I tested out 3 practice methods and 1 was FAR superior

[@teogrunhut8764]

"Like ya cut, g"

[@qas2762]

You beat me to it.

[@yaboi9491]

You beat me to it

[@chevrite782]

You beat me to i

[@williamedmundson6626]

You beat me to

[@teogrunhut8764]

@Alfonso Jesse why would you hack your gf's account

[@jahdaiycarter]

It’s so impressive to see how much you’ve grown over the last 4-5 years I’ve been watching you. Not only has your musical intelligence skyrocketed, but also your confidence and ability to speak. You’re an inspiration man. I hope everyone can see you in the light that I do

[@zacharymata3087]

What he said

[@Saxologic]

Thank you! Though my ability to speak is still pretty lacking. Every jump-cut you see is an awkward pause or a speech error. Haha! Working on it

[@leesullivan9676]

I had to put on shades

[@JavierRamirezLive]

Studying with Gary Keller will do that to you! 💪🏼🤯

[@PaulyHerdsCows]

Definitely hoping this becomes a series. Easily could be what I look forward to the most and there is a lot to do with it. You could revisit this exact same thing in a week and see how you've retained, redo the 3 methods and then see the results after that. Or just next short term pit the winner of this ep against 2 new ones. A lot of good stuff here!

[@Saxologic]

Thank you Pauly AKA the tech wizard. I’ll keep it in my back pocket then!

[@sammynelson4583]

I just listened to a podcast, and they looked at a study about practicing, and the study found that the more times you play a passage correctly at any tempo, the more it will retain.

[@zugrath16]

6:44 Or you could think of it as Careless Whisper

[@mxtlync5627]

im a 7th grade alto sax player trying to get into all-state. your videos have not only encouraged but also provided helpful insight for the saxhopone. Thank you so much!

[@saiheim1182]

Great job

[@tabbbasco_sauce4545]

Saxologic Gaming

[@saxyboy4443]

No it’s Saxogaming

[@patcoolway]

I don’t know why this comment made me laugh but good job

[@tabbbasco_sauce4545]

@@patcoolway lol thanks

[@nigelfortes1370]

@@saxyboy4443 P E R F E C T

[@kitkatman6940]

Smashologic

[@pigmingus1363]

From all I've learned about the learning process (which is quite a lot; I'm a qualified teacher and I've spent a lot of my time reading up learning, analysing my own learning etc.) I've recently concluded that 'feeling the burn' inside your head, and feeling worn out and hungry at the end of the session, is the single most significant factor in good learnin'. Really glad to watch this video, certainly affirms that view, especially when you said that the 3rd session hadn't been that long but felt like ages. When we're learning a lot we tend to percieve time as being slower (hence why your childhood was so long; taking in new stuff all the time). Anyway, I think it's time I actually applied this to my practice rather than doing junk reps like a fucking mug. Thanks again for this man.

[@jiveslippers432]

mario kart guy is bacc

[@zacmerideth2821]

“Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect” - Ghandi or Muhammad or someone important

[@MrJTH1999]

Daffy Duck

[@raphaelkelly861]

einstein

[@raphaelkelly861]

maybe abe lincoln

[@zacmerideth2821]

@@raphaelkelly861 I think maybe babe ruth

[@NadavHbr]

Surely Barack Obama

[@Sully365]

Holy cow, I'm here before the first 500. Whooo. Keep it up. Seriously, i haven't played in 20 years and this is helpful

[@gusmarrero]

So many great nuggets. Definitely will try that third option. Thanks and that poster is hot!

[@Saxologic]

Great brother!

[@beter7886]

Spaced repetition is superior in studying as well.

[@Saxologic]

Memory techniques for studying for exams actually inspired me to make this vid!

[@MikeySaxMusic]

Thank you for posting this Nathan!! He’s BACK!!!!

[@samuelcristea4196]

For headphone users, do not keep the volume up at the start pf the video. Believe me... I learned the hard way.

[@hananapine]

Honestly on my own, I use the first method because that’s what they teach you from the time you’re in 6th grade until high school, but I have noticed that it’s not working all the time. Since it’s, yknow, solo and ensemble picking season, I’m trying to get my solo and I was just looking for a better way to practice it so I actually might just split it into sections and try out the 3rd method, so thank you!

[@Saxologic]

Awesome man!

[@hedaros17]

I love psychology of the practice and learning. If you are practicing, and your mind starts to wander, it is your brain escaping from the pain that the practice takes to the brain. Basically, your brain is being taken out of its comfort zone, that means, it is being put under presdure, which it interprets as pain. You should never mind-wander when practicing.

[@noelbeltran2651]

Thank you for always sharing yiur knowledge and talent. Youre an inspiration! Your first warm up zoom in hahahahaha!!!

