👉 Start Your Free Membership Trial: Become a BetterSax Member The Saxophone Scale Exercise That Will Increase Your Finger Speed Most sax players find scale exercises boring. But what if you played them four different ways? Yeah… that’s even more boring, but it’s also the thing that’ll free up your slow and stiff fingers. So,
It’s Boring, But Frees Up Your Sax Technique Read More »
⭐️ Access Our Free Sax Lesson Downloads 7 Levels of Jazz Sax Improvisation I’ve never met a saxophone player who didn’t want to know how to improvise. But I’ve met many that never even try because they don’t know where to begin. If you want to free yourself from sheet music and finally be able
Everything You Need to Know for Sax Soloing (In Order) Read More »
Two Great Saxophones, One Important Decision If you’ve been looking at the BetterSax saxophones and trying to figure out the difference between the Classic and the Session, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common questions we get, and it’s a great one to ask before making a decision this important. Both instruments are
BetterSax Classic vs Session: Which One Is Right for You? Read More »
We sat down with saxophonist Chris Potter, widely regarded as one of the greatest living voices on the instrument, for a rare and generous interview filmed in Hangzhou, China at the Good Cha Jazz Club. Watch the full conversation above, or keep reading for a breakdown of what Chris shared about practicing, learning jazz by
I Asked Chris Potter How He Mastered the Saxophone. Read More »
👉 Start Your Free Membership Trial The Sax Warm-Up That Helps Intermediate Players Transition Into Pros Do you ever wonder what students at top music schools get taught? Most of us don’t have access to those classes, but one of the top saxophone clinicians in the country, Adam Larson, has just shared with us his
Copy This Sax Warm-Up for a Beautiful Tone Read More »
⭐️ Get the Free PDF from this video Plus our entire BetterSax Shed Lesson Library 3 Easy Jazz Improvisation Exercises Most jazz exercises are too complex and intimidating for new improvisers. But there’s a fun way to practice that’s actually easy, even if you’ve never soloed before. I’m going to give you three exercises that
3 Exercises Perfect For Jazz Beginners Read More »
🎷 Back To School Saxophone Sale$100 off Classic alto saxophones, $200 off Classic tenor saxophones. Own a beautiful, well-built saxophone for less that the cost of most rentals with 48 month no interest financing from Sweetwater. $19/month for alto $32/month for tenor.Ends September 30, 2026. Differences Between Alto and Tenor Saxophone Most beginners are told
Alto vs Tenor Saxophone, Which should you choose? Read More »
Get the NUX Pro B-6 Sax Mic System https://geni.us/a0PUZv9 The Only Saxophone Mic I’ve Used in Over a Year Nobody expects a Chinese-made microphone to make the big brands look like they weren’t even trying. But here we are. For the past year, I’ve been using a new sax mic that has design features so
Is This The Best Saxophone Microphone System Ever? Read More »
⭐️ Get the Free Solo Transcription PDF The Secret is Not My Mouthpiece or in a Jazz Book: Saxophone Lessons from Baptiste Herbin In our latest interview, French alto saxophonist Baptiste Herbin sat down to break down the details behind his sound, his phrasing, and his approach to jazz improvisation. What follows is a look
It’s Hard, but the ONLY Way to Get Good at Jazz Read More »
25% off All Backing Tracks Use Code BETTERTRAX at checkout Stop Sounding Like a Jazz Robot Every jazz musician has this app on their phone, but we all know it sounds like shit and can’t swing. If this is your main practice tool, you’re just going to sound like another jazz robot. So in this
Why I Ditched iReal Pro, and What I Use Now Read More »
Start the Challenge as a BetterSax Member 30 Day Practice Plan As a student I used to think that if I just found the right book or had a lesson with the right teacher, everything would suddenly click. But after decades of studying and teaching, I’ve learned what actually works is consistency, variety and having
Practice Saxophone Like This for 30 Days (You’ll Never Play the Same) Read More »
Why don’t more alto players play on metal mouthpieces? Let’s face it, most metal alto pieces are built for a bright, punchy sound, but not versatility. So, in the video above, I give you a behind-the-scenes look at how I teamed up with Jody Jazz to develop a metal alto mouthpiece versatile enough to make
The Problem with Metal Alto Sax Mouthpieces Read More »
Your sound is the first thing listeners judge you on, yet most sax players spend too much time on scales and technical exercises and barely any on their tone. In this video I’m going to show you Extreme Long Tones, an exercise that will transform your sound in 30 days — but only if you
It’s Hard, But Gets You a Beautiful Sax Sound in 30 Days Read More »
Steve Wilson has had the pleasure of recording with some of the most well respected jazz musicians in the industry. We sat down with Steve and asked him to walk us through how he actually practices, how he thinks about sound, and what he’d tell developing musicians who are serious about making this a career.
I Asked Jazz Pros What They Practice and Didn’t Expect This Read More »
What Tim McAllister Taught Us About Practicing — Bridging Classical and Jazz Tim McAllister is one of the most accomplished classical saxophonists in the world, but spend ten minutes with him and it becomes clear he has a lot of respect and admiration for jazz and its players. He’ll tell you his classical playing is
I Asked Classical and Jazz Pros What They Practice and Didn’t Expect This Read More »
Does saxophone lacquer actually make a difference to the sound? This argument has been raging for years so we did a blindfold test for 50 advanced players on 3 identical saxophones with different finishes…Do they all sound the same, or are there differences in tone? In this video we try to put the myth to
We Tested How Saxophone Lacquer Changes the Sound (Didn’t expect THIS) Read More »
Let’s be honest, most classical saxophone repertoire is just too hard to play or too weird sounding for normal people. But there are some real gems out there. In this article, I’m going to share with you the most accessible pieces and then show you some new works that are actually perfect for intermediate players.
Classical Saxophone Pieces That Don’t Suck Read More »
Check out the audio podcast version of this post on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Are you tired of constantly hitting wrong notes in your solos? There’s actually one very simple exercise that makes it virtually impossible to play wrong notes when improvising. In this article (and the video above), I’ll show you exactly what the exercise is and
The Most Powerful Exercise for Sax Improvisation Read More »
Check out the audio podcast version of this post on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. At this year’s NAMM show, we had the honor of welcoming the legendary Kirk Whalum to the BetterSax booth. Kirk isn’t just one of the most soulful and expressive saxophonists of our time—he’s also a powerful voice for what really matters in music and
Kirk Whalum’s ONLY Advice for Saxophone Players Read More »
Are you tired of your solo sounding repetitive and boring when you are improvising with the pentatonic scale? There is actually a simple pentatonic trick that instantly makes your solo sound way more interesting without having to learn any new scales. In this article, I am going to show you how to easily make the
This Pentatonic Scale Trick Changes Everything Read More »
Get the PDF Download to this lesson here. If you don’t want your soloing to sound like boring scale practice, there is one critical element you need in your jazz playing. Unfortunately, most beginners miss this completely. In this article, I am going to show you the practice routine that will immediately get you playing
Just Practice This for 10X Better Sax Solos Read More »
