changes and whatnot.

    The general process takes some getting used to and a lot of practice but after a bit of work it gets easier to see exactly which areas of the reed need to be adjusted. I'm not at the point where reed making is economic because it does take a lot of time (however gives you 100% control over the reed) and energy. What I have gotten out of learning all of this stuff is how to adjust reeds to my liking when I don't get one that plays well out of the box.

    I realize this is a bit of long post, but I could provide some more information if you all would find it useful!
u/Praesil · 4 pointsr/Saxophonics

Here's a more comprehensive answer now that I'm thinking about it:

What gets really messy is when there are multiple key changes. Take a look at some fake books. They'll have the melody, then a bunch of bars that just have the key changes over them. What you're describing is where the G blues scale fits all of the keys.

Take a look at some of the sample pages here:

http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Fake-Book-Leonard-Corp/dp/0793558557

What we used to do was have everyone play the melodies, then go into a solo section. The song (or section of song, depending) would repeat, but the rhythm section would play the chord changes, and one person would improv over those chords.

Now what gets messy is when one scale won't fit all of the chords. You;ll have 4 bars of D7, then 4 bars of G, then maybe one bar of A7 and one bar of something else, then repeat. You run into times where if you play one scale the whole time and miss the changes, it just doesn't work.

When starting out, the best way to be absolutely certain (and this is where I learned all the chord theory that I know for guitar playing), was to learn chord notations, and write down every note in a scale that fits that chord. Do that for every chord on the sheet so you have the scales for each one. Often times, you find that a particular run of chords that happens to have the same scale, like a G blues scale. Sometimes you have to just jump to a different scale for a few bars, other times, you learn to simply avoid certain notes for 4 bars, then go right back to the old scale.

I did improv for a few years and I'm not sure I ever progressed. The difficult thing is understanding what it sounds like to other people. To me, it sounded simple and dumb. Other people seemed to like it. One time I decided to play two notes in a row that were the same - I rode that for quite a while. You start to learn other people's quirks. Our tenor player would always start by playing the scale straight up and a bit stylized at the beginning, then launch into something different. Some people had to play eight notes non stop, which got boring, and didnt really skip around too much, and other people would put large rest periods in (intentionally), and just bop along playing 2-4 notes at the beginning of each change. Simple but effective.

We played so many different songs that making something up and memorizing it never worked.

In the end, the most effective method to get better was to grab some sheet music, the CD that had the rhythm section playing, and just play. Develop your own style. Listen to some of the jazz greats, especially for your instrument. As a sax player, I listened to way too much Paul Desmond and Dennis Diblasio.

If anyone else wants to chime in, go for it.

u/[deleted] · 4 pointsr/Saxophonics

Get a teacher man. Even if it's for a few lessons to get you started. I'm mostly self-taught, and only started taking some lessons here and there later in life and I really wish I had started earlier as I wouldn't have had to correct some bad technique. Tone production and articulation are so esoteric that it's nice to have someone explain to you exactly what you need to do and getting instant feedback on whether you're doing it right or not will make you progress 10X faster. The rest (fingerings, scales, chords, etc) is easy to learn on your own.

If you REALLY can't get a teacher I'd recommend the following books:

  • A Complete Approach To Sound For the Modern Saxophonist. There are other books on saxophone tone production but they are antiquated and too often sort of unclear (like Rascher's "Top Tones For the Saxophone" or Dave Liebman's "Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound".) This is a clear, well organized and well explained book about everything related to tone production. Every concept has corresponding exercises and clear explanation on how and why to practice them and achieve the set goals. Also, most of these exercises have sound sample demonstrations downloadable for free on the guy's website.

  • The Jazz theory Book
    A great start, again very well explained, on theory. Scales, chords, etc...

    The rest (like fingerings) you can find easily online for free, or figure out by listening and transcribing.
u/rustyx22 · 3 pointsr/Saxophonics

Are you sure you need to ~replace~ the springs? It's often possible to adjust the spring tension just by some careful bending of the wire spring. Not sure about your bari, but on both my alto and tenor, the springs for the side Bb and C keys are easily accessible from the side. (It's fairly easy to do -- but then I'm the sort who does a lot of my own maintenance and repair work.)

