KZfaq cut off the video, check out the full thing here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rb1ompiEmK7Pdqs.html (this is an old vlog) Also, I should mention that the first sentence of the video is most applicable to working saxophonists (although, all professional musicians use their ears in some capacity even if it isn’t improvising)

“i can play saxophone by ear, but its easier if i use my hands instead”

As someone who has no musical talent, it sounded good all the way through didn't even know you had mistakes lol

Your solo makes sense. As a singer, I like story telling solo's that could be on the record

As a bass player, I am not really suppose to "guess" the key of a song. I'm just checking a few notes and finding the key

i just know that as a guitar player, if i hit a wrong note, the one next to it is always the right one

Love these videos. You always do a great job with whatever the bands throw at you!

The real question is how have you not heard that song

Musicians are great man the harmony is real among the people

Literal chills imagine be able to play that well in front of a live audience and your just making it up as you go because you know the key. This guy is so talented

So true! I'm a beginner trumpet player(in middle school) and my private lesson teacher in my first lesson said, "you sound like your reading music" I was playing scales and she told me the first note and made me play the rest by ear. It sound so much better.

The fact that professional musicians can quickly think of motifs and notes and generate them to fit with a key or a song

Enjoying your content and am a huge fan of Van Morrison. I’m a little surprised you weren’t familiar with Van the Man’s “Crazy Love.” It’s fantastic and you did awesome!

Dude these videos are actually so awesome! It's so cool to see this type of raw experiences you have.

Not all professional musicians are improvising musicians.

Your level of skill gets better and better brother. Do what ya love and love what ya do!

Hey man I’m a trumpet player in high school and you’re a real inspiration to me. Thank you and great video

You pretty much nailed how the business goes. And then some bands want a horn section for some gigs but have no charts at all. Things get even more interesting when 2 or 3 horn players are all trying to find coherent lines to play together and harmonize them.

The sound of the sax is just so fantastic I wonder how it was when it was invented, how somebody could take a noise and turn it into beautiful art, I mean the sound of the sax sounds a little rough but at the same time it got these colours, that relax your ear and made you think about the late 80s and early 90's. Music is a beautiful art.

As a keyboardist I’m expected to do this but also learn the groove and harmony in one pass, and then play it all and solo. Damn it makes me wana get drunk.

as a bassist yes improv is important

That’s like juggling with a blindfold! You are very gifted 👍

U have an awesome way of describing things Frank! Well done on this short!!

It truly fascinating to hear different interpretations of the same piece!

this is why i love church music, live bands, and jazz. they dont have sheet music yet still sound so awesome. there's so many random variables, and especially when a guest musician joins the house musician and starts singing a song and the house musicians gotta just jump in and hold on. its one thing when its a common baptist song like Amazing Grace but when its a modern gospel song and the church muscians didnt get around to practicing that new release song yet. yall may not be church going folks but live music is similar at jazz/blues bars or street performers. 3 to 5 songs are prepared and then the audience has a request or other filler songs gotta get played. Man i Love live musicians! -im somewhat of a musician myself. i play a mean Twinkle Twinkle Little Star-

Seeing your vids really give me good vibes man. There's just something about your professionalism and love for the craft that leaves me motivated to do better in mine. Thanks for being awesome!

I have to steal a couple of those lines on my guitar. I used to play saxophone for a few years in my teens but I was always better at guitar so now I just try to steal cool licks from you guys and I imitate the phrasing of sax and trumpet players I like allot.

Man i wish i had your channel when i played in band in highschool. These days i just play whatever i want for myself. But i hope to find a way to play to people again someday, and your videos remind me why I love performing, but also remind me of how much pressure I used to put on myself and didn't let myself enjoy the moment. Soloing always scared me

I love this song, and I love watching you improvise and play by ear!! You’re awesome!!

theres nothing better than just playing and fitting in with a band.

I’m a newer sax player in school for 3 Years, just joined my schools jazz band and your content is really helpful!

