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There’s a very simple reason why the greatest pop sax solos are great.
Every pop sax solo that stands the test of time has a clear structure, a simple melody, and a logic to how it’s constructed. Okay, so that’s simple to say, but perhaps not so simple to actually do.
But today, I’m going to show you an easy four-step process for making your own pop sax solos, and you can use it right away. Here’s why I wanted to share this with you today.
Cloudvocal Jam and Prizes
You’ve probably heard of Cloudvocal. They make amazing microphones and headphones and tons of our Sax School members use their products.
Well, every year they host the Cloudvocal Jam, and this year is no exception. They’ve released a backing track for you to record a solo on, and you can then submit it to them for the jam. And you could win some fabulous prizes.
Resources for you
And by the way, if you want to learn more about pop-jazz, blues, saxophone, or even how to set up your equipment like a pro, Sax School has tons of resources available. You can check out our online lessons and take advantage of our 14-day free trial. Just click on the link below. Now let’s dig in.
The backing track for this year’s Cloud Vocal Jam is a bit different than those in the past contests. Previous tracks had more of a jazzy blues vibe. However, this track is really more of a pop feel.
The chord changes for the solo section in this tune are a bit of a challenge as they don’t really hang around any particular key centre for very long.
So it’s not a progression where you can just stick to one blues scale. When the chord changes in a pop sax solo get more complicated, it can be hard to come up with a great solo that works, unless you have a clear strategy.
Well, this chord progression is great because it gives us an opportunity to dig into this 4 step process that you can use right away to easily do fantastic-sounding solos, even on unfamiliar chord progressions.
Differences Between pop sax solos and Jazz Solos
Now we’ll get into that technique in a few minutes. But first, let’s talk about how a sax solo on a pop song might be different from one on a jazz recording.
Now, of course, no one out there in cyberspace would ever jump at the chance to correct anyone on YouTube. But just in case, let me just state right now that these are just generalisations. And there are always going to be exceptions.
You’ve probably heard it said, that when improvising in jazz you want to tell a story. That means that a good improvised jazz solo has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Well, in a pop solo, the same thing is true, except that a pop solo is extremely condensed.
Now, while a jazz solo is usually played over 32-bar form, you have lots of time to build to a climax and then wind down, pop songs are usually short – around three or four minutes.
So the solo in that song is often going to be just eight bars, sometimes less. So you have a lot less time to tell your story. You’ve got to get to the point pretty quickly, say your piece with very little build-up or wind down at the end.
Now jazz solos emphasise spontaneous creativity, with the soloist interacting live with other musicians, exploring sometimes intricate chord progressions and using rhythmic and harmonic complexity.
A pop solo is typically simple and catchy. The key to a good pop solo is not flashy runs. The focus is on melody. If you listen to any great pop saxophone solo, you’ll find that the one common element is that they all have singable melodies. The best pop solos have catchy, memorable melodies that are easy for the average listener to grasp.
Example: Whenever I Call You Friend
Here’s a great example of what I mean. When I was thinking about some of my favourite pop saxophone solos for this video, one of the first that came to mind was John Clark‘s tenor solo on the Kenny Loggins tune, Whenever I Call You Friend, from 1978. It’s one of those rare solos that hit me the very first time I heard it on the radio.
Let’s give it a listen.
So John comes in and announces that key change with a simple, melodic solo over somewhat involved chord changes. It’s only 8 bars, There’s nothing flashy.
And it’s likely one of those solos that may have been composed in the studio. But the end result is what matters. And in my opinion, it’s a beautiful and classic singable pop saxophone solo. So to prove that it’s a classic, when I told my wife that I was working on a video on what makes a great pop sax solo, she said, ‘Oh, like the one in that Kenny Loggins song?’
Spontaneous or Scripted?
Now while a jazz solo’s main emphasis is improvisation, often a pop sax solo is not entirely improvised. That doesn’t mean that solos on jazz records aren’t melodic, or that some pop solos aren’t 100 percent improvised. For example, Tom Scott‘s great soprano playing on Paul McCartney’s Listen to What the Man Said was actually recorded in one take, while Scott was warming up in the studio. It is still nonetheless a perfect example of a concise, melodic, catchy pop solo. And it’s one of my favourites.
Many of the most memorable pop solos might start out with a raw idea in the studio, and then they’re fine-tuned – sometimes by committee. There’s a process of adding and subtracting until they end up with the fully developed final product.
So often they are essentially being composed in the studio. Someone much wiser than me has made the observation that composition is just improvising only slowing down. And the reverse is also true – that improvising is composing on the spot in real-time.
So we’ll be exploring how to use some of our improvising skills to come up with some ideas for a pop sax solo. And then we’ll use some compositional skills to fine-tune our ideas into a cohesive, concise, memorable pop solo. At least that’s our goal.
How to Begin
Sometimes I find a good place to start is actually without the saxophone. Since we’re not in a recording studio where time is at a premium, we can relax and spend some time with the chord progression.
Now, we’ve included a backing track with the 16-bar progression on a loop. So you can just listen to the track on repeat, and see if any little melodic phrases present themselves in certain sections of the progression.
Try singing those phrases. Often, those little phrases can spur another idea. And before you know it, you might have the start of a melody. So give that a try. Sometimes I’ll have the voice recorder app on my phone, and if something pops out at me that I think might work, I’ll record it and then try playing it on saxophone.
