Bluegrass saxophone?

[Bear]

Is there such a thing? A guy at work that plays banjo says no - the "rules" won't allow it and he also adds that bluegrass won't allow dulcimers which is a mountain instrument even. Thoughts folks? My 0.02 is that since a sax imitates the voice it can go anywhere. It seems to me that soprano sax would fit best against the "whiny" high pitched vocalizing in that genre.

[RS]

I know a member of the Marine Band (the President's Own) who has been playing sax in a bluegrass band. He also wrote an interesting arrangement of the classic fiddle tune "Leather Britches" for saxophone quartet. I myself played 5-string banjo many years ago and recently have gotten interested in working up some bluegrass and fiddle tunes on one of my horns. Maybe my C clarinet so I don't end up in keys with lots of sharps. There are at least a few of us horn players around with an interest in bluegrass, old-timey, and folk music. If Bela Fleck can play jazz on the banjo it ought to be okay to play bluegrass on a horn. Barriers are made to smashed.

[pfox]

Why not? I'd love to hear it. I think a tenor could add a nice bass line to bluegrass.

[Bootman]

Try it on Clarinet, it is more challenging. Bop tempo but no Bop lines. Think 1 & 3 only. :lol:

[BobH]

I caught a bluegrass band at a local coffee house a couple years back and wound up jamming with them afterwards at one of their houses. What a hoot! A real pentatonic workout. Think like a fiddle player and you can make it work.

[RS]

A clarinet in C works well for fiddle tunes (which make up a good portion of the bluegrass repertoire). A soprano sax in C would work well too. Alot of bluegrass is in "fiddle keys" like A and D, so a concert pitch instrument (pitched in C) would keep you from dislocating your fingers trying to keep up with a lightning fast fiddle tune like "Fire on the Mountain" which is in key of A (key of B if you're playing a Bb pitched instrument).

[Steve J.]

I have had the pleasure of sitting in with a blue grass band - I agree with Bob's perfect comment "what a Hoot!" I played alto & mostly complemented an outstanding fiddle player. You need your major scales & arpegios down & faster than you can imagine. I remember feeling like I was improvising to polkas. I am not very familiar with the genre other than this experience but a good time seemed to be had by all. I'm a city boy but music is a universal language. This thread brought back a fond memory.
The bluegrass folk I played with seemed totally accepting of a saxophone - in fact one could probably have blown their nose and been accepted by these folk - they just had fun. These folk didn't read music and explained to me the music was an aural tradition for them. I guess you can run into snobby types in every genre - I am a far thing from a bluegrass purist though. Screech, I think a saxophone can fit in almost everywhere. Its the musician in us that makes us fit. I say blow away and hang on tight!

[DD]

Yee-haw! One of the earliest gigs I can remember was on tenor with a bluegrass/western swing band in 1959 - you havn't lived until you've gone head to head with a hot fiddle player on Devils Dream and all those other jigs and reels that I have since forgotten the names of.
B - F# - aw, who cares - they all consist of 8 tone major scales, they just start in different places.

[Bootman]

RS,
Use the a clarinet and playit in C. I only had a Bb clarinet so it was sharp city, fingers flying in all directions.

[RS]

Bootman--an A clarinet would work pretty well for the "fiddle keys" (much better than the Bb clarinet). Unfortunately I don't have an A clarinet. I do have a C clarinet which works pretty well and I'm even considering getting a D clarinet to make the fiddle keys easier still. You're right about the fingers flying all over the place in the sharp keys. Key of B on clarinet is just a bear (though not too bad on sax), especially right above the break with the B, C#, and D# pinky levers. It's difficult to play something at lightning speed with the pinkies scuffling with all those levers.

[MojoBari]

Boots Randolph covers scads of country tunes. Probably an easy stretch to consider some of them Bluegrass. Yakety Sax has a Bluegrass background to me.

[Bear]

Thanks for the comments everyone! Bootman I like the 1 & 3 thinking. I guess thats when the chord changes typically occur? I like the idea of a tenor bass line too. I think bari might sound nice doing a bass line too, although the tenor brightness might fit better.

Mojo - yeah I brought that up and was scolded, boots doesn't meet the rules either evidently... that's "country." WTH do I know - I'm not a music referee ;)

[Bootman]

RS,
B is an ugly key for clarinet, there are very few redeeming features about having to play in this key on clarinet. I guess we play in this key because it is there and we forgot to bring the clarinets in the other keys to make life easier. I have an A clarinet but no C clarinet, I have never found the need to own one yet and as I will try to avoid playing Bluegrass Clarinet (I don't have enough fingers or two heads), I will avoid the C clarinet for the time being.

C melody sax could be an interesting horn to play in a Bluegrass Band.
:shock:

[RS]

Bootman--I have a D clarinet on the way from International Musical Suppliers for a trial (do I have a case of GAS or what?). Could be an interesting little horn. Might make a good "wind fiddle".

[Bootman]

I believe you have what's known as Clarinet Gas!...Didn't someone write a song about this once?

[RS]

They say the definition of a nerd is someone who owns his own alto clarinet. I wonder what they call someone who owns his own D clarinet. Probably something along the lines of "lunatic", "nutcake", whackjob", etc.

[Bootman]

RS,
Therefore I'm a nerd as I own my own Alto clarinet and 2 Eb shriekers too.

[RS]

Well, I still don't own an alto clarinet. I've considered getting one. And I hope that if I ever decide to buy one there's someone in a white coat standing by with a butterfly net.

