How Long Does It Take to Learn Saxophone?

Jay Metcalf shows how he teaches adult beginner sax players for a fast and fun start. #saxophone #bettersax #beginner

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[pierreashba]

I learned playing 5yrs ago mostly by watching you and a couple of others sax channels Thank you for helping me realize this dream.

[tguit-fiddler]

17 years playing the guitar, picked up the sax two months ago, its wild fun improvising on this thing. It's a lot easier to learn sheet music for too. Sometimes I tell people guitar and sax are practically the same thing and boy do I get some looks lol.

[robstevens]

When I was in college (in the 1960s) I taught myself how to play flute. A year later I taught myself to play alto sax. Within a year I got hired to play with a funk/jazz-fusion quartet.

[falsac]

Tips:
1-Fix tour tone (with your throat)
2-Work Articulation(legado, short, stacatto)
3-Dinamics (FF, pp)
4-Fingering (read the notes, think them, put the fingers, and later play it)
5-All this trying a good sound with the correct air (i play classic normally so i need Round sound and fast cold air)

[ronmay]

I'm 78 years old., singer songwriter, guitar player with no training of any type. Played in bands most of my life. I always loved the sax solo on the Paul Simon song "Still Crazy, so I bought a $600 beginner sax to try and play it. Never held a sax, didn't know if I could even get a sound out. Learned about how to set it up with the reed etc., by watching youtube, including a lot of your vids. You were a tremendous help. Played it till my face hurt, 3-4 hours a day. No scales, just tried to play songs, and high notes.. After about 2-3 months, went from a 2 reed to a 2 1/2 on a size 4 tip opening, and bought a $1500 sax. A few months later I bought a Yanagisawa AW01. It came with a #6 mouthpiece, .. so got so I can play it with a 3 Vandoren Traditional reed, and hit the notes I need up to high F#. I would play notes of a song until I hit the right note, write it down, and find the next one, then eventually play the whole song. I started this about a year and a half ago, now I just hear things, and play it. I don't don't know what I'm doing, I just play the songs. I can figure out the notes if I want to, but I don't unless I want to put them in a song I wrote or something like that. I listen to Earth wind, and fire solos, and songs like "Never Tear Us Apart, " by INXS, and stuff like that, that has a lot of feeling. That to me is fun. I'm not saying anybody should skip the basics, and go for the hard stuff, I'm just saying what I did. Not everybody is as obsessive as I am, when it comes to doing something.

[dansots]

Just started alto sax after 20 years of playing solely clarinet. Your channel and many others have inspired me to finally take up sax. I still got a teacher so I could work on breaking bad habits and hopefully that helps going back to clarinet.

[Xaforn]

Ive done violin, clarinet, some piano, harp and guitar as well as vocals, but now I’m aiming for tenor saxophone, that’s my birthday want this year. Just has that dark honey sound that I drool over and dream about. Love your channel!

[alaahaider]

Oh my god. Your video is uplifting and thank you for long this not as scary as I thought it is. You are absolutely awesome 👍👌

[alfabsc]

Thanks for your advice! NO WRONG NOTES in the pentatonic scale! Right on!

[TheRealG]

The blues and pentatonic is your friend everywhere all the time. It works in about 95 % of western contemporary music. When in doubt at a rehearsal or inca new musical setting i just go to my ears and the blues. Its amazing how many different places i can make it work. Rnb and rock are no brainers.

[lauriecooper]

A whole lifetime just like any other musical instrument. You never stop learning in music.

[objection]

I really like the music essentials books. You can work through one in a week if you practice an hour a day, then you could start playing sheet music you're more interested in after that.

[MagikarpPoop]

As someone who’s been playing classical sax for 19 years and hasn’t been able to figure out how to get this jazz thing to work… I’m embarrassed. This is so blatantly simple and has been staring me in the face for all that time. Thanks for the tip!! I’ll get on practicing those pentatonic scales!

[VinnK]

I love when you upload, you got me into playing the sax. Keep up the amazing videos.

[ajrdrahgohnite]

Learning how to play and read music is the easy part in my opinion. A few months and anyone can play a few of their favorite pop tunes! Developing your own sound, mastering your tone and breath control is a whole new realm. Took me years to stop sounding like a Highschool sax player!

[cruzan]

I purchased one of Jay’s pentatonic courses. I have been playing for decades but the incorporation of pentatonics into my playing supercharged my performances. I play at church and family gatherings.

[drfiberglass]

All well and good and I do agree, you should take at least 6 months of lessons but sight reading is a must. Makemusic cloud has a great sight reading program. Sight reading will give you time to understand the instrument and help you quickly figure out how to play songs without guessing all the time. I have been playing a year and a half with approximately 800 hours of playing time. I now am playing sixteenth notes, slurring and tonguing. All these things are very important and simply put, takes time. The more time you put and understand your instrument the faster you will get there and yes I have a ways to go but I'm getting there. Thanks for your advice about the pentatonic scales. I will work on them. By the way, you sound great.

[cap]

My recommendation for new saxophonists is if you want to get that really nice sound found in songs like careless whisper, start by learning alto and after about a year of learning and practicing regularly, switch to tenor. Tenor is easier if you know alto and it sounds great,

[hugovandermeer]

I agree, additionally start by learning to improvise around Happy Birthday...it's a blast... and full of C major.

[paulfairchild]

always inspiring if I .get stuck on what to play .I check out your lessons .