So glad to hear it. Thanks for letting me know. :) Enjoy the process!

That's a great way to think about it

Well said.

Or maybe not quite. What about, "How can I improve without putting in unnecessary work?" Without a good teacher and a good practice routine, you can waste time going down blind alleys, working on things you already know, and taking five hours a day to do something you could accomplish in two.

I don't think that's a fair statement. More like "how can I progress despite these road blocks". For instance, musicians shouldn't be criticized just because they don't have perfect pitch, they'll concentrate on attaining proficiency with relative pitch instead of endlessly working to attain perfect pitch. Its a matter of which road to choose and not putting in the necessary work.

Exactly.

definitely some truth to that.

or...I will work the hard way to find the short cut which is why I'm lazy and the only stupid question is the one I don't ask. Makes sense?

Amen, Scott. Amen. (If there's a trick, it's to find JOY in "the work")

Scott Johnson why is ur picture an axe

@@eomer7284 Because he has great chops :)))))

I'm 73 and have been going to the local music school for 5 years now. My reading is improving having played by ear since 1969. so is my understanding of music. Yup, work on it every day. Currently playing with two bands and a Jazz workshop. I'm loving it, and much happier!

With all due respect, could it be that people aren't further along their musical journey because they just haven't got the talent to create? If everything could be taught, we'd all be major league baseball, football players, stadium filling musicians, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. How come there are no great players who studied all their lives and only break into the charts at 60 - most do it before they learnt the rules - then its all downhill from there.

I agree! Thanks for sharing this video. I am a bass player, but basically have a whole practice routine planned out based off this vid. So good!

Guitargate agree

I beg to differ. Beginners coming here are expected to know what a 3rd or a 6th is! He speaking a different language to me!

@@hosericardo I think it's fair to say Bob's stuff is not aimed at beginners. On his website, when talking about his online school he mentions aiming it at players with 3+ years experience, and similarly the sax workshop he puts on each year specifically caters to intermediate+ players. There are good resources out there for total beginners though, Better Sax has some great content, as well as sites like Taming The Saxophone.

@@hosericardo The numbers he's referring to are the scale note numbers . In the C major scale, C is the one, D would be the 2, and so on. If you count up from C, A is the the 6th. In the key of F, D would be the 6th.

Veritas MAN, it feels good to hear that from someone else. I felt like the only one that thought this. I'm trying to stop using Instagram (Or at least the search page, considering that's mostly what I use Instagram for) because all I see are amazing guitar players over, and over, and over again. It absolutely feels good to hear an amazing player say that they're not perfect.

Veritas My view is that EVERY musician has to learn, assimilate, become certain processes. And the three processes are simply the three components of music, rhythm, melody and harmony. The instrument in your hands at any given time doesn't define the music, it's YOUR ENVELOPMENT in those three musical concepts that define it right now, as its being played. Most casual musicians, like the email question guy, refuse/block the idea that there's something "Learnable" about music. It's strange, to me, that people can conceive that a surgeon, or bar tender or carpenter is good at his craft because he has practiced a lot. Yet they want to think that music is somehow different. They think good mosos are "Born talented". I've had more than one person say to me " You're really good, you probably don't have to practice anymore". Bottom line here, most people don't get it. The one's that do, succeed as musicians. The one's that don't will be the first to tell you "Well I'm not a REAL musician"

I am no jazz giant, yet very good at what I do including teaching jazz improvisation. I can't read music. Technique is the nuts and bolts, everything else comes from within. It amazes me when I see some giants play standards without arrangements, from sheet music...ones I've played many times in many ways. Often I hear a song for the first time and before it's end I can play it complete with improve. Sounds like bragging but my experience differs so much from other posts.

I guess I just don't get it. All the videos, websites, instruction books, play-along C Ds, transcribed solos and hours of practice will help but cannot substitute for whatever it is that the Me brings forth. Were I to have practiced what dominates the majority of jazz conversations I would have greater range, endurance and gigs. Would I trade what I have for that? No!

+NostalgiaSmith BOOM!

I couldn't agree more!! :D

hey i like ur pro pic where can i find it

" ...Learning the language of music (scales, intervals, chords, rhythm, etc) is not the great challenge...using that learned language to express our emotional non-verbal selves is the great challenge...." - I believe that there a LOT of casual players who absolutely refuse to enjoy the second half of that idea. Music is SUPPOSED to be about "expressing our emotional non-verbal self". But the majority of casual players just plain refuse to embrace that. It takes a lot of self confidence and just plain chops to express your emotions to strangers (an audience). Most casual players, and men more than women, aren't comfortable revealing their personal emotions. Dissect it a bit further and I think most professional musicians will suggest that it's not about "Expressing MY emotional self"... it's about "Making the music happen so the LISTENER can experience that emotional non-verbal thing". Maybe that's all a little nebulous. Maybe more simply, YOU'RE AN ACTOR when you're playing. ACT like the kind of character the audience wants to see and hear. Learn that language (scales, intervals etc) and you greatly reduce or often completely eliminate the worry about playing the right notes. Allows you to put the fingering on the back burner and allows that "Expressing emotion" thing to come to the forefront.

Yes! You just articulated something I say often: (for me) it's about a balance between predictability and surprise. If it's all predictable...boring. All surprise...also boring.

Yup.

Yees, it's the first phrase of Giant Steps' solo

Try without thinking.That is what what the greatest do.Don't think about scales etc... You have it or you don't, and when somebody does not have it build in since birth, he will never have it. Music is Art !

Absolutely 🤗

never too late! :)

+Martin Heinsdorf thanks, Martin.

thanks, Paul. :)

Thanks! Victor is the man. I co-lead a summer saxophone retreat (insideoutsideretreat.com) at his facility outside Nashville and have had the pleasure of hearing him speak-and play-the lessons from that book. That language correlation didn't really hit me until I had kids. ;)

I am so glad to hear this. I've been preachin' this for years that music is pretty much a language like any other language where we learn by listening and copying what we hear! Not sure you realized it but you even demonstrated it earlier on this video before mentioning it. (change of topic) Tellin' ya, one of these days I will have the pleasure of meeting Victor the man. I have two good friends that are family friends of his and it's like DAMN IT...I'm like 1 degree away from getting to hang with such an individual! HAHA! One of these days as I continue to grow musically, I'll get that chance! ;) Love your videos. Definitely helps in my progress!

Thanks, David. Yeah, Vic is a powerful and positive force of nature.

+David Maki (David G. Maki II) さ、

🙏

+Drew Insley thanks, Drew

Its my birthday tomorrow, I'm hoping for a new vlog.

thanks, Joel. Glad it resonates. :)