As a player who’s been playing mostly blues & rock for more than a decade now, I must admit that I don’t listen to as many sax players as I used to. When I played jazz all the time, I tended to listen to jazz sax players more. Now that I don’t play jazz very much however, I find myself with a huge collection of jazz saxophone CDs that generally only get played when company comes for dinner.
Being a blues/rock saxophonist, there are not nearly as many sax players to listen to. And while there are some very well known names, on the whole, the number of rock/blues players who are well known to the non-sax playing world, is fairly limited. Many players toil away in obscurity behind the guitar riffs and other sounds that define these genres of music.
One player who is not widely known to the non-sax playing world, is Hank “Hurricane” Carter, who played sax with George Thorogood & The Destroyers, from 1980 to 2003.¹ Carter was the player who provided the riff fills and raunchy solo behind Thorogood’s vocals, in the 1982 song, Bad To The Bone, from the album of the same name.
Since it’s initial release, Bad To The Bone has become an anthem of sorts. The guitar riff has become synonymous with bad or evil, and parts of the song have been used to introduce characters in countless Hollywood movie and television productions, as well as professional sports stars, and products in advertising.²
The other night as I was driving to rehearsal, I heard this song on the radio. I thought immediately: now this really is the sound of blues saxophone. It is filled with growl tone, flutter tongue, and general attitude.
While you can teach techniques like growl tone, altissimo, and flutter tongue, attitude is something you can’t really teach per se. It is something that players have to learn on their own by watching and listening to experienced players, because it is more feeling based. Having said that, working with a good and experienced saxophone instructor can help in developing a player’s attitude.
Do I sound like a broken record yet? I most likely do. But if you’re serious about wanting to learn saxophone, or improving your playing skills, find a good saxophone instructor to work with. And also make sure that it’s a person you can work well with.
We’re all individuals, and there are naturally some people you’ll have better chemistry with. Find the right person for you. This will increase the chances of you being inspired to do the best work you can.
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Yes I am in Texas as of to day it is still happening.
Kind of puzzling I have never seen that message before It was copy and pasted so that is the message.
I am not sure what is going on but when click play on the video I get the following error:
This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
:scratch: :scratch:
I don’t know what to tell you Mark. You’re the first person to say this.
I’m not having any problems with the video, and no one else has said anything. What country are you in? Are you in the US?
I’m in the USA and it is blocked for me, too.