Creating a Melody from a Chord Progression
Now after you’ve spent a bit of time engaging your ears and your imagination, let’s jump into the four steps to creating a melody from a chord progression.
Creating the perfect pop sax solo: Step 1
Now, in a progression like this, it’s best to break it down into bite-sized chunks. If you have any keyboard skills, the best way to do this is just to play each chord, while holding down the sustain pedal, and then just play your saxophone over each chord.
Play through each chord, out of time, just working on getting the chord tones in your ears and under your fingers. Then try the same thing using the scales that are appropriate for each chord. We’ve included a PDF with the most common scale suggestions for each chord.
If you don’t play piano, we’ve created a practice track with each chord played for eight measures, so you can practice over each chord. This practice track uses just the first eight-bar section, since the second eight bars are essentially the same, except for that last measure.
For demonstration purposes, the chords are being held half as long, just so you can get a general idea of how to work through each chord.
After spending some time getting the scales and chord tones under your fingers, try playing along with track number two. This is is the chord progression in time, but at an easier tempo.
Play the chord tones in time, ascending and descending.And then play them in a random order.
Step 2: Adding rhythm
Now, let’s add some rhythm to the mix. Come up with a rhythmic pattern on your own and play the chord tones in random order, but using that rhythm.
Try this using a different rhythm each time. Practising like this allows you to focus on creating melodic lines with the guidelines of a rhythmic template. It’s kind of like painting by numbers. All of these exercises are to get you familiar and comfortable with the chords and the corresponding scales.
Guide Tone Lines and Melodic Development
Now a really useful technique to create a melodic solo is by using guide tone lines. This is creating a line that outlines the chord progression in the smoothest way possible. So we’re moving from one chord to the next using the closest chord tone, usually no more than a whole step. If two consecutive chords have some notes in common, then the tones don’t have to move from one chord to the next.
A good guide tone line will give you a foundation to create a strong melody. Experiment with different options until you’ve come up with a guide tone line that you like.
Here are some examples of several different lines created over our eight-bar progression. Now pay attention to the difference between a line that stays constant, using common tones over different chords, versus one that changes with each chord.
You’ll also notice that the thirds and sevenths of the chord are the ones that represent the chord in the strongest manner. Let’s give each one a listen.
Choosing Guide Tone Lines
I’m going to pick these two lines as the framework for my solo. And since I want the second eight bars to kick it up a notch, I’m going to use the guide tone line that starts a little higher in the second half.
Once you’ve picked your line, try playing just the guide tones and changing the rhythm.
At this point, try to play the notes with some conversational rhythm, meaning a question and answer. This will help you to get into the habit of allowing an idea to sit there, instead of just playing a rapid stream of notes. You want to play around with this line until you can hear the guide tones in your head.
Step 4: Connecting your melody
The next step is to use some of the notes of the corresponding scales to connect the guide tones to each other. We start with this four-bar guide tone line. Then we take that line and add one note to each guide tone.
So, in the tenor key, the first guide tone is an F sharp – the seventh of G major. And I’ll connect that to a D, which is the fifth of the G chord.
I repeat that in the next measure.
And then in the following measure, the guide tone goes up to a G, the root of the G six chord, and I connect that to an E, which is the sixth of that G six chord.
The next chord is an A minor, and the guide tone here is the flat seven G, which will connect to an E in the fifth.
Then up to the A, and then to the F sharp guide tone, the root of the F sharp 7.
So now we have an outline that sounds like this.
More connecting notes
Now I’ll add some more connecting notes to give the line a bit more of an angle. I’m playing an A in between each set of tones, which gives us this.
Finally, I added a G major pentatonic, but starting on the A as a pick-up. And here is a D major run up to the G of the G6 chord, then a chromatic run-up to the G, and then a chromatic run down from the A to the F sharp. And that gives us this line.
You can do this a couple of measures at a time, experimenting until you feel like you have a melody that speaks to you. And that bit of melody can inspire the next bit.
Once you’ve created a melody using the guide tones, play around with it a bit. Change registers, experiment with different ways to connect the guide tones, and maybe change the direction of a connecting line.
Adding some style
Now, once you have a melody that you think works for you, inject some personality and your own style. The way you articulate, use dynamics, vibrato, and growl – all those elements will take your melody and make it sound like you. And that is what will make your solo come alive.
Here’s a pop sax solo using the guide tones. I use guide tone line A for the first eight bars and then guide tone line B for the second eight.
Final tips
Well, I hope you found this lesson useful when you’re creating your pop sax solos. You can get the PDF and practice tracks from this lesson, along with all of our other free resources inside the Sax School Locker. It’s completely free. Just click on the link below and sign up.
And if you want to learn even more skills to take your sax playing to the next level, come and join the over 3000 members inside Sax School. We’ve got hundreds of lessons in all different genres, and we’re constantly adding new content. So come and take advantage of our 14-day free trial. Just click on the link below to check it out.
And don’t forget to enter the Cloudvocal Jam. It’s open all month long, and we’re looking forward to hearing your entries.
Let’s see if you can incorporate some of the tips we’ve discussed today. And if you need some more inspiration, go check out this video to hear the greatest pop solos of the 1980s.
