Sax Practice Routine: The Perfect HOUR? | Free .pdf of exercises!

I returned to playing saxophone two years ago and wanted to really study. I viewed the many of the Youtube sax schools and decided Dr. Wally had the most logical argument for following his course. I started with his free 12 month fundamental course and am now a member of the Saxophone Academy. I think it is important to play everyday for at least 15 minutes. I start with the low Bb exercises and work on tone, technique and artistry. I am retired so I have more time to practice but it is still a hobby. The last month of the fundamental course I found really helped me so I do that study twice a month. I listen to music at least one hour a day or more and really enjoy it. I don't try and stress in how I am progressing because I know music will keep my ageing brain sharper and I would rather listen to Hank Mobley or Gene Ammons than watch the news. Good luck to all the saxophone community!

Doctor Wally, we've missed you! ❤

Hooray! Dr. Wally is back!! Great to see you.

The exercise I worked on that gave me the most benefit was I decided to pick one artist and study their recorded work from beginning to end, and I chose Joe Henderson. I didn’t actually finish yet, but I took 5 months and listened from beginning to end each of Joe Henderson’s Blue Note albums. I started with Page One and ended with Mode For Joe. I did one album per month, and I would listen from beginning to end at least once per day, sometimes more. The first benefit that came to me was it got me practicing diatonic 7th arpeggios. Joe plays them ALL THE TIME! That morphed into more triad studies and practicing that all of that in all 12 keys every day really upped my technique a lot. Plus, what an enjoyable experience learning Joe Henderson’s sound and evolution. He has such a beautiful arc of a career from his Blue Note days to his albums at the end of his career where he seems to reflect back. It’s really a beautiful thing, and starting from the beginning and taking my time going through that was just a great experience.

Greetings from Vienna/Austria! As a Saxophone-Teacher myself I find your Videos very inspirational & helpful for my own teaching. Thanks so much and keep on your amazing work - I appreciate it very much 😊

huge appreciation: much respect ❤

It's so good to see you back again, I've missed the videos and the podcast (although it has given me a chance to catch-up with the podcasts and I'm now only 10 behind!). However, I've been using Exercise Zero since you first introduced it in the Fundamentals book and it is a regular part of my practice schedule - it's great and the benefits are quite clear; unfortunately my overtones are still "work in progress"! Best wishes, Peter.

This is great. I can do this during my lunch break at work. I get about 4 hours in the day when I can reasonably practice when school isn't in session. (I work at night so I sleep until like 10am PST) I can do my usual routine (Transcriptions, scales charts, changes) and then this.

Great comments and advice…. Love to see how you tie this to your pdf guide. Thank you. Look forward to on-going videos. 🎉

Hey, Dr. Wally. Nice seeing you again! I have been in a fixated state of practice for a time duration that has lasted too long. I can not stop improvising over jazz standards, and it has become redundant. It has gotten to the point of being the sole reason that I pick up the horn. This is, however, not realized without an underlying theory. I heard in an audiobook on jazz improvisation once that Joshua Redman learned most of what he plays on the bandstand, and I figured that it would be a good idea to take after him and set aside some time in life to do the same. On the contrary, a recent addition to my practice sessions has been the incorporation of my own fathomed scale studies with melodic chromaticism. I finally feel like I'm making useful progress again. Nonethless, I need to be more disciplined in finding continuity and diversity in practice. However, the most useful thing that I have been doing in order to refine my overall sound, including swing feel and articulation, is my writing etudes over tunes and implying my own melodic interpretation over them.

Nice to see you again!

It's great to have you back, I've been going through your old videos over and over again to manage the withdrawal symptoms till you come back, and It has been extremely helpful

Great lesson as ever . I have found practicing minor and major pentatonic patterns to be excellent for progressing

as someone who came up on classical sax and swapped to basson and is now self teaching jazz sax I am immensely greatful for this structure and resources, much love

What a great video this is Dr Wallace, a must for players of all standards. Your comments at the end are so true. So much covered in 22 minutes (and 10 seconds). Valued guidance, good to have you back!

GREAT Mr. WALLY! THANKS A LOT. Thanks for all your dedication, all your work and specially your ENTHUSIASM to make me / us better SAX PLAYERS. I LOVE how you structure

Uah! You are back! I miss you Prof! 😉🙂😄😉👍

Great to hear you Sir, came back to the alto last year after a 34 year pause on alto and tenor. Making great progress. Got a great sound. Getting a tenor next month. Over months, your fundamentals book is a huge help.

Great content Dr Wally- really useful guidance as ever. Cheers

Hello Dr. Wallace. One exercise that seemed to pay dividend for me getting back into playing was the Scale and Chord Loopers from Brad Carman. I've recently adopted a Circle of Fourths/Circle of Fifths sequential chord exercise over the range of the horn (including lower altissimo notes, yeah....I said it) combined with some "voice leading" from chord to chord. 🎷🎵