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That Freddie solo is CRAZY. When I played trumpet Freddie Hubbard was a constant source of inspiration. He also made me want to throw my horn into the garbage regularly. lol

Your performance in Tilburg was unforgettable, Mister Reynolds. But your inspiring videos in which you speak so openly and honestly about the fascinating, but often difficult path of a professional musician... They not only make you a musical hero, but also a human example. Thank you for everything! Happy Holidays!!

I have to say, as a bass player I almost exclusively transcribe non-bass players. It's just something we were encouraged to do by our teacher at music college. I transcribed a lot of Pat Metheny, Béla Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Russell Ferrante and even drummers for rhythmic ideas. I think I've only transcribed bass players maybe 10% of the time, and it's really beneficial cos I don't end up sounding samey.

Your son was the best finish to this video! Lucky guys both of you.

I dip into your videos on and off, Bob. Invariably, I come away with something valuable and encouraging, if not outright inspiring. I greatly appreciate how you weave your practice habits into the framework of how you live, both as a professional saxophonist and as part of a much bigger world. Your insights and sharing of what you deal with as a musician, and how you organize your practices, are inestimably helpful. This is in-the-moment, real-world stuff, and for a rural-town but serious player like me, it's priceless. Thank you so much, amigo!

we were in a hostel in ireland one night and sat in the public area where they showed movies... on the way to the toilets there was a guy in a sort of washing room sitting down with his sax and played a very annoying line with his Sax round and round the circle of fifths, annoying everybody in the public area to a point of preparing for violence. when ever one of us went to the toilet and say "I'm gonna kill him now", they always came back and said "na man, look at him, I can't". When it was my turn then, I went by and stared into the most sad, dead and empty eyes, I've ever seen. And this is what practicing on a professional level looks and must feel like. I'm glad that for me, its just a hobby^^

“Ya can’t solve overthinking with more thinking.” I feel in my heart there’s a lot of hot self judgement here, and very little in cool assessment. I tell my son (In turn, myself),” you’re also an actor as well as a musician. If you have to feel what emotion you deliver, you’re going to get drained real fast.” Mastery shouldn’t be felt either. The only evidence you’ll have is how fast you can adapt to when things go wrong. - cross off all the days you want. And.. remember to practice confidence too. You’re always brilliant BTW

This is what I would call constructive obsession.....that's why you're that insane on the saxophone.

You're the best at showing how the sausage is made. 🙏🙏🙏

You are one of the finest ambassadors of music from the artist's perspective and a fabulous player! Thanks!

That is something where I write and play for myself first. If I don't like it or feel like I am evolving, than I can't just do what others like.

As always, the defibrillator...thanks for this real, practical, empathic advice,...TODAY, I left a band that I played with for 25 years...goodbye "Groundhog Day" , hello learn to play the saxophone, again.

I’m always amazed at how Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins used basic things like the diminished 7th arpeggios on dominant 7th chords. So simple and direct. There’s something about going back to the most basic concepts the lead to new ideas…

Wow. You came through at the best time. Classic. I've been sick with my playing for few weeks now. When It matters then I can pull myself together and play well, but mostly I'm just not enjoying whatever is happening around me. These little practice tips are great. I can already see what cool stuff I can come up with in tomorrow's practice session. Great work, great inspiration! Stay safe and I wish you to always have perfect reeds in the box!

Really helpful!

Love your work as a dad, too. Thanks.

Thanks Bob. Always inspiring.

You're a legend Bob :) thanks for commenting on my transcription of your solo on "Bet" too! Big love from Australia!

I just finished that byrdlike solo man i encourage everyone to do that sólo you’ll come out a different player. Especially if you write it out by ear.

Hey just wanted to say that your solo on "outlier" is the most amazing thing I've ever heard.

This is super helpful for me right now! Incidentally, is it it just me or does Bob’s tone sound better than ever in this video? New microphone or something…?

Ready for Freddie is a master piece

That practice thing up on the wall is hilarious, thank you 👍

Just great, Bob - as usual clear and relevant 👍

How did you know that I was struggling with practice for about a week or so as well? Same issues you spoke of. Thanks for this extremely well-timed video.

Inspirational as always Bob!! Thanks!!🎵🎵

great tips, thanks Bob!

