The other day I picked up an old alto saxophone from a pawn shop for my Christmas present from my wife. We just ordered some reeds, neck strap, mouthpiece, ligature, and cleaning kit to get it ready for playing. Only problem, I haven't played in nearly 20 years. I was 1st chair 1st seat in several bands when I was a teenager before giving it up in favor of football and baseball among other sports and just didn't have enough time to dedicate to it. I regret ever putting it down so i'm going to see if I can pick it back up after all these years. Anybody else do anything like this with success?
Not sax; I played oboe for a few years. But I did play classical guitar (Bach, Weiss, Handel) for 25 years, which is what attracted me to the oboe, which I tried for 5 years, then gave it up as my job became all consuming. I still play guitar, but blues, mostly with a pick. When one ages, finger picking points out how much loss of manual control one has endured......
Gotcha, I picked up sax very quickly, pretty much a natural at it. Within 6 months to a year I went from not knowing how to play at all to being 1st chair. I could site read music for the 1st time ever and play it rather well. Then I put it down and ended up giving my sax to my brother who ended up selling it. When I picked this sax up at the shop it felt natural to hold again. I think I'll surprise myself, or i'm hoping. My wife is just thrilled btw, gets to listen to me make noise for a while HAHA I also have a couple guitars that I mess around on. I didn't learn how to play one properly like I did the sax. Just play by ear, don't know very much on it. But the things I've taught myself I have down pat. I'm not nearly as talented at guitar as I was on the sax.
I picked up a Uke about a year and a half ago, after not playing music at all for more than 30 years. (Played a few different instruments at one time... sax, bass, cello, drums... mostly jazz and rock) You pick it back up pretty quickly, but like Barry said... getting your mouth and diaphragm muscles back in shape will be the hard part.
Suite, how's the playing coming along? I'll be able to report how out of shape / rusty I am once I get my stuff delivered. Right now I have no way of playing to know how far I have to go to get back. I hope I can still read music. I know that's going to take some time too.
I was lead alto in my high school's jazz band. Gave it up after a while to focus on guitar. Now I avoid playing music as much as possible. Start out on a low strength reed just until you get your chops back in shape, you don't wanna blow your lip out. Then after some time adjust your reed size until you get the tone you like. And of course that's all contingent on personal preference and the type of mouthpiece you're playing on. I played a 3.5 on my Vandoren but would drop down to a 2.5 for my Otto Link. If you're gonna commit to sax long term, your next investment should be a solid mouthpiece. Best way to get good, play your sax 30 minutes a day (long tones, scales/arpeggios, sight reading, etudes) and then spend another 30 minutes studying theory (ear training, building chords, progressions). And make sure that you can play everything slow and WELL before bringing it up to speed. Remember if you can't play it slow, you can't play it fast.
One of my daughters violin teachers once said, "The slower you practice it, the faster you learn it". Very true.
Thanks for the advice, it all sounds very familiar. I'm sure i'll start having flashbacks to my music teacher from back in school. I went with a cheap Bundy II sax and a Yamaha mouthpiece just to get my bearings back and see if it's something I still enjoy as much as I did then. If I pick it up I have my eyes set on a much nicer setup to play long term. I went with a box of Vandoren 3's to start, I'll see how that goes.
I can't read music, but I do play guitar. I know just about every chord, I can strum along to just about anything, but I can't really solo etc. Look, I ain't no Barry, but it's fun. I need people to play with. My biggest fan is my dog.
guitar, here...there's always been one lying around since I was a toddler. Not trained/can't read music, but, over the years, have watched enough instructional videos to pick up very basic theory...enough to look/sound impressive to most people (progressions, modulations, inversions, maj/min/pentatonic/diminished scales, etc). Delved a little deeper than the average novice because I wanted to develop stronger (not just "three chord") original songs. ...but, sure, I've gone through countless periods when I didn't play for long periods of time.
The playing is coming along... I play just about every day. Very relaxing, but most of all it's a creative outlet for me... once you learn the chords (which is super easy on the uke), you can noodle around and find interesting combinations of chords that you can link up with a strumming pattern. Then you just let the words float around in your head until you hit on something that fits. It feels good when you stumble into something that both sounds interesting, AND has meaning for you. People sometimes ask me to play for them, but I always say no... it's something I do for me. But I do like playing with my son. Got him a uke for his birthday, so when we have time together we play. He's a REALLY talented musician. Plays piano. He knows all of the basic chords, but can look at my fingers and tell me what chord I'm playing just seeing what chord it's related to and counting the frets/steps. Crazy smart kid...
yeah, pretty aggravating when I go on youtube and see teenagers playing stuff it took me decades to develop. We had very little of the learning tools kids have today...back then, it was either pay a teacher or fake it by copying what your heard on a vinyl record. I doubt kids today appreciate what they've got going with the internet...but they're obviously reaping the rewards.
The information age changed everything. I still don't utilize it enough to learn and do things. I'm going to try and get better about that.