Yamaha YDS-150 Review – UNPLAYABLE When I first saw the Yamaha YDS-150, I said to myself that’s got to be good. I mean Yamaha makes good stuff right? OK, there was that Venova thing, but apart from that, Yamaha makes good stuff. When you see it with the brass bell, you get this idea
Yamaha YDS-150 Review – NOT What I Expected Read More »
A big part of the musical vocabulary you hear in great saxophone solos comes from scale patterns. Today I’m going to teach you an easy and fun to play pentatonic pattern that you can start using immediately in any solo. Practicing Pentatonic Patterns You have probably come across other pentatonic patterns before, maybe you even
The Most EFFECTIVE Way to Practice Patterns Read More »
Why Avery Dixon’s Sax Playing Won America’s Got Talent I’ve never watched the show America’s got talent, but it has come to my attention recently because of a young man named Avery Dixon. Avery has literally inspired millions of people with the saxophone; and in this video, I’m going to try to explain why the
10 Tricks for Sax Solos that Win from Avery Dixon on America’s Got Talent Read More »
Performing for a large audience? Check out these wireless mic options to help amp up your playing! Plus, hear from the great Michael Ghegan as he play-tests each one.
Wireless Sax Mic Shootout (I can’t believe how good this cheap one is!) Read More »
I sit down with the great Joey DeFrancesco who is not only one of the top jazz organists of all time but also a saxophonist!
Joey Defrancesco on Learning the Saxophone Read More »
In the old days, technology in the practice room consisted of a wind up metronome and a cassette recorder. Today, we have a lot more options available. In this lesson, I’m going to tell you about some of the best apps that will help you get more out of your practice time, all while having
7 Amazing Apps for Saxophone Players You Probably Didn’t Know Existed Read More »
Mindi Abair is a Grammy nominated saxophone player and recording artist whom you may have seen performing on American Idol or with Aerosmith or alongside Dave Koz and Gerald Albright. We got together at this year’s NAMM show for a very interesting conversation about music, wine and geeky sax stuff. Mindi has a new album
Pairing Wine and Music with Saxophonist Mindi Abair Read More »
Never Make These Saxophone Gear Mistakes Here are 10 common gear mistakes saxophone players make that I want you to avoid or stop doing altogether. #1: Don’t leave hard rubber mouthpieces in the sun First up, do not leave old hard rubber mouthpieces in the sun. If you do, before long, the color would fade
NEVER Make These 10 Saxophone Gear Mistakes Read More »
2022 NAMM Show I just got back from the 2022 NAMM show in California, and in this video I’m going to tell you about all the new saxophone products I discovered! Plus, many of them were only seen publicly for the first time at the conference! I, of course had my Better Sax alto saxophone
23 Newest Saxophone Products in 2022 from NAMM Read More »
Roland Aerophone AE-20 Wind Synth Roland has a new version of their Aerophone wind synth out the AE-20. Once I got the bite settings and key delay adjusted I went through the on board sound patches. I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to bringing gear to a gig so I love
The BEST and WORST sounds on the Roland Aerophone AE-20 Wind Synth Read More »
Yamaha YAS-26 vs BetterSax EAS112 – NOT the Best Student Saxophone Anymore? The BetterSax alto saxophone has been around for a little over a year now and it’s already made a huge impact in the student and lower cost saxophone market. Lots of people have been adopting these, based on the build quality, sound,
Yamaha YAS-26 vs BetterSax EAS112 – Student Saxophone Options Read More »
A Simple Pentatonic Pattern You probably already know this basic pentatonic scale pattern, it’s four notes of the pentatonic scale going up or down. This pattern is cool to use in solos and a good way to develop some pentatonic scale technique. But if we want to take this basic pattern to another level, all
Simple Pentatonic Pattern + 1 Note = Hip Lick Read More »
Ligature Options for Otto Link Metal Mouthpieces Hey guys, today I’m looking at a variety of different ligatures that work well with Otto Link metal mouthpieces that have a ridge on top. The ligatures that usually come with these pieces are not very good, so you often have to upgrade. My best recommendations are the
Ligatures Under $100 for Otto Link Metal Mouthpieces Read More »
The Anatomy of the Saxophone Mouthpiece Why do we have so many saxophone mouthpiece options? Surely by now, there must be one mouthpiece that is truly the best and everyone should just play that one right? Well no, it doesn’t work that way. So I’m going to explain why so many mouthpiece designs exist,
How Saxophone Mouthpieces Work – Everything You Need to Know Read More »
There is so much stuff to practice and learn that it can feel a bit intimidating right? How to make progress in your playing Over the years I’ve worked with thousands of saxophone students in my online courses, YouTube videos, Virtual Studio, and in person lessons and based on all of that teaching I can
This Stops 95% of Saxophone Students Improving – Sound and Rhythm Read More »
5 things you didn’t know about saxophone reeds… Today, I’m going to play through 5 brand new and tell you what I think of each one. I’m also going to tell you something you probably didn’t know about reeds after every play test. I’ve already played through a couple boxes of these over the course
5 Things You Didn’t Know about Saxophone Reeds Read More »
The other day I was checking out some vintage sax solos from 80s music videos and there’s actually some really cool stuff in there. Great 1980s Sax Solos Let’s check them out together, I’ll walk you through some of these and keep in mind as you’re watching that the stuff in these solos is exactly
Great 1980s Sax Solos Read More »
The saxophone inspection process… THIS is where the magic happens… well at least some of it. Over at the Conn-Selmer factory in Elkhart, Indiana, saxophone techs go through a very details saxophone inspection process before they can ship out each instrument. Meet Scott Campbell, who is basically in charge of all woodwind instruments over at
Inspecting 1,000 Saxophones Read More »
Tim Armacost Check out my live interview with the great Tim Armacost. He’s got a new book out called “The Jazz Saxophone Book”, which is a complete method for learning how to improvise and understand the jazz language on your horn. It’s a fantastic resource that is definitely worth adding to your library. Tim is
Practicing 365 Hours a Year with Saxophonist Tim Armacost Read More »
Today I’m going to be testing out gimmicky sax gadgets for you. All of these were sent to me by the people who make them, No one is sponsoring this video so I’m going to be brutally honest with you. Some of these things are really cool, and others are less so in my opinion.
Testing Gimmicky Sax Gadgets Read More »
In January of 2022, I took a trip to Sweetwater in Fort Wayne IN and got to check out their music store, which has got to be one of the most impressive spaces I’ve ever seen. My Trip to Sweetwater In the band and orchestra department, they’ve got a unique feature you won’t find anywhere
Testing the REVERB SIMULATOR Room at Sweetwater Read More »
