{"id":36903,"date":"2013-04-07T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=36903"},"modified":"2024-06-07T11:07:20","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T18:07:20","slug":"improvising-rock-sax-by-pete-yellin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2013\/improvising-rock-sax-by-pete-yellin\/","title":{"rendered":"Improvising Rock Sax, By Pete Yellin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the day, when books didn’t come with a play along or demo CD\/DVD\u2014since those technologies were still at least a decade away\u2014I picked up a book that would prove to be a foreshadowing of my future music career. Improvising Rock Sax<\/em>, by Pete Yellin, was something I found in a music store, back when I was in junior high school.<\/p>\n

\"Improvising<\/a><\/p>\n

When I first got the book, I had only been playing a couple of years, and many of the techniques that Yellin wrote about were then over my head. However, I knew I really wanted to be able to play like the players he mentioned. I wanted to employ the techniques he wrote about. And most importantly, I just wanted to sound like a rock sax player.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 33 years, and I’ve certainly achieved my junior high goals. I can sound like a rock sax player when I want to\u2014or jazz player, or whatever else the music calls for. I use all the techniques (plus a whole lot more) that Pete Yellin wrote about in Improvising Rock Sax. <\/em>My style of playing is also very consistent with the rock sax players of the past and present\u2014my style and techniques change depending on the music I’m playing at the time. For example, I don’t play multiphonics when we’re playing a traditional version of Flip, Flip, and Fly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When I was in my teens, Improvising Rock Sax<\/em> became something of a bible for me, since at the time there weren’t a lot of materials available on how to play rock ‘n roll saxophone. The book gave me info on the areas I wanted\/needed to focus on, and some tips and exercises on how to work on the various techniques required to be a competent rock sax player.<\/p>\n

To give you an idea of the scope of the book, here are the salient sections from the table of contents. (I have left out the “etudes”.)<\/p>\n