This is the truth. Percussionist Macana Roxie taught me this fact. She can rock anything! All pros know how it goes!

As a saxophone player I think you sounded amazing for never hearing/playing the song before. Truly inspiring

You GO, dude! That's a sweet sound!! Keep on keepin' on!!

If your focus is on developing a melody and motif, the process is actually no different than when you do know the tune 😂

Playing by ear has gotten me through being able to play multiple instruments, you rock

Nice player n humble as one should be live n prosper bro

Bro, my music education ended in 6th grade, I love explainers like these so I can appreciate what's going on

As someone who’s been in the music industry form about 7 years now, I can definitely see the little slip ups, but yours never bother me, because you see the mistakes, and are working on them. The only time im bothered is when someone is clearly making mistakes but just says “well it’s improvisation, it’s supposed to sound like that”. Amazing job! I love hearing you play, and you have an amazingly unique sound. I hope you have a very long, well lived career. God bless❤

Hard to believe a sax player never heard an iconic piece by an iconic sax player.

As a vocalist, what instrumentalists can do floors me

I'm a plumber, I don't know a single thing about playing music, but you showed up in my feed somehow and I just love the vibe... I also have to improvise solutions in unknown scenarios, and in a way, it's kinda similar- ya just go for it. I've always wanted to find an artistic outlet- my brain doesn't easily do "artistic" things, always technical, but your videos just satisfy that part for a moment, great work, man.

Van Morrison music is a treasure trove for saxophonists.

It really helps, that's how I performed greatly on a bass player audition for a band, now I'm the band's bass player.

Something about jazz and saxophones like i can vibe to it. I hope im not the only one bopping to it!

This is such a good short, I don’t know how to put it but it’s so pleasing and I enjoy the solo and appreciate the skill it takes to be able to do that. I never comment but I couldn’t help but smile I just really like this whole thing very well done

Impressive! To find the key and then play the tune by ear! Your dedication to your craft and talent really show.

I have 0 musical talents. Can't even clap on beat in a church service. I don't understand it but I appreciate how great it always sounds.

My jazz improv class taught me a lot about playing by ear. I love doing it

The fun part about playing to people who aren’t musicians is they don’t notice the small mistakes

The way you explain it makes me realize so much on my own. It’s crazy and I don’t know if that makes sense but love the videos! 👌🏼

For me it’s so hard to keep a solo to a simple melody. It takes so much self control to not get carried away with a solo! 😂

Very nice, I’m always impressed when people can just learn things by ear. It’s so hard

You developed that motif real quick and kept it simple. This was good advice man, I'll remember it!

I stopped playing sax for several years, thx for motivating me to resume

Love these videos! Saxophone is a very soulful instrument, and you playing by heart is phenomenal.

Thank you, Frankie. As I looked closer, it is an alto with great tone. I guess I was curious when I saw your RIGHT hand on the upper key stack. Thank you again. 🙏🏻

That snare drum sound is amazing....

Bro from a musician. Keep these videos coming. Learning so much from your sets and breakdowns. Artists need to watch the game film too. :) love hearing your mind set in the moment and seeing your brain work. I started doing stand up before i got into music bc i was terrified of performing. My proudest moment of that career i did a 5minute recorded set on my phone. the light never came on to get off stage and i had my set perfectly timed and laid out for 5mins. Ended up doing a 10 minute set and you couldnt tell on video that i ran out of my set. I could tell listening back to it. That split second thinking about being out of my set before i instinctually went into other jokes and idk how i did it but the jokes flowin fit my theme of the set and everything it was just perfect freestyling. And thats the vibes i get watching all your videos. Ik thats the art of jazz. But to see it. While getting to hear your processes too. Surreal :)

Your videos are my favourite thing in my feed

I don’t play sax, but the decoding the thought process stuff is so good, thanks!

