Challenged by sluring
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 11:59
Hello Sir
My technique is improving a great deal. Im in my 5th year now. You got me bending some time back. Thanks. It worked. Now Im focued on being in tune on bends.
Here is my challenge. I hear good players play a fast series of notes and hear smooth slured sounds. Even if I can play the notes I still get more seperation than the tune demands.
Example- Im playing 8 16th notes as follows
2d" 2d 3d 2d 2d 2d"1d 1d'
Is this just practice or is there a technique to be able to slur these notes?
Thanks
Gary
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 10:31
#2
Yes
I think I have develped a habit of tongueing notes and not maintainin continious air. Thanks
Are you stopping your breath between notes, or starting each note (bent or not) with an articulation (T, K, etc.)? Either one of these can interrupt the smooth flow.
Try playing each of these passages slowly, on a single breath, without interrupting the flow in any way, so that you get a continuous sound. Then work on speeding it up.
The trick here may be moving between unbent and bent notes without an audible slide in pitch. The bend has to be activated directly from the unbent note by placing the tongue exactly on the bent note and not sliding up or down to it by tongue movement. To do that, you need to memorize the exact point where the bend occurs and go directly to it, instead of sliding into it, and without masking the slide with an articulation.
Does this help?