now ones you take all our tips you will also do what the others said before. Listen to other sax players. Cannonbal A., Getz, David M. do what i did. put all that together into you! that got me my gigs. oh yea, i`m not part of a union yet.

No matter what you think of him or his playing, he has given exposure to the soprano sax that others have not done.

As for playing like him, don`t try that. For 20 years after Charlie Parker, thousands of sax players-long forgotten- tried to play like him. The ones who were successful took some of Charlie Parker, but developed their own style.

When you want to play like kenny G, you must play the same sort of saxophone, a soprano.
Don`t spend on equipment,
invest in your sound by practicing!

Why are you weird americans always that materialistic, always moaning on buying nem stuff?

whahaha! after reading most of these message, I came to practically the same conclusion.

If you want to sound like Kenny G. just listen to his music A LOT!
And try to imitate what he does.
If you really go for it, I think you might be able to create a Kenny G. sound on alto.

a good way to develope your sound in general is to play long tones for about 30 min. a day.
start for example on middle B and hold that note for about 10-15 seconds. work your way chromatically up to high F or F# and then back down to (low) Bb. then work your way up to middle B again.

good luck.

1st-- I must state that I like Kenny G -- up to a point!

2nd-- Stop trying to compare him to the other jazz musicians but realize that he is doing a service(in a sense) by re-introducing sax music to the industry(I said sax music and not jazz--- But why should stop the discernment there-- The saxophone was originally an orchestra/marching band instrument 1st?)

3rd-- For anyone trying to play like kenny G-- understand (and I can`t put this in more nuetral terms -- which is bad) trying to sound like him is the like a child trying to learn his ABC`s in reverse order. Yeah it`s nice. It`s original at first but try listening to other artists as well. The more saxophone players that you listen to the more you realize how to approach differently. The sax pops up in more than `traditional` jazz. In fact, try looking for it in other types (Rock is a good example-- it appears very sporodic but its usage is rarely the same!)

4th-- For the Professional Musicians --- Stop trying to diss kenny G. He is like an introductory artist to the beginner (and serves a larger purpose). Would You give you son/daughter the Republic after they learn how to read? No you go to T.S. Eliot and try to build their literature foundation first! So reserve you personal opinion of Kenny G and promote other artists on the side.

So to the beginners out there: So you like Kenny G, huh... Have you ever heard of Courtney Pine. I think he plays alto.

ummmmmm.... I hate to break it to ya but Kenny G really sucks man... just listen to him, he`s all tone and no talent. I hat eto be so blunt about it.

hello,
i am 15 jus recently passed ma grade 7, n i hav n alto and a saprano sax, both yanigsawa n i like to think i have a sound like kennys (not meaning to brag)

look....good tone....kenny g has extremely fast fingers...granted he uses studio sound...but if it was that simple then u could get a 9th grader to do it......but u cant.......cause no matter how much sound equpment u buy, records u purchase,reeds,ligatures,horns,necks,pads,u will never EVER EVER sound like kenny g.......he will always have his uniqueness and thats something u can never learn......U WILL NEVER SOUND EXACTLY LIKE KENNY G....thats the truth

Rather than giving an analysis of Kenny G`s talent (musical, business, fashion, or otherwise), I`ll go back to the original question - how to get that sound.

One thing that will need to happen are transcriptions to the tunes. Pick a relatively short tune, maybe a ballad at first. The tune should be picked such that it is relatively easy to "figure out". If you can already hum along with almost every note of any song, then you are halfway there. Take your instrument (alto or soprano or tenor or ...) and play along with the record. Write down the notes and note durations (write the music). Be sure to turn up your stereo so that it is at least as loud as you are (or louder). Play what you have written and make sure it completely matches the original. After the notes are correct, go back and learn articulation (match slurring, staccato, long/short notes), dynamics (loud/soft, crecendo, decrecendo), and also try to match the tone as close as possible (subtone, full sound, growl, etc). After you transcribe one tune, pick another one. Maybe a harder tune with more notes. This process should get you "inside" the playing.

One thing unique to this genre are the long notes. Others have mentioned "circular breathing". This is the term given to what can give any player the ability to play one note, notes, or phrase as long as they want before falling asleep, losing control of the airstream, or just stopping intentionally. There are several texts on how to practice circular breathing. Below are a few things to try.

