How do you get good at playing alto saxophone?

Question

I play alto sax and I'm not very good. Does anyone know a good way to get better?

Answer 1

know how to practice, learn music history, ear-training, and theory, take lessons from a good teacher, participate in many ensembles (jazz bands, concert bands, small instrumental ensembles, etc), go to masterclasses and write down pointers given by the instructor, listen to MANY recordings of sax players from varioius genres, attend saxophone music conferences to really learn who's-who and who-is-doing-what in the saxophone world, become knowledgable about the different repretory and saxes (including brand names, names/uses of various key extensions, price ranges, etc), become a member of a good saxophone email list, join a local saxophone organization, listen to many other recordings of other famous instrumentalists for ideas on tone quality and interpretation that you can use in your own playing, and the list goes on and on....

Good luck!

Answer 2

Everything listed above is great advice, but the one piece of advice that can help with all of this is to get a good private lesson teacher. Students who self-teach themselves learn mostly bad habits. While the saxophone is one of the easiest instruments to make playable, actually making it play well is the hard part. A teacher helps stop and break all the bad habits that students learn, and this will make it easier to play everything else better.

Answer 3

Practice constantly

Ask better players for pointers on technique

Listen carefully to Sax players that you like, and try to emulate their style & sound

Obtain sheet music for songs you like, and learn the licks

Obtain a rudimentary knowledge of music theory. Know your scales. Learn to sight read and understand charts.

Try different saxophones, and also different instruments. Learn to vocalize (sing) every part you want to play on your instrument.

Answer 4

1. If your band program has a lesson instructor take it.

2. Try out for stuff like All Region and Solo & Essemble contest. That usually helps you understand harder rythmes and licks.

3. Just practice, even if its like 10 mins. a day

Answer 5

Everybody always says practice...however, practice DOES NOT MAKE PERFECT! Practice makes permanent. So I would say get lessons.

Answer 6

Practice all the time, i imagine. oh, and joing marching band. that'll give you an excuse to practice. in marching band, you have to memorize your place on the field as well as your music.
Please JOIN MARCHING BAND.

Answer 7

Yep! It's called PRACTICE!! At least an hour a day!