by Lynden Blades | Feb 9, 2026 | Tips & Tricks
The four chord types every sax player needs to know If you’re more of a watch first, read later kind of person, I’ve got you covered. Here’s the video that goes alongside this blog, where I talk through these ideas in real time and play examples on the horn: 👉 Watch...
by Lynden Blades | Jan 1, 2026 | Tips & Tricks
A Christmas message and a gentle reflection on your saxophone journey As the year draws to a close and we pause for a moment between the busyness of Christmas and the promise of a new year, it is the perfect time to take stock of where you are on your saxophone...
by Lynden Blades | Oct 21, 2025 | Tips & Tricks
Why learning licks is essential for saxophonists When it comes to improving as a saxophone player, practising licks is one of the most valuable things you can do. Pretty much every saxophonist since the dawn of time has spent time working on licks, and for good...
by Lynden Blades | Sep 27, 2025 | Performing & Playing Live
From a question to a lesson: Norman’s journey into playing with feeling Recently one of my clients, Norman, asked me a question that I’ve heard many times before, but which always carries weight: “How do you play with feeling on the saxophone?” It’s the kind of...
by Lynden Blades | Aug 9, 2025 | Performing & Playing Live
From beginner to wedding performer: Jonathan Currington’s saxophone journey In 2019, a gentleman named Jonathan Currington approached me with a wonderfully ambitious goal: he wanted to learn the saxophone from scratch so he could play Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 17, 2025 | Improvisation, Sax Advice
From humble beginnings to an incredible conversation with Kirk Whalum Hello everyone, Lynden here. I wanted to share something really special that happened recently. I’ve just had the absolute honour of sitting down with the legendary saxophonist Kirk Whalum for...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 2, 2025 | Tips & Tricks
Unlocking the power of chord tones in saxophone practice In the journey of mastering the saxophone, the ability to confidently hit the root, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth of major and minor scales is an essential skill – one that is often overlooked. As...
by Lynden Blades | May 31, 2025 | Tips & Tricks
10 game-changing tips to improve your saxophone tone Let’s be honest – tone is everything on the saxophone. You could know every scale and be able to shred your way through Coltrane changes, but if your sound doesn’t sing, it won’t connect. A beautiful tone...
by Lynden Blades | Apr 25, 2025 | Improvisation
Unlocking the secrets of bebop: Mastering a 2-5-1 lick in all 12 keys Pictured: Thelonious Monk, one of the pioneers of modern jazz whose innovative approach to harmony and rhythm greatly influenced the bebop era. His unique compositions and improvisational style...
by Lynden Blades | Feb 28, 2025 | Sax Advice
Stop wasting time with your practice! In the olden days, particularly in the ’70s and ’80s, getting quality information on practicing the saxophone was quite the challenge. Saxophone teachers were scarce compared to those teaching piano, guitar, or...
by Lynden Blades | Nov 16, 2024 | Sax Advice
Why timing & phrasing are everything Timing and phrasing are so crucial because, without them, a melody just doesn’t make sense. It’s like reading a passage from a book but putting all the punctuation, pauses, and emphasis in the wrong places. Suddenly, what...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 15, 2024 | Performing & Playing Live, Vlog
My very first sax vlog… Making my first vlog was absolutely unknown territory for me. By the time I made this, I had produced well over 125 video tutorials for both YouTube and this website, but all of them had been studio-based. When confirmation for a very...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 12, 2024 | Music Theory
Harmonic minors for saxophone – practice with me! The harmonic minor scale is so utterly beautiful and extremely useful. People often refer to it as the “snake charmer” scale as it has a strong middle eastern feel. It’s incredibly useful in all genres of...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 11, 2024 | Music Theory, Saxophones
Why are saxophones in a different key? When Adolph Sax first invented the saxophone, he was worried that it would be far too easy to play. So, he devised a mischievous and cunning plan to make the names of all the notes on a saxophone different from the names of the...