If you're anticipating doing a lot of your own repairs in the future, a good reference book is Hayne's "Saxophone Manual", written by Stephen Howard. Here's a link to it....

http://www.amazon.com/Saxophone-Manual-Choosing-Setting-Maintaining/dp/1844256383

Regarding neck corks, you might want to have a look at the Music Medic website. (Disclosure -- I buy a lot of my repair parts from Music Medic, but I don't have any financial association with the company.) They've got some very clear, straightforward, and detailed instructions on doing lots of different repair procedures. They sell a nice neck recorking kit with the cork already beveled on one side. I believe it's about $6 -- and they'll ship it free to a US address. You'll need to have a bit of fine sandpaper, a utility knife, straightedge, and some contact cement in addition to the kit, if you want to recork it yourself. Music Medic also carries springs, if you do indeed need replacement ones -- as well as the proper pliers for doing spring replacement.

Hope this helps!

u/replicaJunction · 5 pointsr/Saxophonics

I agree that listening is important, but I'd also highly recommend this book: Patterns for Jazz, by Jerry Coker. This is seriously the best $20 you'll ever spend on jazz studies.

Take it nice and slow, maybe around 5 exercises a week (but played in all 12 keys). Once you've mastered those exercises, move on to the next five. The book starts out pretty simple, with major scale exercises, but soon it moves into other scales and chord exercises.

u/Wagner556 · 4 pointsr/Saxophonics

Girl from Ipanema is one of the easier songs to play, definitely a beginner level.

I would recommend this book -

https://www.amazon.com/Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Bossa-Nova/dp/0634048899/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E8YMSW7G556D&keywords=jazz+play+along+hal+leonard+bossa+nova&qid=1568768851&sprefix=jazz+play+along%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1

All the songs are excellent. Playing at the same time as the recording of them playing makes it easy to get the timing right for someone who is a beginner.

u/pedro6285 · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

There's a great book by Dr Rousseau that goes over some good fingerlings for all saxophones. Also there are some good exercise to get your embouchure like it should be in order to play altissimo. Here's the book - https://www.amazon.com/Saxophone-High-Tones-Eugene-Rousseau/dp/158106005X

Once you get comfortable with using the front fingerlings for E, F, and F#, you'll be able to seamlessly go to G.

u/Cannonball_Sax · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

Thank you! Several have recommended it and it's cheap so I think it's worth trying. Is this the version you're referring to? It looks like they also have something called a super harness.

u/montyburnz258 · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

This was the first jazz book I played and it was a great intro to the style. It has sample solos which are great for learning phrases and articulation. I didn't start improvising for some time later though.


https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Elements-Jazz-Play-Along-Instruments/dp/0634091840/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1556704408&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

u/Spamakin · 10 pointsr/Saxophonics

Why can't you use a harness? Use a harness for practice but then use a regular neckstrap for parades and completions. I recommend this harness and this neckstrap. Both are amazing and I only use the harness at rehearsals but use the neckstrap at shows/comps/parades

u/blind_swordsman · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

I recommend The Jazz Theory book by Mark Levine. If you want to understand how to build chords, chord progressions, and improv, it's a great resource. You can buy it online or torrent a PDF easily enough.

u/oldsaxman · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

I got back into saxophone after 40 years. This is the book I used to relearn the basics. There is a level 2 book as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/063402891X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It covers all the basics to get you started in a self teaching mode.

Good luck!

u/trane_sj · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

Bloomdido/Moose the Mooche were my first two. Also if you're serious about playing Parker (or about improvisation at all for that matter), go buy the Omnibook here. I can promise you it will be the best $15 you will ever spend as a saxophonist.

u/bigsaxybec · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

I use a reed case with a humidifying pack in it. Our college professor suggested it. It helps to keep the reeds playing their best for longer, and the humidifier stops the reed from warping by drying it out.

