Many times, people who want to learn to play the saxophone, especially adults, have wondered if it’s necessary to go to lessons or if it’s possible to learn to play the saxophone at home themselves.
And today, learning by yourself is possible because there are a lot of tools available to do so.
In this article, we’ll Let’s dive into how you can learn saxophone by yourself and improve your skills without help from a professional tutor.
Can you self-teach saxophone?
Nowadays, there are so many information sources and education platforms that you can access to learn saxophone without the need to be part of a traditional educational environment or music lesson.
But what you need to keep in mind is that correctly learning how to play the saxophone by yourself requires discipline, patience, and time.
Is it difficult to self-learn the saxophone?
Is the saxophone easy to learn or is it hard will totally depend on your level of patience and diligence, because you’ll need to learn several skills to be able to play proficiently?
If you aid yourself with books and other resources such as videos, tutorials, apps, and online courses, you’ll be able to master them with no problem.
What you will have to learn
Assemble and care for a saxophone
You’ll need to learn how to assemble, disassemble and properly care for your instrument to ensure it’s kept in optimum condition for practice and presentations.
Read and interpret music notation
You can learn how to play by listening, but for future presentations and to completely dominate the art of playing any musical instrument, you’ll need to learn how to read and interpret music notation.
Perform multiple Major scales
Versatility is key when playing the saxophone, so you’ll need to learn the musical scales, which are a group of keys or notes that you can play together.
Form a correct, strong saxophone embouchure
The way you position your lips on the mouthpiece is called an embouchure and only with a correct and strong saxophone embouchure will you get the results you want. There are many techniques and tips on how to accomplish this, so you’ll need to master this skill first.
Play dozens of popular melodies and songs
Practice makes perfect. So, in order to be a proficient player you need to master a variety of melodies and songs, and choosing popular ones will make the experience more enjoyable for you. Also, you can later add them to your repertoire.
Recognize and play nearly every note on the saxophone
Notes and keys are the composition of music, so you’ll need to recognize and differentiate each one of them on a music sheet to perform. A mistake in a note can affect your whole performance.
Online courses
This is considered to be one of the best options to easily learn saxophone by yourself. There are many subscriptions or purchase-based online courses available that you can use to learn saxophone online in a guided and cohesive way.
Pros and cons
Saxophone online courses are designed by musicians in an organized and well-planned way which makes it easier for beginners to follow step by step.
Since they’re made by professionals with experience not only in playing the instrument but also in tutoring, this can be a very similar experience to a real-life tutoring session. And based on their experience they know all the usual questions beginners may have so they address them in the courses to help you understand the whole idea better.
In the case of subscription-based online courses, tutors tend to keep them up to date with new content as new questions and tendencies arise, as well as answering new questions from subscribers. The downside of online courses you purchase is that they may not include that feature and you’ll need to purchase newer editions, if available, every time they update it.
3 best online course examples
According to fellow musicians, these are some of the best online courses to learn how to play the saxophone.
- Udemy’s “Learn to play saxophone: Beginner to Pro in under four hours” compiles years’ worth of private lessons in just a few hours. So, if you’re a fast learner and can keep up, try it.
- Udemy’s “The complete beginner Saxophone Course” is a cohesive program where you go over everything from the basics up until you’re ready to perform in front of an audience.
- Sax School’s “Getting Started with Saxophone” is a free course that includes 11 saxophone lessons to cover everything you need to be able to play the saxophone.
Watch Videos Online on YouTube
Nowadays there are video tutorials on the internet for just about everything, especially on YouTube, including learning how to play the saxophone. Videos give you a more visual learning experience compared to books, and you can learn everything from the basics to tricks from professionals.
Pros and cons
You can find a large collection of videos online, mostly on YouTube, and for free, which is one of its greatest pros. There are specific videos for everything from the basics like embouchure, how to position your body, among others, to more complicated and specific skills from pro sax players. So, they may be a helpful tool for beginners and advanced players alike.
The downside is that the videos can be uploaded by anyone, so you’ll find good and not-so-good techniques. You’ll need to spend some time sorting out what’s useful and what’s not. The reviews and comments can shed some light on it, and there are some channels that have been proven to be very helpful.
