WHY ARE LONG TONES SO IMPORTANT?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ส.ค. 2024
- www.scottpaddocksaxschool.com - STUDY SAX WITH SCOTT PADDOCK
When working on long tones, you should be doing more than just holding notes as long as possible. You should be working on your breath support, air stream, dynamics and tone. In this video I give you a step by step guide on how to get the most out of your long tone practice.
SKYPE LESSONS: Yes, I give Skype lessons! And, if you sign up for one (or more) you will see immediate results. From tone, and tonguing to style and improv, I can help get you headed in the right direction. For more info contact me via: www.scottpaddock.com or through Instagram @scottpaddocksax
INSTAGRAM: @scottpaddocksax
www.scottpaddock.com
Scott Plays:
P. Mauriat 67RX Influence alto sax
Barkley Brazil Kustom Pop 7 Blue mouthpiece
Legere Signature 2.5 reeds
BG Silver Duo ligature - เพลง
“Work on your long tones.” Jay, Nigel and Scott. After two years of focused practice and you guys, I’m enjoying my music so much because it’s sounds so much better. Even your old sessions, I watch and wait for the pearls. Keep them coming.
Nice clear explanation, I really like those super low tones, I’m definitely going to practice them.
wow, going soft with long tones. Haven't heard that before but it makes perfect sense. Something I have needed to work on for a long time and always neglected. Thank you, Scott!
Thank you so much. I am an old (not that I’ve played a long time, I’m just old) sax player that wishes I had these videos earlier to help me along. Your information is essential, well presented and seems to hit me right where it is needed at the time.
Awesome! Thanks Lee.
@@ScottPaddock
Thanks
Thank you, Scott, for explaining how to correctly play long tones and why they are necessary for tone development.
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Lots of help and understanding with long tones. Thanks!
Excellent lesson Scott. I do lone tones every day (15 minutes) and I am often told how good my tone is. The stuff about centring the air was great - I hadn't heard that before, so I will bring it into my routine from today.
Keep up the good work, buddy - i am learning loads
Peter
15 minutes! I cant do 5 for my family would throw a shoe at me haha
Great video!!! The why's, the how's and the anticipated results...
You are the first one who has said “don’t take a big breath”. That is perhaps the most important advice i have got. Thank you!
Scott, there are a lot of teachers here on TH-cam but you’re by far the best!
That's true
Very informative again Scott! Not only did I learn a thing or two but you’ve renewed my motivation to keep doing long tones each day. 👍🏻
Thanks Ian! 2 minutes a day of long tones can be really helpful!
AWESOME tutorial!
I've watched a LOT of instruction vids but, THIS video puts such a perfect emphasis on the importance of a very overlooked subject! Thanks a million!
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Whenever people speak to me about my playing after a gig, they ALWAYS say how much they like my tone. End of. Well done Scott, your lessons are great - keep 'em coming!
Finally! now I understand how, and just as importantly why, to practise long tones - very helpful, thanks
That ist a brillant and an excellent lesson. Thank you so much Scott👍
Really helpful advice on taking a normal breath of air before playing long tones, and working on soft as well has loud tones. But I was really surprised that you did not suggest playing to a tuner with a needle device that actively displays percentages of sharp and flat. This strategy was taught to me from the start and I have found it to be an essential tool to help me not only to play a steady tone, but to find the tone that is actually in the correct pitch for the note I am playing. Yes I can hear when my pitch varies, but having the visual feedback has really helped me to achieve a steady tone within just the first week of practicing to one. Also, I am able to at the same time work on getting each note on my horn in correct pitch.
Thanks Scott, Best long tone explanation I've seen and I've seen plenty! Very easy to understand. I just know this will improve my tone. Getting so much content out of your videos. Love your teaching style! Very grateful.
Steve
Thanks Steve!
Thanks for posting, really well explained
best long tone explanation ever.. it's not time of note played, it's steadiness of note played.
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Wow.. Very informative and useful. Thanks from the Philippines.
Excellent! I’ll add this to my practice. Thanks a lot!
Hello Scott.. I'm in lockdown (São Paulo Brazil) watching all your videos and trying to play!!! Tks Lot! you're the best Master!!!
Scott’s advice is always top notch. The guy has a gift.
Thank you!!
Thanks scott, clear and concise as usual, I’m on the long tones!
Thanks Paul!
I was taught long tones by my high school teacher, she was a professional Trombone player, have never forgotten! That was back in the 80's.
Best explanation I’ve ever heard. Thanks Scott.
Thanks Paul!
Oh man. Thanks for that POV. Never heard this info before.
After seven years, only now do I fully understand “practice your long tone” 🙏🎷🙏🎷🙏
Yeah, it's usually over emphasized and under explained.
