Sunroof by Nicky Youre is a pretty cool tune, but there’s one thing missing. That song needs a screaming eight-bar sax solo. So I made one!
I’ve transcribed my Sunroof sax solo, and it’s available for you in our Sax School Locker. So you can register for that down below, it’s completely free. Plus, in this lesson I’m going to show you how you can create your own killer solo like this too.
Free Solo transcription inside Locker
Now I have to tell you, it was my mate, Joe, over on the Saxplained YouTube channel, that got me thinking about this tune. I love Joe’s videos and he’s made one showing you how to play the basic melody for Sunroof. So if you want to learn the melody, go check out Joe’s video on Saxplained. But if you want to learn a killer solo, then stick around because that’s what we’re going to do here.
How to create a solo: first steps
So to start creating a solo like this, first you need to work out the chords in the harmony below your solo. Now for this song, it’s dead easy. There are only 4 chords. Now I’m going to show you on the tenor saxophone in this lesson, but don’t worry. The PDF is also transposed for E flat instruments. So if you’re an alto or a bari sax player, you can still follow along with this lesson.
So for the tenor saxophone, then we’ve just got four chords:
- F (E flat concert)
- C (B flat concert)
- G (F concert)
- A minor (G minor concert)
Once you’ve worked out the chords, the next step is to work out the anchor notes, or the key chord tones, that you can use to create your melody over in your solo.
So for the tenor saxophone, we’ve got:
F concert: F, A, C
C concert: C, E, G
G concert: G, B, D
A minor: A, C natural, E.
It’s a good idea to spend a few minutes playing through those anchor tones, with your backing track on, so that you can hear how those anchor notes or chord tones fit over the harmony.
Now, anchor notes are super-important in your solo. Because if you can weave your melody line around those anchor notes, your melodies in your improvised solo are going to make so much more sense to the listener.
So you can think about starting or ending phrases with anchor notes. Or you could weave through those anchor notes at key important points in the climax of your improvised lines.
Sunroof Sax Solo: Phrase #1
Let’s look at the first phrase from my solo.
Free Solo transcription inside Locker
The first phrase goes from the beginning to the C in bar 3. And there are a couple of cool things to notice.
First of all, we’ve got a run-up at the start, which is just like a pentatonic scale. I’ve got the F, the G, the A, and the C. I’m just missing out on the D.
The other way you can think about it is we’ve got the F, the A, and the C anchor notes. This four note pattern is repeated in the lower octave and then in the upper octave. These sorts of patterns are really simple, but they’re so effective. They feel great under your fingers. So have a play around with them.
The high F at the beginning of bar 1, is the first main note of the solo. First of all, you’ll notice that it’s an anchor note. It’s the naming note of the F chord. So it’s a super-strong note.Plus, I’ve got a great big scoop up to that high F.
Now I’m using the side fingering for this high F instead of the front fingering, because it gives me a bit more flexibility to get a scoop up there. I think it sounds a bit better.
There’s something else I wanted to show you as well. You’ll notice in this bar that I’ve written an optional, higher note. So you could choose to play the E, or instead, you could play the high G. Now that’s really up to you. If you’re comfortable with the altissimo, then I think that note sounds great, but the E sounds pretty cool too.
Also, we’ve got the E flat to D grace note in bar 2. Now, grace notes are an effective technique in this style and lots of other styles, particularly commercial styles. If you want some help with grace notes, check out this lesson. It’ll help you to understand them better and also show you a great example of a solo that uses loads of grace notes.
Watch as I play this phrase for you now using the main note, the high E – nice and slow.
Then watch as I play this phrase with the optional high G. Hey, that sounds pretty cool. What do you think?
Sunroof Sax Solo: Phrase #2
Let’s move on to the second phrase.
So the second phrase starts at the end of bar 2 and runs down to the end of bar four. And again, it’s simple. It works because it’s very rhythmical and clear.
