There’s an endless supply of fantastic technical saxophone exercises, right in the pieces that you are playing or learning right now.
Creating your own saxophone exercises this way can be super-effective. It’s the best stuff for you to be working on – because it’ll help you to play the stuff that you’re learning right now.
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So I’m listening to a snippet from the “Flower Duet” by Delibes. It’s a really beautiful piece of classical music, and it’s something that we’re working on with our members inside Sax School PRO this month.
Now I like that section, because it passes between the major arpeggio and the minor arpeggio. And that’s useful if you’re playing classical music, but also if you’re playing jazz or pop or funk, or just about any other style of saxophone playing too.
So today we’re going to dig into that little section, work out what’s going on, and then I’m going to show you how we can create 3 or 4 cool little saxophone exercises from it. Oh, and I’ve got some pro tips for you at the end as well.
Two Types of Chord
So first, let’s look at what’s going on with these chords.
I mentioned at the start that we’ve got two types of chords here – a major chord and a minor chord. And if we start with a C major chord, which is a nice, easy key, then this is what a C major arpeggio, or chord, sounds like on the alto sax.
Listen as I play the C major chord notes.
So to find these chord tones, I’ve gone to the C major scale. I’ve taken the first note (C), the third note (E), and the fifth note (G), and then I’ve repeated the first note at the top – C, E, G, C, or 1, 3, 5, 1.
To go to the minor chord, there’s only one thing that’s changing. We’re lowering the third note by a half step or a semitone. So now it’s 1, (flat) b3, 5, and 1. For the alto saxophone, that’s C, Eb, G, and C. That sounds like this.
Listen as I play the C minor chord notes.
So if you put them all together, you can hear the difference. Remember, it’s only one note that’s changing. It’s just that third note of the scale. This is what it sounds like.
Listen as I play the notes for both major and minor chords
Now, if you already understand harmony and theory, you’re probably thinking, ‘come on Nigel, let’s make this more exciting’. Well, don’t worry. We’re going to dig into some patterns that we can create from that basic technical knowledge in a second. I’ve got two things to tell you first though.
Get the PDF Worksheet
First of all, there’s a PDF for today’s lesson, so you don’t have to write all the notes down as we’re going through them. You can get it for free from the Sax School LOCKER. That’s where we keep all of our free stuff. Click the yellow button link below. It’s free. You can get the PDF and then you can use it in your practice room.
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Descending Arpeggios Challenge
The second thing to tell you – and this is something I should have mentioned at the start – the reason why I like this little snippet from the Flower Duet, is it’s a descending arpeggio. Now, maybe you are different from me, but most people practice arpeggios going up and not going down. And I’ll bet if you try playing all of your downward, descending arpeggios, you’re probably going to find it a bit more challenging.
So we are going to use that little extra level of difficulty in these saxophone exercises today, because it’s probably something that we’re already struggling with.
Saxophone Exercises: Pattern Idea #1
Okay. Let’s dig in and look at the first pattern idea. We’re going to start with a really simple one. Now the Flower Duet is written in six-eight, or at least the way I’ve written it out is in six-eight. So that’s two groups of three quavers, or two groups of three eighth notes. So I’ve written out the patterns in that time signature.
The first of our saxophone exercises uses a really simple descending major and minor arpeggio. We’re just going to go down in 16th notes or semiquavers and quavers, and then ascending again, for the major arpeggio. And then we’ll do the same pattern for the minor arpeggio. So it sounds like this.
Actually, you know what? I just had an idea. I’m using my Yamaha 62 here, but let’s make this a bit more fun. I’m going to use this Jean Paul AS400. It’s a great little student saxophone. Check out the review here.
Okay. Let’s go.
Now don’t forget, I’ve got a tip at the end on how you can take this simple exercise and ramp it up and make it far more complicated. But let’s move on and look at pattern number two.
Saxophone Exercises: Pattern Idea #2
So for the second pattern, I’m just going to combine the descending with the ascending into one long flowing line. This is probably more like what you might use in a playing situation. It sounds like this.
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Watch my demo.
Now, with all of these exercises, it’s really important to use your metronome and to keep it slow. And you should only really play them at a speed where you can play them completely accurately. There are no extra prizes or bonuses for playing it fast, if you’re not playing it accurately. So you’re far better to play it slowly, but super accurately. Then you’re doing yourself some good and you’re improving your technique.
Saxophone Exercises: Pattern Idea #3
Now with this third pattern, we’re just expanding this idea of a long flowing line. And in fact, the entire line is in 16th or semiquavers. So it’s a really beautiful, long, descending 16th or semiquaver line, down to low E and back up to high E. Then we return to the tonic – the C – , then go back down the minor arpeggio down to low Eb, and then back up to the high Eb.
Watch my demo.
Now, of course, you could use your metronome and gradually speed it up, until you can start to play it more quickly and in a long flowing line. The other thing that’s important here is that you should take these little snippets and repeat them over and over. So you don’t just play them through once. You could either one bar or the two bars together, around and around, until you can get it as smooth as possible.
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So that’s three exercises just from that one little idea, starting easy and getting gradually more difficult.
I’ve got a fourth one for you. But before we do that, which of these do you like so far? The first, second, or third?
Saxophone Exercises: Pattern Idea #4
So for the fourth pattern, let’s take this idea and expand it over a full two octaves.
So we’re starting on a high C, going all the way down to low C ,and then back up for the major arpeggio. Then we’re doing the same thing for the minor arpeggio.
Now the real trick here is to watch your little right-hand finger, for how it moves on the Eb to C keys down here. And you might find that you have to keep it pointed or maybe keep it flat. It just depends on how your finger fits over the rollers. Let’s have to listen to what that sounds like.
Watch my demo.
Pro Tip
Now I promised you that pro-tip at the end, didn’t I? So if you want to take this simple idea and expand it over the range of your saxophone, then you can move it over different keys. You can see here in the PDF, I’ve written out those arpeggios for every key, starting from C and going down chromatically.
So the idea here is to take one or two or three or all of them, and apply them to one of the patterns. Let’s have a listen. I’m going to start by doing pattern number three and then moving through the keys.
Watch my demo.
Okay, so that wasn’t perfect. And there are some things I definitely want to work on there in my own playing, to remove those glitches and to get it smooth. But that’s the point of exercises like this.
So have some fun with this. Remember to take it slow. Use your metronome only to speed up when you’re ready. If you work for accuracy, not for speed, you’re going to get the most benefit from this exercise.
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Wrapping Up
So you can take those four patterns and combine them with all the different keys to make your own saxophone exercises. Man, there’s enough stuff there to keep you going for weeks or months, maybe even over an entire year.
If you do work consistently on this sort of exercise, it’s going to do amazing things for your finger technique. And if you want to complement this with some more knowledge and practice on scales, then check out this lesson, where we dig into scales and how they’re constructed.
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