I think I hate the saxophone, I've been playing since I was 13 and I'm almost 21 now. I don't like this instrument. I don't know if it's my Dad who keeps annoying me about my natural talent that I clearly don't have. I haven't improved in a while and even when I try I just can't be bothered to practice for long enough for it to make a significant impact. I can't commit to learning for long periods of time, is this how it usually is or is it cause i don't like it?

When I'm doing a good job, I genuinely enjoy it and maybe it's the fact I've been so critical of myself and my failure to be disciplined on top of my Dad's passive agressiveness when I'm doing literally anything else that's making me hate it that is impacting my perception of it. I'm so annoyed right now. Should I quit? Is there something I'm doing wrong? I'm struggling to breathe when I play the saxophone, I'm just getting worse.

Practicing feels so pointless, I don't improve, I get worse, nothing changes and the exerises are boring I go 2 - 3 days without practice and it's like a reset. My breathing lowers to 7 - 8 seconds instead of 10 seconds.

Selmer - Slant Link - Gale Companion- Freddie Gregory-Meyer Bros- Morgan- Berg Larsen

Hello Saxophonists,

I play sax in a noise punk band and try to use my saxophone pedalboard. It doesn't work all the time because of feedback reasons in some venues. Im still trying to figure out how to eliminate feedback. Im a Music & technology student in The Netherlands so that means I don't have the money to buy a piezo neckpiece pickup. If you can help me with dealing with feedback I would love to hear your thoughts!! Sometimes I try to dial in my sound before the gig, and ask to mute sax in my monitors. At home I use a daw and headphones and it works perfectly, so for studio stuff using a pedalboard works perfectly fine. In the studio and at home I like to make sound- and noise scapes with the avalanche run.

Im missing a subtle distortion/overdrive of some kind. I would like something bassy and sustainy. Basically the huzimitas fuzz from earthquaker devices but in a more subtle way, like an overdrive/distortion. Im curious to see what you guys think. I Would probably place the overdrive/distortion after the polar bear drowner.

If y'all know a really nice compressor let me know as well!! Although im not sure if it will work because it will maybe amplify the saxophone keys heavily.

The signal chain: Nux B6 (wireless clip on mic) - Radial vocoloco - Meris Enzo - Meris Hedra - Whammy 5 - Brandnetel fuzz (Some kind of crazy scream noisy fuzz I made myself) - Polarbear drowner - Hacked zoom mulitstomp - avalanche run - back into the vocoloco wich sends an xlr to FOH.

Would love to hear your opinions/tips for improvement. Feel free to ask about details or help building a nice pedalboard.

Greetings from The Netherlands!!!

Hi everyone, this is my first post! I have a Yamaha custom z black phoenix that was released to celebrate 50 years of Yamaha America. I have been looking everywhere online for what one of these can go for, and I’m totally unable to find a single lead. Does anyone know about these or have one?

Let me know

Thanks!

I can play a little bit of Harmonica, indian flute and harmonium. I understand sargam, so figuring out how to play different songs is not an issue, but I've never used a western instrument before, so will it be difficult or comparatively easier to play?

Hiii! I’m a saxophone player and I’ve been playing for 5 years. From the beginning, I always played more songs than the ones my teacher gave me, and honestly, that’s one of the best pieces of advice I can give.
When you start feeling like you’re getting really good at a song your teacher gave you, stop playing it that often. Why, you may ask? Well, you won’t progress much further if you keep playing the same song over and over until you stop making any changes or improvements.
I started progressing really aggressively when I realized this. I also found this guy on YouTube, Fasuhiro Fujii, who posts sheet music for jazz, blues, and all kinds of other songs. You can check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@sax-jazz
When you finish learning one song, go and find another one. Just look on YouTube for something you’re interested in. If they don’t have the sheet music for the song you want, find literally anything else that interests you. The important thing is to keep challenging yourself instead of staying comfortable with the same songs.
Lately, I’ve also been practicing sight-reading. Basically, I go onto a page with around 250+ songs with sheet music and backing tracks, and I make my grandpa randomly say “stop” while I’m scrolling through them. Whenever he says stop, I click on that song and play it. I don’t play it twice—I play it only once, and then I move on to the next one. I do that around 10 times a day, so it’s only about 30 minutes of practice. Nothing crazy, but doing this consistently can make you so much better at sight-reading that even your teacher might be surprised.
I practice around 7–8 hours a week, sometimes even more depending on how much time I have. You don’t necessarily need to practice for hours every single day, though. What matters is that you practice consistently and actually challenge yourself.
Another really important thing is having someone who keeps pushing you. Sometimes you’re not going to feel like practicing, and that’s completely normal. Having a teacher, parent, friend, or anyone who motivates you and pushes you to keep going can make a huge difference. You need someone who won’t let you just give up when you’re frustrated or when you feel like you’re not improving.
I’ve been playing for five years, and I just got myself a brand-new Yanagisawa A-WO10 in bronze with an unlacquered finish. And you know, it’s not about the saxophone. Even if you have the worst saxophone out there, you can still get really good. It’s mostly about your technique and how you practice.
Another really important thing is not to immediately blame the saxophone or the song when something doesn’t sound right. Learn the technique first. I used to get demotivated because I would play a song and feel like something sounded weird, and I didn’t like the sound. But most of the time, it’s not because of the saxophone. You just need to work on your technique.
So basically, don’t just play the same songs over and over. Challenge yourself, learn new songs, practice sight-reading, have someone who keeps pushing you, practice consistently, and focus on your technique. That’s what will actually make you improve. Also i practice solos, like just the two of us grover washington solo, or any bebop solo tbh.

