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You are here: Home / Sax Lessons / The Style of Michael Brecker-Lesson 9-Alternate Fingering Licks
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The Style of Michael Brecker-Lesson 9-Alternate Fingering Licks

The Style of Michael Brecker-Lesson 9-Alternate Fingering Licks

$11.99

Categories: Sax Lessons, Sax Tone Tags: altered fingerings, false fingerings, lesson, Michael Brecker, overtones, saxophone, voicing
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Description

Michael Brecker blew my mind back in the mid eighties when I first heard a recording of him in my college dorm room.  The sounds I heard that day were like nothing  I had heard out of a saxophone up until that day.  Brecker’s use of altissimo, overtones, altered fingerings as well as his aggressively burning technique just floored me that day. I could not figure out how anyone could play this way on the saxophone!

Later that year, I went to a Steps Ahead concert in Buffalo NY in the hopes that if I saw Michael Brecker in person, that I could decipher what he was actually doing.  I remember being so excited to finally see him live. I watched him play the whole concert but I was sadly disappointed that I could not figure out what he was doing.  His fingers were just moving too fast!

Over the years I have figured out many of his classic altered finger licks but about a month ago, I decided to take a closer look at what he was doing with these licks.  I started finding videos on Youtube of the licks I thought sounded amazing and slowing them down to 1/4 the speed.  I found that I could more clearly see his fingers and hear the notes he was playing at this speed.

In this compilation of lessons, I share 11 killer Michael Brecker alternate fingering licks with you as well as a video lessons on each lick. I show you how to finger the alternate fingerings and what I think Brecker is doing. I demonstrate all 11 licks on the tenor saxophone and teach you what I need to do to be able to play these lines.  These licks are usually only for subscribers of the site but I thought I would give you all a chance to check them out.   I will be adding more of these types of licks as well as Killer Altissimo licks in the future.   I am excited to be learning these licks as well and have been learning something new from Michael everyday!   You can see some examples of these types of licks on this page.

I demonstrate all the concepts in this lesson on the tenor saxophone. (11 Video Lesson, 11 Looped Videos of Brecker playing the lick, 5 Videos of the PDFs of the licks)

Examples of some of the Licks covered in the lessons:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.neffmusic.com/2019/BreckerAltFingerLick11.mp4

Lick 11

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.neffmusic.com/2019/BreckerAltFingerLick10.mp4

Lick 10

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.neffmusic.com/2019/BreckerAltFingerLick8.mp4

Lick 8

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.neffmusic.com/2019/BreckerAltFingerLick7.mp4

Lick 7

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.neffmusic.com/2019/Brecker_Classic_Alt_Lick5.mp4

Lick 5

 

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/BreckerAltFingerLick11LessonClip.mp4

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Your major diatonic patterns book is great. I”m studying the first twenty patterns (first twenty pages) each day with different articulation each day and slowly increasing the tempo each week or so.  There is a noticeable improvement in finger coordination across all keys and its amazing how much more secure I feel on the difficult keys when attempting to play pieces with 5+ flats/sharps. I’m able to sort out the fingerings for these pieces now much more quickly than before, often in one or two … Read more
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I am enjoying your style of teaching, and you’ve done a great job with the videos….good sound quality and well constructed lessons.  Balances the more guitaristic material found on the majority of guitar based programs.  Jazz vocab is what I’m all about at this point in the journey.  I especially dig the fact that you’ve studied with Bergonzi…helps me see his voluminous output in a more bite sized way.

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Steve,  Just want to say thanks for all you are doing for all of us. I’ve learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.

If you can give some tips on One Note Samba, Ceora, and Wave… that would be cool.  I really like learning how you apply your concepts to actual songs!

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