by Lynden Blades | Jul 11, 2024 | Music Theory
Cycle of Fifths When I first saw the circle, or cycle, of fifths diagram, I felt like I was back at school, looking at some impossible physics diagram that was, for me anyway, really hard to understand. It certainly didn’t make me think that it could in any way help...
by Lynden Blades | Apr 9, 2024 | Sax Advice
How to keep your sax clean – a complete guide Keeping your saxophone clean is extremely important for lots of reasons. One of the reasons is because when you play the saxophone for more than a few minutes, moisture condenses from your breath and settles on the...
by Lynden Blades | Apr 9, 2024 | Tune Tutorials
Misty In 1954, Errol Garner released a beautiful tune that was to become a jazz standard and a firm favourite of millions of people throughout the world. It was, of course, the iconic song Misty. Since then, Misty has been recorded by jazz legends such as Nat King...
by Lynden Blades | Apr 2, 2024 | Sax Advice
How, and what, to practice So, you’ve been eagerly anticipating getting home all day to spend some quality time with your beautiful, shiny saxophone. You’ve got an hour ahead of you, and you’re determined to elevate your game, enhance your skills...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 20, 2024 | Tune Tutorials
Why are older people learning the sax? Many of my clients are people who are 50 years of age or older, and I think there’s a very good reason for this. People often say to me that playing the saxophone is something they’ve always wanted to do, but because...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 19, 2024 | Tune Tutorials
Baker Street In 1978, the Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty changed everything for saxophone players all over the world, including me. He released a tune called ‘Baker Street’, and it was a massive hit at the time. It remains an iconic work of art...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 11, 2024 | Tune Tutorials
Take Five Take Five is arguably the most iconic tune in 20th century jazz – holding claim to the title of the biggest selling jazz song of all time and having been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Perhaps what makes Take Five so popular is that it manages...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 4, 2024 | Sax Advice
Making a sound on the sax One of the first interactions that I will have with a new client (after making them a cup of tea, of course) is to describe to them how to produce a sound out of the mouthpiece of a saxophone. The way that I do this is by detaching the neck...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 4, 2024 | Sax Advice, Tips & Tricks
How to set up your mouthpiece on the sax Having your mouthpiece set up correctly is incredibly important. You could be the best player in the world with the finest saxophone, the finest mouthpiece, the best reeds, and all the experience in the world. However, if your...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 4, 2024 | Sax Advice
Am I too old to play the saxophone? If you’d like to keep this short and sweet, the bottom line is that no, you’re not too old to play the saxophone. This question comes up quite a lot when I’m speaking to new potential clients, especially people in...
by Lynden Blades | Mar 4, 2024 | Music Theory
Major scales – do we really need to learn them? Major scales are mind-bogglingly important. They truly form the fundamental foundation upon which you build a new musical world. The significance of them though can be easy to miss, especially as a beginner....
by Lynden Blades | Feb 24, 2024 | Music Theory
How to Improvise Over a Minor 251 (II-V-I) Minor 251’s are another musical structure that is incredibly common, and the vast majority of jazz chord charts are highly likely to contain one or a derivative of one. Because of this, it is essential that we first be...
by Lynden Blades | Feb 24, 2024 | Sax Advice, Saxophones
Vintage Saxophone v New Saxophone? This is a question that I am asked many times every year by my students. I think that the perception might be that these old, beautiful vintage saxophones will magically transform your ability to play the saxophone and make...
by Lynden Blades | Feb 20, 2024 | Performing & Playing Live
Playing in Public… …nothing will focus your practice like knowing that you have a gig coming up! This is a question that often gets asked when I’m teaching: should I play in front of my friends? People often want to, but they are understandably nervous....
by Lynden Blades | Feb 19, 2024 | Music Theory
‘251’ (II-V-I) Sax Licks When I first looked at chord charts, I felt as intimidated as I would have been if someone asked me to translate the hieroglyphics on the side of an Egyptian tomb. I was a reasonably good improviser, as long as I didn’t have to...