I just started looking at my lessons and I have to say, dude you are awesome. I ABSOLUTELY will learn from you! I started the tenor about 1 ½ yrs ago and have since picked up an alto, and more recently a soprano. I spend most of the time on the tenor, followed by soprano, and have only gotten to the alto a few times. I think I’ll be sticking with tenor. I’m having a great time and hope one day to play well enough to get regular gigs. I’ve been playing keys for about 35 years (gospel), and so I’m following you perfectly with the theory and stuff. Just awesome. Keep up the great work.
Hey Steve, My name is Jason Freese and I play keyboards and sax in the band Green Day. I grew up taking sax lessons from Eric Marienthal when I was a kid and got out of it for a long time. I ran into you on youtube while searching for sax stuff. I bought a whole bunch of your lessons and have been loving it! Thanks! Here is my wikipedia so you can see the albums I’ve played on….Thanks again. It’s sparked my interest in practicing again. Jason
I want to thank you again, because, not only are you an inspiration to listen to, you are a fine teacher!
I have been teaching sax and other winds for over 20 years, and you give me that “push” to give my students more!
Mark Peotter
Steve- I joined your site this month and have downloaded 4 lessons and also purchased your new book and video on diatonic patterns. I just want to say I am very pleased with your approach and teaching techniques. I am getting back into playing after laying off for some time. The information you offer on your site is of great value and I am enjoying being a member. Thank you for what you are doing for the saxophone community.
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 sittings when in the past I would have been lost until I did a significant amount of slow practice on the piece.
Your going to do really well with this book. Keep up the good work. And the idea of putting patterns into single key also great. Thanks, Geoff
By the way, BIG COMPLIMENTS to you, Steve!
Not only are you a great player, you are also a great teacher!I, too, am a woodwinds player/teacher. I have new inspiration to play and teach because of you.
The concepts and “thinking” is similar to what I already learned in College,
but hearing you explain and PLAY the concepts REALLY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!Also, your written patterns are more interesting than other books I have seen!
Keep up the good work.
I will be recommending your site to others!
I am a music book junkie and I have to say that your books are the most clear, user friendly, and helpful books I own. They are my absolute favorites and I only wish I had them years ago. I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience I had in acquiring my degree at Berklee, but my playing has perhaps grown more in the time I’ve spent buried in your books and lessons. Keep up the great work!!!
Thanks,
John
It is so refreshing to have a great player, who can provide lessons and examples in a manner which is understandable to most any enthusiastic saxophonist who is ready to improve. not just the, do this, do that, memorize this, memorize that… while all that is absolutely necessary, you go on to give reasons and examples to explain and validate why you have to do all of these things, the benefits, if you will… that is the key for me, you tell, explain, demonstrate, explain some more, you give personal experience and stories, it all comes together, a complete picture. so many “self-proclaimed ” saxophone teachers believe because they are a professional player, they are automatically a teacher, absolutely not the case. you must have the ability to transfer what you know, and most importantly, in my mind, the DESIRE to teach, and the need to know that your instruction is getting through, the constant search for more and better ways to deliver the instruction. the PASSION to teach. YOU have all these qualities, that is why i am a Neffaholic 🙂
Steve’s monthly lessons are entirely valuable. Without brow beating, he tells you all the stuff you deep down know you really should be working on, instead of just relying on the same old patterns. In spite of the fact that you’re taking a video lesson, Steve’s presentation is comfortable and “real”. In a little more than a year, he’s developed a library of lessons that seem to offer any player a lifetime’s worth of practice material. I’m just glad I stumbled upon it.
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 greater knowledge of jazz and improvisational techniques, but I feel like I’m trying to catch-up for years of missed study (which is hard when you have a full time job, a wife, a daughter, a house, etc.) Your approach allows me to go past book knowledge and actually get these lines into my head and fingers. -Ray
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