Guitarist wanting to play Alto Sax - Who has done it?

[jazzereh]

I am actually a sax guy - alto, tenor, Bari and sop in various groups. Go for it but be warned, it may be addictive. I am just in the process of reviving my guitar skills although I have played on guitar for many years as well as sax.

Ralph

[coolvinny]

I am currently fiddling around with brass on the side but am not yet sure whether I will stick with it. I pulled out the horn for a couple easy songs at a private jam yesterday...

One nice thing about taking up a 2nd instrument, at least for me, is that I've already got the biggest hurdle covered as far as taking solos is concerned: I can keep my place in the changes. At least for me, that was the biggest impediment to being able to improvise with any kind of logic. Nice tone, in tune, melodic ideas, decent time...those are all important, but if you can't keep your place in the form...AHHH...I used to beat myself up so much over that.

I'm keeping my horn and I am officially a brass player again (but mainly a guitarist). I even pulled it out at a gig a couple weeks ago. It was a train wreck, but it motivated me to practice my butt off recently. It won't be a train wreck next time.

I think a horn is a great complement to a guitar. The guitar is visual - the horn is not. The horn gets me closer to playing what I hear and more 'inside' the music, but maybe that's just me. And sometimes I visualize the fretboard, and that itself is valuable. But I probably wouldn't do it if I didn't have some natural talent on the horn...but alas my lips/mouth are conducive to brass. It took me thousands of hours to be able to play reasonably well with a guitar pick. It took me about 2 weeks to get a nice tone on brass. Go figure.

[Jabberwocky]

I left my horn, a tenor Keilwerth SX90R, aside for a number of years. And when I tried to get back into it it reminded me of how physically unfit I was. I didn't have the lung power to blow and facial muscle strength to hold the embouchure any longer. Don't even talk about finger co-ordination.

Playing the sax is about physically conditioning as much as skill. I know that the old guys smoked a lot but you got to build up the stamina and lung power to blow. 30 minutes a day don't cut it.

I remember the old guys saying, just blow long notes for as long as you can. Do it 8 hours a day. You got to first build up the physical foundation before you can even begin to learn to play. Perhaps 8 hours a day is more than an amateur can spend practising but set aside some time just to blow loooong notes.

Yeah and start with a soft reed, a number 2. Don't hurt yourself.

[Melodic Dreamer]

Update:

Got my sax and played it for the first time today. I really dig it. Took a couple of minutes, but I started getting descent sounds from it pretty quickly. I even wrote a song called, Dead Cow. lol

I think this adventure is going to be fun. I was able to play for an hour without a problem. Sure my mouth was a little numb, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I was doing long notes for 10-15 seconds at a time. I think once I get the mechanics of the sax down, and my blowing up to speed I'll be able to play this thing.

[jtizzle]

Speaking of Lee Konitz, I'm studying with his pianist, Dan Tepfer.
Our first lesson was really funny. I get to his place a little late because of train delays. I knew him from other places so it wasn't weird or anything since we knew each other. He asks me why I came to him to study, or what I want to work on, and I mentioned how I really want to work on accompanying. So he says "You know what helps me with comping, is learning new instruments and having others comp for me", as he goes to the other side of his living room. "I get new ideas from hearing others". He leans behind his couch and pulls out an alto... I'm like "whaaat". He asks me what I want to play and for simplicity's sake, I say Just Friends, and he asks me to comp for him. I kid you not, he sounds just like Lee. Vocabulary and all. It was really funny. Apparently he also plays a little guitar and some other things.


I've been meaning to pick up the upright bass. I tried it a few times and can get around easy standards and stuff. I really think it's a fun instrument and it kind of relates to the guitar so it wouldn't be as challenging as picking up a physically unrelated instrument.

[carlosLobato]

Got an alto last month, I'm already addicted to it. Finding out how to make it produce sound and figuring out the notes has been super exciting. Obviously being a guitarist helps a lot with those things.

My brother also plays guitar and jamming with the sax is too much fun. Beware of mouthpiece G.A.S.

My advice: do it.

[mrcee]

I've posted on this before. I bought an alto in 1980 having played the guitar for 20 years. I had a decent tone right from the start and was almost instantly able to play it. I finally stopped playing it in the mid 90s as it was taking away from my guitar playing. If it had of been my first instrument I may well have become a top pro. It was uncanny how fast I got it together. That sure wasn't the case with my guitar playing. What ever abilities I've got on the guitar have been the result of long, hard, patient and dedicated practice.

Others on this forum may have heard this story before but I'll repeat it as the OP might be interested.
I bought my horn at a flea market for $200 and when I got home I walked across a field on the edge of town to a creek to try out my new purchase. I was so green that I set the horn up with the mouthpiece upside down with the reed facing up. I honked away pushing random buttons, having a ball. After an hour I walked back to my car and passed a couple of guys walking across the field. One called out to me and asked if that was me playing. I said Yeah and he said that I sounded good and asked if I'd been the high school band and all of that. I didn't want to embarrass either of us so I just said No, I just picked it up over the years. The sax is an easy instrument to play badly and people are easily fooled by a bad player. Guitar players have to earn whatever they get.