There’s a couple of little tricks here again. We’ve got some grace notes here – the B flat to the B natural in bar 2 and the B flat to the A in bar 3.
Watch as I play this phrase really slowly.
Just watch out for that fall-off on the last E. I’m just hitting the E and then I’m running down chromatically with my fingers as I’m backing off on my air.
Sunroof Sax Solo: Phrase #3
So let’s look at our third phrase.
Free Solo transcription inside Locker
This phrase goes from the beginning of bar 5 down to the end of bar 7. And there are a few cool things that are going on here. First of all, watch out for these 16th rhythms or semiquavers. They helped make it punchy.
And speaking of punchy, I’ve marked in some staccato notes in bar 5 and also at the end of the phrase. So really make those nice and short.
We’ve also got a grace note – B flat down to the A (bar 7).
So watch as I play through the third phrase, nice and slowly. And listen to the way the rhythm works, and how the staccatos and the accents help to make it a lot more exciting.
The magic sauce here is to give it loads of welly as you’re playing through this phrase. Really try and connect with the music and make it exciting. If you can feel excited inside your body, then some of that’s going to come through the horn to the listener.
Sunroof Sax Solo: Phrase #4
Let’s look at the last phrase.
So the last phrase is from bar 8 through to bar 10. Now I’ve written this, so that it’s up the octave. That’s optional. If you are ready to play it up the octave, that’s great.
First of all, I’ll show you the notes down the octave. It’s easy. We’re just going from a D, up to that high C.
Now it’s important to notice here that we are finishing on a high C, which is another anchor note of the cord F: F, A, C. It’s the fifth. It’s not as strong as the tonic, (the root), which is the F, but it’s still a really strong note to finish on.
Listen to how it sounds like if we play it down the octave.
Altissimo Fingerings
Now, if you’re ready to fly up into the altissimo then you’re going to need to know a few fingerings.
So we’re starting on our palm D, up to E, up to G, which I play like this – I use my octave key, I’m using my spatula key or my high F fingering, and I’ve got my bottom side key here. That’s high G.
Then we’re going to A, which I play with the octave key, and left hand fingers 2, 3, and 1, 2, 3 on my right hand.
And then I go for the forked fingering for high C (altissimo C) which is that’s fingers 1, 3, 1, 3, (both hands) and my octave key.
Watch to see what it sounds like really slowly.
Now there are a couple of different ways you can play that high C. I find the forked fingering works quite well, particularly going from the A to the C. But some people like to use the D and the E – the two side keys – with the octave key. That can work well too.
But what makes this sound great is if you can hit that high C with a bit of a growl.
My Sunroof Sax Solo
Right, I think I’ve teased you enough! You’ve seen all the notes. You’ve got some ideas of the sort of techniques that I’m using in my Sunroof sax solo. And you can see how I’m using anchor notes throughout the solo too. Now watch as I show you how the whole thing fits together.
Wrapping up!
So what’s the magic sauce in this solo? Well, I think it’s three things.
First of all, I understood what the harmony was behind the melody by looking at those anchor notes.
I looked at the chords, and the anchor notes, and then made simple melody choices. That’s very, very important. If you understand those anchor notes, then it makes all the choices that you make for your solo so much simpler and clearer, and they make a lot more sense.
Secondly, I’m using very simple rhythms. There’s nothing complicated going on in there.
I’m using quavers and semiquavers, or eighth notes and 16th notes. And I’m also thinking about being very rhythmical about the way that I use those simple rhythms, so it really locks into the backing track.
The third thing is I’m using tons of excitement, energy, and enthusiasm as I’m playing through this solo. That’s a really important point that a lot of people forget.
Free Solo transcription inside Locker
We’ve got to love the music that we’re playing. And we’ve got to connect with it as well. If you can do that internally and get excited about what you’re playing, then some of that is going to come out through your saxophone.
I hope that you’ll try those three things as well. And when you’re ready, go check out this lesson, which is another solo that you can dig into and use these same three techniques on. Have some fun!