This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001SN7VGO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468345279&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=reed+case&dpPl=1&dpID=51ESLNO149L&ref=plSrch

u/AFFB13 · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

This saxophonist on YouTube called Dave Pollack reviewed this mic: https://www.amazon.com/Microphone-Condenser-Recording-Streaming-669B/dp/B06XCKGLTP

His review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38nQMH-w7s8

It sounds pretty good and it's $30. I think it's also a USB mic

u/disgruntleddave · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

I have a rico reed case and some of those humidifier things. I got a 6-pack of humidifier packets for a buck-each. Considering they have been lasting me >3 months each, that's dirt cheap.

They have definitely increased the longevity of my reeds. I am sure you can get the same if you take care of your reeds and spend the time on it like another commenter is noting, but I see no need when I have such an easy and cheap way of doing so with what I bought.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SN7VGO/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000G39732&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=180RZXE1B51TVTCKJ6WA

u/Deto · 5 pointsr/Saxophonics

The Charlie Parker Omnibook is a pretty good jazz equivalent for a classical etude book.

u/jaigurudevaom · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

I recommend Patterns for Jazz by Jerry Coker. You basically learn some of the patterns in every key and it gives you a good arsenal of beginning solo material.

u/bassfetish · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

Check out Patterns for Jazz by Jerry Coker. It's a great way to get you introduced to cell and digital patterns and by the time you've gone cover to cover you'll have a lot under your fingers.

u/comradenu · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Jazz-Theory-Composition-Improvisation/dp/0898987032/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=patterns+for+jazz%5C&qid=1574088220&sr=8-1

I'm really liking this book. I've been hitting it hard for about a month and I'm only on like page 30. It'll give you a pattern or scale in C, then you have to transpose it to the other 11 keys yourself.

u/nsxt · 5 pointsr/Saxophonics
  1. Practice long tones. Top-Tones for the Saxophone makes for a great practice companion.

  2. Experiment with different reed/mouthpiece combinations. This can be really costly, though.
u/Enharmonics · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

Check out an EWI, they are a bit more expensive, but they are a blast to play. Link to one on amazon!

u/PikachusThugAssUncle · 2 pointsr/Saxophonics

These guys gave great answers and i personally wouldn't drop 1k on a gift especially on something that may get little to no use, or collect dust as i often see people try to pick up or get back on insteuments and lose interest.

A saxophone has diminishing skill and it sucks to go back after 3+ days and build up again. And it's a bitch to sell one.

Akai Professional EWI USB | Electronic Wind Instrument MIDI Controller with Included Sound Library https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001MTKAD0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_p9uHzbGJKYAZX

https://youtu.be/hi4zH7QcXeU


I honestly think this would be better check it out and tell me what you think, send him a text like "i just saw this crazy thing, what do you think of these?"

•cheaper
•has no diminishing skill
•you can change voices
•dont have to buy so much tech (logs, mpcs, reeds, files, rags, grease, padsavers, etc.)

Of course i'm just going off assumptions as i've never played one but just something to think about.

u/alithemighty · 3 pointsr/Saxophonics

If you want to learn some basics and beyond if jazz theory I recommend The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine

u/trollmaster5000 · 5 pointsr/Saxophonics

Here's a couple options from Amazon.

Neotech 2501162 Soft Harness, Black, Swivel Hook -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002E1NS2/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_b901xbDRT8AP5

Pro Tec A306M Large Universal Saxophone Harness -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AF40QAU/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_k-01xb1G5TKJA

u/MenacingSailboat · 1 pointr/Saxophonics

As somebody who taught himself, developed a bad habit or two, and corrected them with the help of a book (that is to say, no actual teacher), I'd say it's neither hard to teach it to yourself nor hard to correct bad habits on your own, given the right materials.

It's not that I wouldn't have preferred a teacher; I just wasn't ever in a position where I could learn from one. Probably the best book I ever bought was A Complete Approach to Sound for the Modern Saxophonist, by Ben Britton. If you wind up teaching yourself, regardless of what other books you work from, you should pick that one up. It takes all of the "this is what to do to play with proper technique" advice that you see in so many books and gives you much better explanations for how to achieve these things, what to listen for, etc. etc., and it happens to be the sole reason I recognized and corrected my bad habits.