Excellent pieces of advice. Very nice!!!
Thank very much, Scott! Nice video!
thanks!!
Some great advice here Scott, thank you. I’ve never had ‘long tones’ really explained that clearly - how soft can you play! Practising softly suits my neighbors too!
Yeah, they are super important and helpful if you practice them correctly.
Brilliant advice. Thank you so much
Thanls so much Scott, really seems to help
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Very fantastic!
Hi Scott, I always start my warm up with long tones along side a tuner app so I can measure the pitch and steadiness of the tone. I came across this exercise on TH-cam. Oct D for 4 counts C Sharp for 4 counts rest 4 counts. Do this for every semi-tone down to low C. Keep using oct D. Then start at oct D plus oct E flat all the way up to oct C Sharp. Try to hold your embrocher even during the rest to help strengthen those muscles. Sounds complicated but it's self explanatory once underway. Thanks as usual for time again 👍🎷
Hey Terry! That sounds like a real chop builder.
this is extremely useful and well presented
You really helped Sir
great ideas Scott, Ksaxman.
Love the message!!
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Another Great tutorial mate! Ill give this thinking a go on my longtones! I'm struggling starting notes clean and getting some horrible split notes at the mo! Can generally keep notes clean on long tones its when playing im struggling, concentrating on steady breathing may help!
Literally in my second lesson I said to my teacher.... "your sound/tone is so present and strong right from the first moment of your first note.... i want that". He said practice long tones. I remember he said "When you're out and about playing, you can always tell someone who practices long tones and someone who doesn't". A couple of years , many long tones and many gigs later, I understand his answer. Now I encourage others to long tone it up :).
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Scott this was very helpful
I saw you're growling video too, can you make a video about growling routine, excerices and tips?
Amazing effort man
Thanks Ahmed!
Your lessons are amazing.
Thank you! 😃
When I first started playing saxophone. My teacher had me long tone all notes
chromatically from the bottom to the top and back down. 1988
That's a lot of long tones!
Good point on long tone! Heard about long tone from a lot of professional players on TH-cam🎶🎶🎷
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An amazing local trumpet play that taught at a summer jazz education week I did a long time ago taught us to put a piece of paper on the wall and use our air to hold it up. He told us to do on days we don't practice untill you feel like your gonna pass out. It builds air control and volume really quick.
Hmmmm, I've never tried that. Sounds easier on a trumpet than a sax because of how the air comes out of the bell.
This man gives thé shortcuts that aller beiginners need whithout extra misterious, each word isis à ussefull tip!! Good vidéo!
The first time I was told very specifically that the single most important exercise for better saxophone playing was about a year into my picking the horn up and right after a concert (just a couple years ago) by Benny Golson!
Yeah, long tones are where it's at if you are trying to improve your tone!
Nice video!! One about breathing (technique, control, strenghtening exercises, or so) would be great to complement this one! It's a back to basics, but surely it would be useful for many!
I've done a few about breath support but they are titled under getting a bigger sound.
My drummer's uncle gave me the what of this back in high school fifty years ago. Never understood the hy of this till now.
Thanks Scott you got my like once more. I owe all my tone on sax to long tones. I still have to work on soft long tones. That to me takes more focus and concentration.
Hey Jason, yeah, controlling that air and getting it really soft will do amazing things for your tone!
@@ScottPaddock Scott I have been thinking that a gear upgrade may help me with that what do you think
Thank you Scott❤🇬🇭
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Excellent advice Scott I love your videos and your direct way of explaining certain techniques and methods to help my playing thanks, buddy, with my breathing from the diaphragm I try ti Imagine a hole in my belly button and breath in through that ..works for me
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My late father is a musician and a trumpet player. This is the same thing what he told his students.
A really good jazz flutist/sax told me to work on it along with pitch training
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Thanks I am guilty of werbling bad it's like when I go back packing and go down a long hill my legs start shaking. After playing a lot of higher notes I start shaking or warbling. Going to start practicing these tips.
This will fix the problem. Also make sure your reed isn't to hard, and that you don't have any leaks in your sax. Those can cause some problems too.
I like your videos a lot
Thanks Nina!
I was told to play long tones maybe 2 years ago but I guess to did not feel like it was sexy to do lol, boy was I wrong
Long tones are sexy! Well, maybe not sexy..... long tones are cute. ish. haha They are a bit painful, BUT they work!!!
Kirk Whalum told me at a concert in Raleigh NC
Hey Scott, great work you're doing here with these lessons .
Just recently started taking saxophone lessons from the internet.
As a beginner, is it better to learn sax in concert key or in its original key?
Long tones work your breathing, your lip embouchure
They work everything!
