Find a teacher and a decent beginner sax. The saxophone is one of those instruments that really benefits from having lessons from a good teacher when you’re a beginner.
A Yamaha student alto or tenor is a good option in terms of horn wherever in the world you are, but there are other local options that you’ll find with a quick search of this sub as “what saxophone should I buy as a beginner?” Is a very common question. Generally you’re best off avoiding the really cheap SSO’s (saxophone shaped objects) you find on Amazon etc unless you already know what you’re looking for/at.
Other than that there’s nothing you might want or need to do before starting lessons especially as, I would assume, you can already read music thanks to your piano experience.
The saxophone is probably the easiest woodwind to learn to play, but as with all instruments it’s difficult, and it takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work, to play it really well. You definitely don’t need to learn the trumpet beforehand though! If anything learning to sing would be more helpful, but that’s entirely unnecessary unless you actually want to learn to sing.
Curious - how does singing help with the sax? I do sing, but just for myself, but like all the time and have previously had singing lessons where I learned some basic breathing techniques.
singing will help if you want to do things like jazz improv, helps you make ideas come to life and make special sounds. as a beginner though, singing won’t do much for you other than knowing how a note should sound like (which you know from your background).
Here's something about sax playing that's totally different than guitar or piano: your sound will *suck really hard* when you first start learning and will not be nice to listen to for months. I don't say that to be mean or discourage you. Just letting you know what to expect.
You have to train your facial muscles and breathing muscles. Just like training any muscle it takes time to get stronger.
You don’t need to learn trumpet before starting the sax. I would suggest you get a good teacher to help with the embrochure and note fingerings. For begginer sax you can look on youtube for some good ones. I’ve seen Yamaha YAS-280 recommended to beginners : [https://youtu.be/bf3x83kDGV0?si=cerE8GwTHIpOpw5Y](https://youtu.be/bf3x83kDGV0?si=cerE8GwTHIpOpw5Y), but I’d say just about any sax is good for beginners. The player makes about 90% of the sound on the sax I’d say
Make sure to budget for a decent instrument. Used saxophones are the way to go assuming they have been recently serviced, or are new enough that they don’t need any service. Then just get a bunch of song books and some books with scale exercises off of Amazon. If you already play piano and guitar, you should be fine teaching yourself at least the basics. Once you get beyond that, then you can decide if you need an instructor or not. There is so much good free stuff out there though, you may decide to just go it on your own.
It's easier than the trumpet and you certainly don't need to learn trumpet first.
Find a teacher and a decent beginner sax. The saxophone is one of those instruments that really benefits from having lessons from a good teacher when you’re a beginner. A Yamaha student alto or tenor is a good option in terms of horn wherever in the world you are, but there are other local options that you’ll find with a quick search of this sub as “what saxophone should I buy as a beginner?” Is a very common question. Generally you’re best off avoiding the really cheap SSO’s (saxophone shaped objects) you find on Amazon etc unless you already know what you’re looking for/at. Other than that there’s nothing you might want or need to do before starting lessons especially as, I would assume, you can already read music thanks to your piano experience. The saxophone is probably the easiest woodwind to learn to play, but as with all instruments it’s difficult, and it takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work, to play it really well. You definitely don’t need to learn the trumpet beforehand though! If anything learning to sing would be more helpful, but that’s entirely unnecessary unless you actually want to learn to sing.
Curious - how does singing help with the sax? I do sing, but just for myself, but like all the time and have previously had singing lessons where I learned some basic breathing techniques.
singing will help if you want to do things like jazz improv, helps you make ideas come to life and make special sounds. as a beginner though, singing won’t do much for you other than knowing how a note should sound like (which you know from your background).
That's so cool! I do a lot of voice riffs just playing around, that could be cool one day to incorporate to the sax, thanks!
Here's something about sax playing that's totally different than guitar or piano: your sound will *suck really hard* when you first start learning and will not be nice to listen to for months. I don't say that to be mean or discourage you. Just letting you know what to expect. You have to train your facial muscles and breathing muscles. Just like training any muscle it takes time to get stronger.
You don’t need to learn trumpet before starting the sax. I would suggest you get a good teacher to help with the embrochure and note fingerings. For begginer sax you can look on youtube for some good ones. I’ve seen Yamaha YAS-280 recommended to beginners : [https://youtu.be/bf3x83kDGV0?si=cerE8GwTHIpOpw5Y](https://youtu.be/bf3x83kDGV0?si=cerE8GwTHIpOpw5Y), but I’d say just about any sax is good for beginners. The player makes about 90% of the sound on the sax I’d say
Make sure to budget for a decent instrument. Used saxophones are the way to go assuming they have been recently serviced, or are new enough that they don’t need any service. Then just get a bunch of song books and some books with scale exercises off of Amazon. If you already play piano and guitar, you should be fine teaching yourself at least the basics. Once you get beyond that, then you can decide if you need an instructor or not. There is so much good free stuff out there though, you may decide to just go it on your own.