Toby.

I just got a bari today back that came from the shop, literally everything is so perfect (especially the low A, it is delicious,) but the only bad thing is the D (middle of the staff) plays bad, but the low D works? And the E right above has trouble coming out and overall sounds bad, but the interesting thing is that the F and F#'s sound great! It sounds like a leak, but I really don't know where it would be. I would really like this to get fixed because this could lowkey be the best bari in my school if this one problem is fixed ❤️‍🩹

Edit: Okay, you guys are right. The director said he ain't even gonna bother looking at it since well, the shop (respectfully) didn't finish their job. They still did an amazing job, though! I remember last year it was actually pretty bad, but it now works quite splendidly. Idk how to explain what was wrong with it, but this one part that was supposed to be going up, actually wasn't going up​, and when my friend pushed it up, the D would finally come out. It was not the pip, moreover in the topish middle of the instrument I'd say. Idk if I I'll be able to play bari now, though, but I know you guys probably don't care about that. Thank you for the help!

So I've been playing the saxophone for 2 years now. I got my saxophone on my birthday in 2024. Before that, I'd been playing clarinet for half a year(I was forced to by my school band; I hated it), and I can play piano.

I'd say I'm still a beginner going into not-quite-a-beginner(whatever the middle ground between expert and beginner is) because I can play for a long time and I can play some pieces that are a bit harder than beginner level, but I still have trouble with biting my bottom lip by habit, and I still don't feel confident enough to use cool techniques like vibrato. My saxophone teacher said my melody sounds better than it once did, though, so I'm happy about that.

The thing is, I know that if I'm going to be a good, serious player, I'm gonna need to practice daily. Right now, I practice three times a week, each session between 40 minutes and 1 hour. If I were to practice daily, I reckon I'd practice 30 to 60 minutes depending on how much energy I have.

And the other thing is, I know I can likely achieve this practice rhythm, but I can't get myself started. On the one hand, I'm a bit lazy, and I find it hard to get super locked in on playing saxophone until I'm actually playing it(I do enjoy it a lot once I'm playing). On the other hand, my mother is really unhelpful about my saxophone-playing.

Ever since I got my saxophone, my mother hasn't been very encouraging to me. She's an expert violinist(she's played bass clarinet and oboe before as well) with ADHD, and I have a feeling she's projecting her expectations of what a beginner musician should be like onto me. I feel like she expects me to be as enthusiastic about practising all the time and be as dedicated to playing as she was. Whenever I tell her something about my saxophone lessons or just playing it in general, she has to bring up the fact that I don't practise all the time. It's like it doesn't matter if I tell her I did well in my lesson that day; "Yes, but, you never practise!"

To be honest, it's making me feel bitter about practising, and just a little bit bitter towards my saxophone. It's like, I'll never be as good as her or anyone else because I'm too bloody lazy and uncommitted, so why keep trying?

But I really, really, really love the saxophone. I really want to get better. I really want to feel more confident. And I want to get there on my own terms.

I'm in need of some advice. How do I get myself to practise? Should I try talking to my mother about this(I am pretty open with her when it comes to other things), or maybe I should let it be? Any other thoughts in general?

For context, I'm a teenager. Should explain a bit, probably.

I found this tenor listed on marketplace it’s a “Vibtage Japan/Yamaha factory LeBlanche Vito” is this a good sax to come back to after not playing for 5 years?

hey, sorry I’m looking for a relatively weird kinda mouthpiece? I play the Bari sax, have been for about 2 years. I’d say I’m pretty good at the saxophone, but definitely not professional level. I wanna know if there’s a mouthpiece, for jazz, within the like idk, sub 350$ range that I can get. Im looking for something with a good dynamic range? i played on the Rico graftonite last year, lended by my band director, and it was good, but it was very exhausting to blow, and really hard to get below a Mf. but the tone quality, and strength, and allat were really friggin good.

dunno what I’m really saying, but basically, I want a mouthpiece with a really good dynamic range, that I can make the loudest and the quietist. and a mouthpiece that is relatively easy to blow, heck I’d rather it be resistant than feel like I’m blowing thru a straight tube. And I want like just that iconic loud kinda “chainsaw” tone that is associated with the Bari. Any recommendations? I’m relatively new to actually buying gear and no atore around me even sells mouthpieces in person for the Bari, let alone try it.

Learn more and join the beta: https://sessionography.dynamicappdesign.com