This tip helps misunderstood Long tones
The first time anyone told me to play long tones- for an hour each day- was back in 78. I took one lesson from saxman Bert Wilson- Big Wheels Bert. I was trying to learn the clarinet. He gave me a practice routine of- play long tones for an hour, then scales for two. Then you can play along with the radio. And he said, If you are not going to do that don't waste my time and give that horn to someone who'll play it.
Might not be the best advice. Haha.
Hi Scott, once again a very useful tuto. May i Suggest an idea: I m one of your followers since you started to make videos. So far, you created so many tutos, why not to create a new video explaining how to use them in a logical way? I mean regarding the sax player level , beginner, intermediate or confirmed you can selected some of them as base line. I m sure it would be very useful for us as we would have a kind of logic in our learning. I mean long-tones for example comes first, following by chords, improvisation, etc...Only you can help us to create our e-learning program. Doing that, we could follow our progression. It was just an idea. Cheers. Patrick
Hey Patrick! I am working on putting an online "saxophone school" that will do exactly that. It will be a step by step process that will get you from point A to point B with very specific exercises and that are level appropriate. As you go through it you'll master more scales, more patterns, learn more songs, and understand chords and improv better. It's a pretty big project!!! There will be a monthly fee for it, but it will be well worth the money.
Good news Scott, but as you are aware, many Sax e-school are existing on the web and if you do that, try to do something really original compared to the other ones. If you need a international group of pool of testers before make it available in a web-based, I m in...;).
Question for this tuto: is the exercise exactly the same for Tenor?
Thanks for another great video, man. Knowing the how and why to practice these long tones really takes the idea of practicing them from boring to really incredible.
I do notice that when I do long tones or play in general that I have a spitty tone. I try to suck my saliva out from the mouthpiece and it solves the problem a bit but then the salivary sound goes back again. How do I make a clean sound out of the saxophone?
Yeah, long tones are less painful (still a little painful) if you are practicing something specific with them. Spitty sound, that happens to us all. There really is no solution outside of suck the spit back in. It happens to me more often when I have on a hard reed, so maybe check that. But the only key is to make sure you swallow before playing. If you play for several hours, there's no way around... especially with long tones.
@@ScottPaddock it's good to know that the spitty sound is a common thing hehe :) but hey, big thanks about the hard reed. Now that you mentioned it, I do notice that the spitty sound is very very evident when I first try on a new reed. Keep uploading these kind of videos man. Really really helpful!
My sax instructor told me “work on long tones” and spent time with me listening to how I did. So, he was right.
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when maintaining a steady stream of air, does the belly go in/squeeze or out?
What piece(s) of advice can you give us beginners on how to practice/learn a tune effectively? Like do you start slowly? How slow is slowly at first and how do we know it's time to speed it up?
It's to much to explain in a YT reply, but that sounds like a good idea for a video. Stay tuned :-)
@@ScottPaddock thanks scott! 😊
1st time I've hear it? Here! hah
So, how long should a long tone be? I can play the middle G on my bass clarinet for 40 seconds. But, that's not a great tone (I just started taking lessons - 6 so far).
I also play tenor sax (mine is a 1959 Mark VI, serious since 2009) and managed a 42 second middle A on that (concert G). My first teacher (2009) was impressed. I'm76 y.o.
sorry this is off topic but is that the roland aerophone on your shelf? how do you like that thing? are the buttons okay? I can't believe yamaha discontinued the wx5 or the wx11 for that matter without a replacement. have you made a video regarding midi options for sax players? may be a good one. PS I tried the P Mauriat saxophones at NAMM on your advice and you are absolutely right. They are fantastic.
Hey! Glad you liked the PM! Which was your favorite? I did a video on the unboxing of the Roland AE-10, check it out!! It's great!!!!!
Nice lesson, so how long do your recommend holding the long tone for best effectiveness?
Thanks! Until you start to run out of air. Once you start running out of air you no arelonger accomplishing the goal of getting a really steady tone. So somewhere between 10 - 20 seconds is good. The softer you play, the longer you can hold the note because you are using less air.
Interesting, thanks, When I was first learning I was told I should be able to play a long tone for 60 seconds. The only way I could ever do this was to take a huge breath to start - something you discourage. Is this a different way of (or reason for) practicing long tones ?
60 seconds is a long time to hold a note, and that seems a bit counter productive in spending a lot of time trying to accomplish that goal. As far as teaching long tones, every teacher has their own style.
Excellent advise ..I do not like my tone I think 🤔 it’s crap .on the tenor it sounds much better .but the alto is my first choice .tenor is to heavy .and cumbersome,ok back to my tone ,long notes I definitely don’t do enough off by far ,maybe this is the reason why I do not like my tone .👂ok so I need to do this daily for 20 min ,I’ve been playing for 4 ish years now .great advise as always 👍
Hey Paul! Yes, do it daily, but for like 2-5 minutes at the most. Just really focus in on getting a really steady airstream. This is the key to getting a tone that you will like.