[paulwl]

They say the definition of a nerd is someone who owns his own alto clarinet. I wonder what they call someone who owns his own D clarinet.

Obsessive-compulsive?

[RS]

Maybe "D"eranged.

[Bootman]

Perhpas De-mented, De-leririous or even De-licately De-fined. If you keep paying it then you may be De-fined.

[RS]

I'm De-lighted you De-cided to De-liver your De-liberation.

[DD]

Gentlemen: Being de-sirous of continuing de-corum on this thread, I must respectfully de-clare my de-sire that you cease and de-sist. I am also thankful that it wasn't an A clar - just think of the (A)hole into which this series of de-clamations might have de-scended! :wink: DD

[Bootman]

My de-clarations have been de-famed and my confidence dented. I will de-sist and de-part with all my 6 digits, double heads and de-cant for dem Hills.

As a parting shot, the de-bate about de-name of de D-clarinet de-sease is a case of de-minished returns. It is easy, a D clarinetist is a Dope or a Dodo.

Dere

[ferrari]

Getting back to playing in keys like B, C#, F# etc. , I don't play clarinet so I wont go there, but regarding the sax, I've been playing in those guitar players keys for so long, that they've actually become some of my most proficient keys to play in. As a matter of fact C is about my least favorite key.

I know this might be worth it's own thread but here goes anyway...
What are your most comfortable keys to play in? E for me. I'm not sure why, but I can really smoke in that key. Anybody else?

[RS]

One of the great things about sax is that the remote keys C#, F#, etc., are reasonably easy to play in. Clarinet is a different story (at least for me, anyway). Fortunately clarinets can be had in pairs (Bb/A) which makes it possible to avoid difficult keys. I guess my favorite keys on sax are the easy keys of G, C, and D. But I can get around at least a little in all twelve keys. Key of E I find a pretty reasonable key.

[JL]

ferrari, I've had a similar experience. E concert (F# on tenor) is one of my most comfortable keys, since I've been forced to play in it a lot over the years. But I've worked very hard at "evening up" in all keys, so I don't get caught short. In any band I play in for any length of time, I encourage the guitar players to expand their "key repertoire," and get 'em playing in keys like Ab. I tell 'em you can't play Night Train in any other key on tenor.....have to hit that low Ab (Bb on the horn). Also, lots of "horn tunes" are in F. Etc,

[JL]

ferrari, I've had a similar experience. E concert (F# on tenor) is one of my most comfortable keys, since I've been forced to play in it a lot over the years. But I've worked very hard at "evening up" in all keys, so I don't get caught short. In any band I play in for any length of time, I encourage the guitar players to expand their "key repertoire," and get 'em playing in keys like Ab. I tell 'em you can't play Night Train in any other key on tenor.....have to hit that low Ab (Bb on the horn). Also, lots of "horn tunes" are in F. Etc,

[Bootman]

Come to think of it, E, A, B (concert) are all very comfortable keys due to being forced to play in these keys all the time. All twelve are fine actually on sax or clarinet or flute. The thing about playing in other keys is to get past the mental blocks of these keys. Familiarity and lots of time spent in the keys that are challenging usually cures the mental barrier problem.

The most interesting thing I have noticed is the lack of playing in F# Concert that is done world wide. It seems to be one of the most avoided, if not the most avoided key in the universe.

[RS]

Well, I guess there's no question I'm "d"eranged. I bought the Buffet D soprano clarinet. I figure it will be good for fiddle tunes and bluegrass stuff and it makes a nice pair with my Patricola Eb soprano (I just hope they don't breed and I wake up one day and there's a little Ab sopranino sitting there). I give my impressions of the Buffet D and compare it to the Patricola Eb on the clarinet bulletin board at www.woodwind.org (the "D clarinet" thread).

[Roger Aldridge]

I've played both C clarinet and c-melody in Appalachian fiddle settings. While playing with fiddlers it typically sounds to my ears that the clarinet fits in better than the c-melody. However, in recently hearing a recording with my fiddle friends my opinion changed. The clarinet blended so well with the fiddles that, in effect, it became lost in the ensemble sound. This was not a volume problem -- I was cranking out plenty of sound. Rather, it was a matter of tonal color. On the other hand, the distinctive sound of the c-melody could easily be heard in the group and it added a really nice quality. So, friends, dust off those c-melodies and have a go at it! :lol:

[sessionsax]

Bootman

I had a session with a Southern Gospel artist the other day, and everything he did was in F# concert. It was a bit of a challenge for me to sound fluent on tenor soloing in the Key of Ab.

Justs proves you have to be ready for anything. Sorta like the section work that I did the other day that was sight reading fast 16th note syncopated runs in Db on tenor.

All this has caused me to spend some time shedding my off keys.

[Rordog]

I sat in with a kind of bluegrass, but more oldtime fiddle band. Two fiddles, piano, and acoustic guitar. I don't think they were too wild about it, but it was my sister's wedding reception and she wanted me to play my tenor. I was maybe 16 or 17 at the time, and I think they were surprised, if not enthused, about the fact that I knew so many of those old tunes. (years of playing with my grandpa came in handy that day). Mostly I did bass lines, but did take a few harmonies, and even a lead on "RedWing". I had fun.

[Bootman]

Session,
Sounds like fun. I had an interesting the other day where I had to learn a whole albums worth of material in 2 days (can't remember it now though). This was fine but strange thing was that most of the tunes were in B Concert.

[electricninja]

Every genre can be played by a sax, and every key can be used to make good songs. I don't run and hide. Bring it on.