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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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Hi Steve,

First, I want to thank you for all of your great lessons. They are like a “For Dummies” version of all the books on my shelf. The lessons break things down into manageable pieces, and give me the confidence that I’m practicing the right pieces. I’m starting to make progress.   Thank You,   Kim

Kim
Thank you for all the educational information you provide.  I am a classically trained musician.  Professionally, I am a 4th and 5th grade band teacher.  I have played piano and sax for many years, but now I am starting to gig out more. I have always improvised by ear in the past. I have gotten by with my strong sense of pitch, rhythm and melodic contour. However, I want to go deeper. I want to play with a greater variety of melodic and rhythmic ideas to pull from.  I have studied to gain a … Read more
Ray
Hi Steve, I have been shedding your materials for quite a while now and I love them! They are extremely well organized and presented and there are tons of ’em! I really appreciate your methodical approach and find myself referring students to your resources often.  Thanks so much!  
Kenyon Carter

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.

Milton
Just to say thanks for your advice and lessons.  I’ve just read your amazing story.  I really appreciate what you do in regards to teaching.  I have bought a couple of your lessons and frankly they’re undersold.   I’ve learned much more with these two lessons than with 2 years of sax teachers.   Thanks so much………..
Mike

Mr. Neff,  I want to thank you for sharing your God-given talents through your on-line lessons.  My husband, Michael, is blind, but he is a great sax player and he has been enjoying your lessons for quite some time now.  It’s not unusual for me to hear “Hey, babe, listen to THIS!” – and he will cut loose on his sax, just thrilled at what he learned during his session with you.  His excitement warms my heart!  You have no idea how much you have poured into my husband.  You have opened musical … Read more

Carole B
Steve really changed my way of practicing: I got a whole lot of new ideas for my playing the tenor.  His lessons are really helpful, give a lot stuff to practice and give clear answers to complicated stuff.  Steve has a lot of humor and I wish I had laughed so much in my former days with the horn.  All topics, from Blues to Approach note are dealt with clearness that wet ones appetite to play and practice that great ideas.
Uwe

Hello Steve,

I just want to say thank you so much for your unbelievable work, it is just mind opening, thanks for sharing it.

Wolfgang from Berlin

Wolfgang from Berlin
I can see from your instructional videos that you are a fantastic teacher – one that can truly relate to all ages – humble yet very positive in approach – never coming across as superior and yet so totally capable of demonstrating the principles and techniques that you seek to impart to the students. I have gained so much confidence in my playing from “pouring over” time and again these invaluable lessons. Invaluable not only in musical content, but also in human interaction content. I am absolu… Read more
Ron
Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for being you, your playing, your website and your desire to help others. I’m a professional musician in the US Army and I’ve visited your website almost every day since discovering it a couple of months ago. Your lessons are profound and easy to use. I’ve purchased most of your PDF books and now am starting to delve more into the video and audio lessons.  Thank you for being a great resource!
James

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