One thing I've learnt recently in my music journey is that accompaniment isn't about playing an exact sequence of notes. Follow the feel of the tune and key signature and just then just have fun. My only concern is that I may be straying from the path of classical, tempted by the jazz side of the score.

Very impressive!!🎶🎵

Nice work, bro! I used to sub in with a band that played the whole night like that. Sometimes, the guitarist would lean over and whisper “G minor” which I hoped would be the key center and not just the first chord (50/50 on that one). And then go up a step cuz I was on tenor. Definitely a challenge the first few times!

Your music sounds really good, and I love your lofi taste, lakey inspired is goated

For me it's all about finding the harmony and chord sequencing for tunes you don't know. Then the key doesn't matter. Ear training for not just notes and intervals but chord changes helps alot.

Simple, melodic, smooth…

There are no mistakes when listening to a good sax

Lots of violinist freelancers here in my place are by the note, so it's kind of hard for them to adjust especially when pianists here play by ear. Luckily for me I learned how to play violin by the ear by myself after I stopped formal lessons. Best decision, since now I can adlib almost any song a few seconds into the song.

Dude, I love your content cause it's sooo relateable as a muso, specifically when I do BVs. I also play rhythm guitar and sing lead, so I appreciate your ability to adapt and take on a task without giving the offensive side eye 😂😂😂 Pro tingz!!! 🤜🤛

you gave me words for what I have been doing for the last 3 years. Thank you

I'm so happy KZfaq figured I might enjoy your content

That was so smooth! Good work!

That's such a beautiful building! I wish Amtrak still used the main building as the train station!

Love you tone! I'm trying to sound like you but I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I'm not sure if it's insturmentalwise or me. Could you do a tutorial to sound like your tone

Playing by ear is so important when you're on stage like that, especially if you didn't practice much together, which I find is usually the case 😂

The devils horn😊 love it!

FRANKIE!! I come bearing good news. I AM PLAYING MY FIRST WEDDING THIS SPRING!! My dream is coming true!!! Today, one of my best friends asked if I would play for her wedding and I’m so emotional. 😭 Btw you definitely got it. Crazy Love’s a jam and you grasped it well. Some of your ad libbing sounded like a motif in the original. I love when that happens. When I listened to Sunshine On My Shoulders for the first time, I accidentally predicted a string melody! I absolutely love musical moments like that.

Such great advice, it really is the truth! this is what I would do!

I was just there! That building is one of the coolest I saw Pittsburgh

The old train station in Pittsburgh! Beautiful building!

Frankie ❤your so awesome. Bro learning guitar and decided to go all in. I will play by 👂🏽ear.

Building the motif is SO crucial! Great advice and examples on your channel!

This sounds like the intro to a 80s family comedy/sitcom

Smooth man, smooth 😮👌

I love these videos, I love trying to play stuff by ear but it's difficult! As a fellow sax player my ear isn't developed enough to hear your mistakes so I think it's good for us normies 😅

All good points - better point...know the classics. It's one of Vans most popular songs

Youre a hell of an inspiration

Wow that is incredible. Also never seen a green mouthpiece, looks very clean!

Wow very impressive, when did you start playing.

I like this. How is it possible that you've never heard that song.

Yooo love to see Pittsburgh represented. My mom and dad met in that building!

What an extraordinary video!

🙌🏾 that’s how you do it! Just rephrase the melody in a jazzy way and boom; Improv

I’m not a professional saxophonist but back when I was in high school we had a jazz ensemble and I was the one and only Tenor Saxophonist in the group. And I when it came to improvising.. my solos were just me playing by ear over the chord progression.

I dunno why but something about wind intstuments just makes the sound and you (hopefully) sexier

I guess that the fact that I was more offended at you calling a sax a "horn" instead of a "reed" makes me a certified trumpeter 🤣 Great tone and technique, by the way; keep it up!

you are the one of my best inspiration to learn improve solo.

Gracias rusio!! Son muy interesantes y prácticos esas anécdotas

This is awesome!