If you’re looking for tips and tricks on how to play the Saxophone, then this is the article! Our top 10 tips to playing the saxophone will help you on your path to becoming the musician you want to be. They won’t however make you an overnight sensation like the saxophone players and professional musicians you aspire to be!
To learn how to play the saxophone, you can start by familiarizing yourself with the instrument and its parts.
And if you want to learn this instrument, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, soprano sax or any other vocal sounding instruments, keep reading because this list will help you get started!
Warm-Up
Are warm-ups really necessary?
Well, to play the saxophone, you need to work hard, practice, and most importantly, have a great technique. And all of that can come with the toll of backache, arm pain, wrist tension, to name just a few things.
So if you’d like to avoid those not-so-fun symptoms of sax Playing, I’d advise a nice warm-up; just to get you started…
Set Goals
We all need goals in life to move forward. Playing the saxophone isn’t just about sitting down to start playing music; it’s about planning what you’re going to learn, and how you’ll get there. Macro-goals are brilliant. Don’t say you’ll learn a whole piece of music in 30 minutes! Instead, say you’ll learn two pages. And when you do that successfully, celebrate.
This of course applies just as easily to learning Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, as it does to the most difficult saxophone jazz solo.
Set goals, set your time to practice, and go and do it!
Sort out your technique
I know working on your technique isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it is crucial. If you are a complete beginner at the start of your musical journey, just read about it here in our ‘Beginners Guide to Playing the Saxophone‘ – and you’ll find out why. Learning sax is difficult, and there are so many elements to think about. Remember to look after your mouthpiece and your reeds. If you don’t, playing will be much harder, as I’m sure all saxophonists will tell you!
And whilst we are talking technique, remember to learn your scales. Although they are boring, you’ll quickly discover that all music is based around a scale of some sort – so if you can play your scales well, you’ll be able to play your music well. Beginners always find this one of the most difficult elements.
Get Comfortable
You’ll probably see your saxophone music teacher once a week, at best. The majority of the time you’re practicing the sax by yourself, so make sure you are comfortable! Turn off your phone, have a glass of water nearby, and carve out time in your schedule to have some dedicated practicing. It doesn’t matter if it’s 20 minutes or two hours, it’s the quality of the practice that matters.
