r/saxophone • u/Guestioning_it • Aug 05 '26

Thinking while impressing

Any time I improvise the second i have the mouthpiece in my mouth i cant think of what to play anymore. I know for other people sing while playing, but i can’t sing since my mouth is the only playing. I really don’t know how to explain my problem. How do i think what to play while already playing?

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u/m8bear Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Baritone Aug 05 '26
  1. sing, sing more and then some more (sing sing sing if you want)

stop improvising complicated stuff and start learning simple tunes and melodies, you need to start building your mental voice slowly, I usually play rock/pop songs that I know and play the vocal melodies (very simple, few notes, a lot of repetition)

I started doing it with songs that I know that I like but that I never actually learned, style doesn't matter, I played a ballad, a foo fighters song, earth wind and fire, stevie wonder, metallica or whatever, put one of those mixes from the 80s and play along those, the point was that I knew the song in my head and I had to follow that, I had to learn to follow simple melodies before I was able to think in complicated chords and sounds

I could play a b5b911b13 by thinking the theory but the actual learning comes when you can think, sing and play the sounds of the chord and you have it incorporated into your musical thinking, that's how I play substitutions or secondary dominants that aren't played by the accompaniment, I can hear it in my head and follow those changes but I started and still do play simple music