Background

An important part of saxophone playing is being able to play in tune. The saxophone is undoubtedly a very difficult instrument to play in tune. But instead of using a tuner, like we did in the Sound Production exercises, we’re going to rely on using our ear more in these exercises. But, if you’re having difficulty with intonation, feel free to pull out the tuner and check tuning.

We’re going to cover exercises that help you learn intervals and match pitches. How often have you heard guitar or horn players trading licks, sometimes matching the lick that the other improviser just did? This skill requires ear training.

Another topic we’ll cover in ear training is transcribing. Transcribing is absolutely critical for learning everything from sound, technique, embellishments, phrasing, and rhythm. New York saxophonist Tim Armacast explained to me that his approach to transcribing is four distinct steps: Listen, Sing, Learn, Write.

What do these four steps mean? Let’s say you want to learn Paul Desmond’s famous alto solo in Take Five. This is a great solo to learn, because it’s relatively easy, technically, but the rhythm is challenging until you get the feel of 5/4 time. Before you start, set your horn down in its stand. The first step is then to Listen. You want to use a software or hardware looping device and start looping a small piece of the solo. Let’s select just the first two bars of the solo to loop. Listen to these two bars intently until you can do the next step, Sing it. Once you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve listened to it, and can sing (or whistle) it perfectly to include embellishments, then and only then do you pick up your horn. Now turn off the music, and play the first two bars by ear. When you think you’ve got it down, turn the looper back on and play with the recording. See if you’ve matched the pitches, match your intonation to Desmond’s, and see if you can copy his phrasing, tonguing, volume levels, and embellishments. The whole package.

What to Practice

Exercise 1. Matching Pitches. One of the best exercises is to practice matching pitches. One method is to have a friend play a pitch and then try to match it. Another is to use one of the many software tools that are available.

Exercise 2. Intervals and Phrases. This exercise involves having someone (or a software tool) provide two different pitches in succession, and then you try to match those on your instrument. Start with just two pitches, but then later you might go to several pitches or licks. This lick matching is often done in real gigs, so this is great practice. Another way to do this is to whistle or sing a couple of notes or a lick, then try to play it on your horn.

Exercise 3. Play Along With The Radio. Playing along with a tune on the radio is a great way to learn to quickly figure out the key of a tune, and to provide an opportunity to discover a neat lick or two. I like to first listen to a tune, see how quickly I can pick out the root and determine if it’s major or minor. Usually I will hum the root in my head, and then pick up my horn and see if I can jump right in to that key. Ballads are great for this. Once you figure out the root and whether it’s major or minor, use the pentatonic scale or blues scale to improvise along with the melody or changes. If it’s a vocal tune, see if you can compliment the vocalist by playing when he or she is not singing.

Exercise 4. All Twelve Keys. This exercise involves taking a short lick or simple tune (like a nursery rhyme) and see if you can play it by ear in all twelve keys.

Exercise 5. Harmony (Advanced Exercise). Learn what modes are for major and minor keys. Once you understand chords and modes, try breaking down a tune by its modes. Then try playing guide tones (smooth lines of chord tones, mostly 3rds and 7ths where possible) over a tune. Bert Ligon’s series of books are a great reference here.

Exercise 6. Keyboard Basics (Advanced Exercise). Try learning a couple of simple things on a keyboard. Start with learning major and minor triads. Then perhaps see if you can do some simple comping for and easy tune, perhaps starting with a blues tune.

Transcribing. Transcribing is a fantastic way to improve your ears and to improve your technique. Tim Armacost, and excellent saxophonist from New York City, gave me a great phrase for the proper way to transcribe. Listen – Sing – Play – Write. What he explained was that you should first listen intently to a phrase that you want to transcribe, with your sax still in its stand. Next you sing or hum the phrase until you know it cold; still with your horn put up. Once you can sing it perfectly, only then do you pick up your horn and try to play it. Once you can play the phrase, write it down if you want. When you first start out, you should only take a few notes at a time. After you’ve done this method for awhile, you’ll find that you can do more and more at a time.

Select some of your favorite artists and transcribe some of their tunes or solos. Some of mine include Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Richard Elliott, John Klemmer, Don Braden, Joshua Redmon, and Paul Desmond. Write down some of your favorite artists here.

1. ________________________
2. ________________________
3. ________________________
4. ________________________
5. ________________________
6. ________________________
7. ________________________
8. ________________________
9. ________________________
10. ________________________

Another thing to look at when you transcribe is all the embellishments that the artist uses. What tonguing and articulation is used? What embellishment techniques were used, such as grace notes, vibrato, slurs, growls? Can you copy the sound and embellishments exactly? Record yourself and see!

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