Thanks Scott. Maybe call it not practicing long tones. But practicing long breath.
You can call it whatever you want as long as you practice it. haha.
Toca muy bien y me gustaría aprender es un espacio
Estoy buscando un maestro
Ese es mi género música Blue me gustaría aprender a tocar
Steve Goodson of Sax Gourmet ends all his videos with "remember to keep your reed wet and practice long tones everyday"
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On here sir
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Hey Scott, shouldn't this be done with a tuner? With an analog tuner (with needle), warbling is easier to detect and you could correct pitch issues.
Not necessarily. The idea behind this is to get perfectly moving air flow. I usually tell my in person students to close their eyes and listen to the note and center it so there are no warbles. If you are looking at a tuner, you are not 100% concentrated on the air flow. But of course you need to play in tune :-) So maybe some with some without?
Can you please explain circular breathing.
I don't know how to do it. I've never really tried it.
What is the large monitor in background
It's just my second computer screen. I turn it off in the videos because I have to much junk on my desk top. haha.
Kool
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My instructor has been playing for over 50 years, and he can't stress enough how important long tones are. I just asked him this week , what do you practice? He said: first long tones with scales . I was shocked after 50 plus years , still long tones and scales.
Yeah, long tones, long tones and more long tones. :-)
I always thought it was necessary but I was wrong
Sorry .. your lessons are great!
Thanks!
how do you play soft without it sounding fuzzy?
You have to really focus your air. Even though the air is moving slower, it still has to be in the dead center of your mouthpiece to fend off the fuzzies.
What is that mouthpiece?
Barkley Brazil Kustom Pop 7 Blue
Hi Scott,what's your tenor sax brand?Thanks.
P. Mauriat 66RX unlacquered. Love it, although if I had to buy it again I would go with the dark lacquer. It has way easier upkeep.
Thanks a lot.
can long tones help with spitty tone ?
Once you get your breath support figured out you can avoid it when it's happening, but the solution for a spitty tone is to clean out the mouthpiece. If you always have a spitty tone you might be playing reeds that are to hard or have a leak in your sax. Also, the saxophone fix for a spitty tone is sucking the spit back in through the mouthpiece... .which is gross, but we don't have spit valves. That's one of the many reasons you always want to keep your mouthpiece clean.
Great stuff How long should u try to maintain For a prof like yourself how long could they hol a steady G or low D
It's not about the length, more about the flat tone with no disruption, but 10 seconds what be a good amount to shoot for. 10 seconds with a completely uninterrupted air stream is way harder than it sounds.
Do you teach online?
Yeah, I've got a Sax School. Check it out: www.scottpaddocksaxschool.com
My first teacher told me that. In his living room, probably.
I don’t understand pushing out as you play
Breathing from your diaphragm instead of your chest. Take a breath so that not only your chest expands but your stomach expands also. That's what I mean by pushing out. Breathing deeper into your diaphragm gives you more control over the air flow.
Gotcha
My teacher never justified long tones other than to say it would develop my embouchure so your video is good and explains it much better. But, in all seriousness, long tones are incredibly boring. I would prefer doing anything (even practicing scales or cleaning the toilet) to long tones. It's simply not enough knowing that they're valuable. I think you have to make a case that they're *more* valuable than using that same time practicing scales or studies or something else.
Hey Don - long tones are good for just about every part of your saxophone playing: embouchure, breath support, dynamics, tone, vibrato, etc. But I agree... they are not the most exciting thing to practice. So my recommendation is to practice them for 2 minutes. Really dig deep for those 120 seconds and then move on to something that is more fun to play. Instead of just concentrating on doing the long tone, set a goal. No warbles, or fewer warbles, or extreme soft or how long can you hold the pitch, etc. By distracting yourself with those thoughts instead of the boredom of holding a pitch might help. Good luck with it!
How many days we have to practice to get a good tone
Only 2 days😮
Joshua Redman after a master class in 2013.
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my sax sound different from posted on youtube, I want to make my sax more sexy and buzzy (using ridgewood alto sax, yamaha 5c, rico size 2)
Hi can someone help me . I've been playing about 8 weeks now . The trouble I have is getting enough air to continue my playing also I get confused as wen to take a breath to continue. I would be extremely grateful
Hey David, you should check out my Sax School. It will give you all of the structure you need to get better faster on the sax. In the Sax School, I talk a lot about breath support and how to get a great tone, as well as tell you when to breath in most of the songs we play (especially in the earlier pathways). If you are just starting out, you will hear some really big results fast! www.scottpaddocksaxschool.com
First told by my college teacher
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Batman meme.