Circular breathing excersize #1:

Take a full glass of water to the sink. Fill your mouth with water, but don`t swallow any of it. Slowly "spit" the water out into the sink. You may think of pushing your cheeks in like a water balloon losing water. At the same time as the water is leaving your mouth, breathe air in through your nostrils. Since you have water in your mouth, this will train you how water (or air) can leave your mouth while at the same time air can enter your nose.

Circular breathing excersize #2:

Get some long balloons used to make animal shapes. I say this because they take a fair amount of air to inflate and also don`t get in the way of your eyes so you can look in the mirror and do this excersize. Basically, do the exact same excersize as #1. Instead of using water, blow up the balloon with air. At the same time breathe in through your nostrils. You should be filling up your mouth (cheeks) with a pocket of air, then push that air out with your cheeks while at the same time breathing in through your nose. At first, you can do this in single pulses using one pocket of air at a time so the balloon is only inflated a little each pulse. Eventually, control will allow you to continue blowing while inhaling through the nose, replacing the pocket of air, and doing real circular breathing.

Circular breathing excersize #3:

Take a glass of water and a large straw (large as in the opening - McDonalds straws come to mind). Place the straw in the glass. Instead of drinking the water, blow into the straw to make bubbles in the glass. At the same time as blowing, take air in through your nose. Use skills learned from excersize #1 (or #2) to accomplish this. You should be able to keep the bubbles going for as long as you like by circular breathing.

Transfer these skills to your horn by playing long-long-long tones or scales at first. Eventually, you should be able to circular breathe while playing tunes or solos.

One comment on the use of circular breathing. I was recently in Las Vegas and visited the old-town Vegas known as Fremont Street. There is a guy, Carl "Safe Sax" Ferris who plays a variety of saxes into a microphone to the background of amplified background music (karaoke-sax). I entered the street several blocks away from where Carl performs. From that vantage point, my introduction to his playing was: "what the heck is that noise!?". I eventually found out it was a sax (soprano, most likely) playing a long note using circular breathing. This "noise" would happen very frequently. Needless to say, it was annoying. Definitely not musical.

My advice would be to use any technique in a musical way. In a live situation, playing one note "forever" can be musical - in context. Shaping the note (changing tone, dynamics, vibrato, etc) during the held note can help. Myself, I regard this type of thing (the long-long-long-long tone during solos) as a gimick and only would employ this once, if any, during a gig.

Players like Rahsaan Roland Kirk used circular breathing in a different way - long before Kenny G. Roland Kirk may play an entire tune in one breath. Often Kirk would use multiple horns (at the same time) so one horn would provide a bass line, another horn would provide a counter melody, and third horn provide the main melody. All of this while circular breathing so there would be no interruption in the 3 lines. One tune that comes to mind is Roland Kirk`s version of Satin Doll. Be aware that he used a modified horn which allowed playing the low and high notes with one hand. There`s a video which shows his playing from Rhino called "One Man Twins - Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1972" which shown Roland Kirk playing multiple horns while circular breathing.

kenny g is the bomb man

..and how about Ornette Coleman.....the two extremes I guess, Kenny G. on the one extreme and O.C. on the other...

are there any other "extreme" players like Ornette? I know Jackie McLean was somewhat on that side.......


g

for all the people out there hating kenny g....

how can you hate on persons art form? It just really got to bother me as i read through this thread with numerous people bashing Kenny G.

Kenny G is a smooth jazz musician, and is no way related to big band jazz musicians. With smooth jazz its all about tone and note placement. With big band its if you can play fast or not.

I personally play tenor and alto saxophone and Kenny G is excellent for that smooth jazz sound.

Also Listen to some gato barberari if you like smooth jazz/latin....

great stuff

how sad, saxophone players rely so much on their equipment as i see... remember people that music is more than just what mouthpiece you use, you could learn so much from trumpet players heh, anyways, keep up with all that "trying to sound like" kenny g style... :S

go to e-bay and look there or go to www.robersonsmusic.com and ask them if they have can get it ok.i play the alto sax too.take care.