So cool, gonna listen to your advice in my bass long-delayed journey! Thank you

Love your different POVs. Always helpful. And I always enjoy things like your “prior commitment.” Important stuff! 😊

I’d like to share a transcription method I’ve been using this year. Maybe someone will find some use with it. Pick a solo you love. Spend a day or session transcribing a section, or the whole thing if it’s manageable. Follow the passion/curiosity of the process, go as far as you want with it. Next session the work begins. Take a phrase, again keeping it manageable, and slow it down to 70 or 80%. Listen to that repeated section for 5 mins, noticing something different every few repetitions. Then tap the bass players quarter note feel for 5 mins. Noticing the nooks and crannies and elasticity of his time feel. Then sing the solo for 5 mins or more if needed, while tapping the quarter note feel, trying to match all notes and inflections, time feel and articulation. Now play this looped phrase on your instrument for 15 mins, or as long as needed, until you get everything. The notes, the feel, every nuance. (All of this should be done with the recording) Start the process over again, now 10% faster. For me the 5 min listening session is my break, but work as needed. Your next practice session will tackle the next phrase. This has helped me so much. Don’t like your time feel? Don’t like your articulation? Well now you’ve learned it all from someone you seek to emulate. It’s really opened my ears to how elastic time feel is, and you better believe you internalize the melodies at the end of this process. This doesn’t have to be the only method. Casual transcription for the sake of melodic content is great. But if you want to learn everything, it’s all on the records waiting for you to learn it.

I can see my bold head loving it at Ronnie Scott's :)

thanks for the upload, I'm always excited to watch your videos

thanks Bob, this is a great inspiration for my guitar playing :)

Grande mestre, professor, acompanho todos os seus trabalhos de longe, ates os vlogs já vi quase todos. Incríveis e vários ensinam muita coisa. Abraços de Arapiraca -AL. BRASIL

Thanks for this video, I find a lot of similar struggles in my playing you mentioned here and the video was really helpful, you rock Bob!!!

Thank you so much. Great!!!

Fresh!

Thanks a lot Bob! Those video are very inspiring for me especially by letting me know that's quite normal to hate what I've played live. Also I always saw other instrument's solos more challenging as those were thought for/in another instrument so different technique and stuff but maybe that's the point! Again thank you very much

this was inspiring got some new ideas for myself as well

My favorite practice tempo is ( and always was) 50 bpm.

Very helpful

Thanks so much for this!! ❤

Love a good practice video x

Thankful for this helpful video! Planning to make better practice goals going into the new year.

Dear mr Reynolds! First I want to thank you for your this channel, and for all the great videos that you have made. I love your playing and your energy! I subscribed to your channel recently, and it has been a great inspiration to me in my work as a musician. I am kind of hoping you have some wise things to say about variety in practicing. I practice a lot of stuff, but I haven’t really figured out if it’s best to immerse into for example a simple phrase in all twelve keys contrary to transcribing a longer solo in one key. Another example could be: Focusing on this one standard tune in several days (or weeks?) as opposed to working with the first 4 bars of the same song, and playing/improvising on them in several keys, to really get the changes and the sound of it under my skin. My goal i simple, but complex: to play what I hear (don’t we all want to?) I aim to start my daily practicing with long notes and intonation, and I also try to play through at least all the major scales (or minor/pentatonic etc) before I start with other things, such as transcibing by ear, «inventing» micro-blocks and playing them in all keys and so on. The question is more about how to approach the material. In small portions or in large chunks.

Liked for the A.I Reference.

Love the Practice More --> Suck Less virtuous cycle diagram...made me laugh out loud. Great vid as always. Appreciate your candor, but also how you attack the problem rather than just sit still.

Cool stuff

Thank you for a fantastic night at Band On The Wall in Manchester, UK. It's so enjoyable listening to first-class musicians combine their skills in a live setting. Is it possible to buy your music on CDs now you are back home for shipping to the UK? Happy Christmas to you and your family!

This is so me right now! 😅 Lately feeling quite fed up with repeating the same phrases when I practice. I wondered if maybe I just need more time away from practicing. But then on the other hand, I feel like maybe it's because I just don't practice enough ?!

Hi! I'm a big fan of your content and was wondering if you could share some advice on how to manage the difficulty of reviewing your own rehearsal recordings to analyze and find things to improve on? What strategies have worked for you, and should I be concerned if I'm struggling to review my own performance through recordings? Any tips or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

expecting a 40bpm shirt now

le petit garçon a grandi si vite 🥰🥰🥰

Bob, can you tell us if you are going to play with Snarky on his southamerican tour? We missed you on 2017.

What is your iReal pro set up for step 3? Sounds like you're just doing a scale excerpt, is iReal pro going through chord changes or just looping one chord? And what are your backing instrument settings?

@bob reynolds heya, been a long time fan. What application do you use to repeat the section of the song on loop?

Which app do you use to AB (select a part of the track that you want to transcribe?) your music for transcriptions?

I see you play a Selma M6. Do you have any other horns?

what camera do you use?

Great video Bob. Can you please do a tutorial video on how you use iReal pro? I got it at your recommendation and still can’t figure out how to get the best from it. Keep up the great work.