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Wanna hear this Casino owner play Saxophone?


Notes_Norton

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This may be too off topic so it might get nuked. I'll keep this short with the explanation on the linked page.

 

If you want to hear me play sax, go to This Page

 

I don't know what kind of a guitar the guitarist used. I met him years later and he tells me he plays nothing but Gibson, but it sounds very Fender-ish to me.

 

If this doesn't get nuked, comments are appreciated.

 

Notes

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Bob:

That was FANTASTIC!! What a musician! I listened intently, and kept thinking, "if I could play a sax like that, I'm sure it would help me with my guitar phrasing and lead work."

Thanks for sharing that!

It really was awesome!

=D> =D> =D>

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Thanks for the kind words, Brad, JEPI and layboomo.

 

JEPI, I don't recall what the chords were at all. It's been too long and I didn't get a copy.

 

I do remember they were just a string of chords in the Guitar Key of A (that puts the tenor sax in the key of =D> so I had to transpose, and there were no bar lines or any other indication of the duration of each chord. Fortunately I've played in a lot of guitar bands so A concert (B Tenor Sax) is a very comfortable key for me -- Getting this almost on-topic: Unlike the guitar, the fingerings of the same scale, lick, or arpeggio in each key is very different. It is one of the things I like about the guitar. Learn a scale in A, move it two frets and you are in B. On the other hand, reading music is easier on the sax -- (each instrument has its gifts and its challenges).

 

Not remembering the chords, so substituting other letters for them, the chart I got looked something like this.

 

Tm R U Tm I R I W T7 I I R I Um W

 

I needed my ear as much as my eyes for that one.

 

It's not the best I can play, but it was the best I could do under those circumstances.

 

Of course, that is where going to jam sessions and sitting in does a player (guitar or sax) a world of good. Find out what key the song is in, and try to play along best you can. It's an acquired knack and the more you do it, the better you get at it.

 

Thanks again for the kind words.

 

For a different side of me, go to http://www.nortonmusic.com/clips.html to hear some synth sax and some synth guitar both played on a wind MIDI controller.

 

Some day I'll try plugging my Casino into my computer (via a USB interface) and give y'all something to laugh about =D>

 

Notes

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Thanks Ron. I've simply got a lot of years of practice in (and if you can't practice on stage, where can you practice? <grin>) BTW, I'm absolutely, positively sure there are a lot of people on this forum than can blow me away on guitar -- and on the sax forum there are giants that I am not even worthy of carrying their cases to the gig for them.

 

And Brad, I was thinking about your comment and it started me thinking...

 

I have learned as much about sax playing by listening to guitarists, organists and vocalists as I have by listening to sax players.

 

Furthermore, I think it is important that we listen to other instruments, especially vocals and instruments with "vox humana". I also think it is important that we do not restrict ourselves to listening to only one kind of music. By listening to other instruments and other kinds of music both frequently and attentively the nuances of those forms of music will seep into our subconscious. Some of what goes in there is completely inappropriate for the kind of music we may be playing at the time, but other bits and pieces will resurface in the context of what we are currently doing and improve our ability to express ourselves.

 

Just take modern Nashville music for an example. I've never been enamored with Country music. Back in the days of Buck Owens it was harmonically simplistic for my tastes. C, F and G7 were chords to me, but a career for Hank W. But I can't say that is the reason, because I liked Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King (E, A and B7). Perhaps it is because it is mostly major and my tastes tend to lean towards the minor. But I can't say that because I like a lot of jazz music that leans towards the major as well. Perhaps it is because Boots Randolph was the only sax player that ever hit the Country charts (Boots was actually a very fine sax player). But I listened to it anyway. Nashville has some of the greatest Jazz music on the radio of any southern city (because that is what many of the musicians listen to). Now that jazz and pop musicians have cross pollinated Country music, some of it has great, sophisticated chord progressions and is nothing like "Honky Tonk Blues". So the fact that the guys with the cowboy hats listen to John Coltrane has improved the musicality of Country Music.

 

And because I listened to C&W even though it wasn't my favorite kind of music has come in very handy. Not only have country licks become part of my rock and blues toolbox, but I find myself playing the Casino on Country songs in my duo and really enjoying it. Because they were in my head, they come out of my hands.

 

I know this is drifting far from the original post, and I suppose it is bringing it more on-topic, but it is some of the experience that has helped me stay working as a pro musician and I think it can benefit some of the players that are newer to music.

 

In a nutshell, listen to everything, listen to it attentively, from blues to rock, to country to jazz to classical to opera to Tuvan throat singing to whatever you can - even if it isn't your favorite kind of music. Internalize as much as you can. Try to figure out how the instruments and vocals get their expression in that form of music. It will become nestled in the toolbox in your mind and without your knowing it, the right tool might appear at the right time to enable you to say just exactly what you want to say musically at any given time.

 

Insights, incites and ramblings by Notes

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Bob:

I agree with you 100%!

It's only been in recent years that I discovered what you're saying is true.

Keeping and open mind and and an open ear for other types of music, and other types of instruments, is essential in becoming a well rounded and accomplished musician.

Again, love that sax playing of yours.

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Notes, That really takes me back. Back in the 60,s I used to catch Ira Sullivan and Joe D`Orio at the Rancher Lounge on Biscayne Blvd in Miami. They were the house band at the time. Also worked percussion with JoJo, Al Blaney a pretty good sax man. Wasn`t into guitar at the time, but am heavily influenced by that type of music. Awsome horn man. Wish i were there to see you live, where ever you are in Fla. I left there in the 70,s for parts unknown. Hell, I`m still there.

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