3 best online channels
You can go explore the following YouTube channels that have great reviews and a lot of content to learn saxophone online for free:
Learn by listening to Professional Saxophonists
Why you should listen to professionals
Everything is possible if you have the will and drive to achieve it. If you know the basic skills of how to play the saxophone like how to hold it properly, how to position your fingers and thumbs correctly and how to blow into the mouthpiece to produce sound, you could learn to play the saxophone by mimicking what you see from professional players and with time and practice get the results.
Pros and cons
There are skills that require a little more than simply watching a professional saxophonist play because they’re not that obvious. The correct positioning of your lips on the mouthpiece, how strong or how soft to blow air into the instrument, and how to read music can’t be learned by watching someone play.
However, pro players can have some tricks and techniques that they’ve developed from years of practice that can’t simply be explained and you’ll need to see them in play. So, learning this way you’ll be able to get more than from simple student lessons.
The 3 best pros to listen to
- Charlie Parker is considered by many as the greatest saxophone player in history. He elevated jazz from simply entertaining dance music to the highest form of improvised art.
- John Coltrane is a virtuoso of the tenor sax, and his style innovated the use of chord progressions. His style is known as a cascade of sound.
- Sonny Rollins is a jazz tenor saxophonist widely known as one of the greatest influences in jazz music of all times. He’s a master at developing musical motifs and can create infinite variations of one single melodic idea.
Saxophone Apps
About apps
There’s a wide selection of great smartphone apps that you can use to practice wherever you are. Normally they include tutorials that are great for beginners and to refine the skills of more advanced saxophone players because everyone benefits from some skill refreshments once in a while.
Pros and cons
Smartphone training apps can be used by every level of experience to learn and fine-tune your saxophone playing skills. They also include detailed information on fingering charts and can change the whole playing environment depending on what you want to achieve and how you want to learn.
Some of the smartphone training apps need to be purchased, but there are also some very good ones that can be downloaded for free for either iOS or Android.
Choosing between all the options of saxophone apps available will depend on why you need them and what you want to achieve with them. There are a lot of options for tuning, learning, or refreshing skills, or for simply practicing in a different environment and in a more fun way.
3 best online apps
- If you’re a beginner looking for an app to practice sax, Saxophone All-in-One is an excellent option. It’s useful to check scales, transpose songs or get references for fingering.
- Tonestro is ranked among the top saxophone practice apps, it’s intended for wind instruments and helps you learn and improve at the same time.
- Another lean saxophone app is Fingering, a popular saxophone practice app, especially among beginners who need to learn how to finger properly to enhance their playing experience.
Saxophone Method Books
Basically a textbook, Method Books detail the necessary techniques to play saxophones and most of the time, if they’re for beginners, provide specific instructions and detailed information about technique and how to achieve it. Also, they’ll include popular songs to practice and provide a lesson plan to follow. It’s one of the classic ways to learn saxophone for beginners.
Pros and cons
Method books cover everything a beginner needs to dominate in order to play the saxophone: how to play the first note on the sax, fingering, breath control, saxophone reeds, high and low ranges, and saxophone tuning.
If you dedicate the time and have the patience to learn saxophone by book, they’re great tools. But you won’t be able to listen to the intended sounds and you’ll need to rely on your instinct or on what you’ve heard because books are not visual or audible tools.
3 best saxophone books
- Commonly referred to as “The Saxophone Bible”, the method book “Universal Method for Saxophone” by Paul Deville is a very reputable source of information for students and professional musicians alike to learn saxophone.
- “25 Daily Exercises for Saxophone” by H. Klose is recommended to hone the ability of speed and dexterity. It can also be used to learn the flute and clarinet.
- Although it’s become very hard to find, “28 Studies for Saxophone” by Guy Lacour helps develop melody and rhythm for contemporary, classical, and jazz music.
5 tips to motivate yourself to learn saxophone at home
- You’ll be able to choose the music you want to play, including the genre. If you want to learn saxophone by yourself, feel free to dive into what makes you happy and the music that made you want to choose the instrument.
- Do it at your own pace, and don’t put too much stress on yourself.
- Play with your instrument and have fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re more likely to quit.
- Be patient and go back and forth between lessons until you learn saxophone.
- Get some feedback from others to measure your improvement process.
Final Thoughts
If you try to learn saxophone at home, take the time to learn the basics: how to position your body, how to hold the instrument, the embouchure, etc. Because these are the fundamental skills you’ll need to achieve your goal.
Be patient and take the time you need; in the end, you’re doing this because you want to make the most of it and enjoy it.