[@paintboy3690]

Cool experiment! I know you talked about the variables and stuff, but a big one to eliminate if you try this again might be switching the order you did the methods in. Recalling the most recent four keys you did before the recap of all 12 keys could be a big part to the method performing better, maybe not. It’d be cool to see!

[@Saxologic]

Interesting! Ok I’ll give it a shot!

[@jacobbass6437]

Oooo damn. That new cut is nice. Welcome back

[@NicHasegawa]

Again, non-saxophonist bassist back to praise your videos again. I’ll be back every time btw❤️ Do you think the outcome of the third method would have been different if you had done 11keys at once? Do you think it was especially effective because you broke it down into three parts and cycled through the bite-sized four keys at a time? 🤔

[@Saxologic]

I am not sure! I’ve tried it before. I think it just boils down to what you would rather to! I think all of it works, as long as your brain is thinking.

[@darius_moglia]

so, if i understood the video, all saxophonists are bodybuilder

[@pcenero]

A couple of the principles in the Fundamentals of Piano Practice (free, online on the web) is 1. on learning the notes, always play slow* but 2. on practicing your hand movements, play "fast" as soon as possible and 3. always play through your mistakes and fix them on the next repetition. It also recommends you to break down fast passages into chord-like chunks ("parallel sets") since a chord attack is technically infinite speed and it's a lot easier to go down from infinity-to-fast rather than slow-to-fast. I put "fast" in quotes since you technically can play "fast", but slowly; this is the equivalent of simulating how to run but in 50% speed. You kinda have to break down how exactly how your limbs move at full tempo and practice that carefully so you don't make bad habits. *also don't rely on your muscle memory, actually memorize the notes fully and let your muscle memory develop around it. muscle memory is a lot more temporary in the short-term and will generally harm memorizing the notes long before it truly kicks in in the long-term and you can play without thinking about it as much.

[@odedbi]

This is great! It's cool that you actually thought of conducting this experiment, And also actually did it! That's a lot of mental hard work man! This is a question that always bothered me but I'd never consciously manage to tackled it. So thank you for all of your Great work! Peace from Israel

[@danielleb6125]

Are we gonna talk about that smooth edit at 0:06

[@Saxologic]

Let us talk about it

[@danielleb6125]

@@Saxologic IT WAS SICK... that's is all.

[@samuelhowell2058]

I'm taking a class on human memory systems this quarter, if there's one thing I've learned in that class so far it's that the #1 most productive moment for committing these to *long term memory* (as opposed to short term memory as you tested here) is 15:05-15:08 and moments like it xD You can basically "learn how to remember" generally, and also separately "learn how to remember" specific things. Like anything else, you need to practice something to get better at it, so if your goal is to remember something, you don't need to practice that thing so much as you need to *practice remembering* that thing Love the videos by the way can't want to see u hit 100k subs!

[@LeatherKeys]

Bro no lie.....YOUR CUT FRESHHHH!!👀

[@pantoleonantonio9653]

This is called active recall, great experiment!

[@hdwscoot9884]

That improv after the key of C was 🥵🥵🥵🥶🥶🥶 you should definitely record an album!!!!!!

[@changein3d]

Was this a long term experiment? Just kidding, I love this video, thank you very much! As a viewer it's much more valuable to go through an experiment with the KZbinr, instead of getting answers presented with long, more or less comprehensible explanations.

[@sitarnut]

Love your channel, your excitement level, teaching ability and mainly the fact you dig Bird and have humor! I hope that you have read Ross Russell's incredible book, "Bird Lives".. it is a stand alone book of the highest caliber...be prepared to almost break out into a cold sweat after reading the first kinda intro chapter, "Obligato at Billy Bergs." You will never forget this book. Further, you will wish Ross Russell had written every biography you ever read. I know you said you were lazy in this vid... please don't be lazy about reading this book...you'll thank me someday ole Top. Peace from Texas.

[@andreuromeroelias8341]

Pls someone transcribe the solo of the 17:06

[@SaxStation]

Thanks for sharing your experience with this. I thought about spaced repetition while I listened, had heard about that being used more when learning languages. Makes sense that it would apply with music as well.

[@hughhunt3655]

My dude I can link you some great scientific articles on the best way of practicing, my Saxophone Professor studies that stuff!!

[@hughhunt3655]

Your last one is the best method, but not for the reason you think. Your brain becomes less active after 30 seconds of doing the same thing. So if you do intermittent practice, your brain stays active throughout, when you are switching up. You should actually leave the line earlier than you feel comfortable with it. Trust me, this practice method has cut my undergrad practice time in half (or if my Prof is reading this it's been twice as efficient)

[@Saxologic]

Wow! Yes please show me. Feel free to email it to me!

[@quentinmorales]

Share those here dude!

[@Zhalfrin]

i'm keen as well

[@TickleHellmo]

Agreed. I would also like to check out these articles.

[@samuelbrown434]

I used something similar to method 3 on a specific charlie parker lick as a warm-up. I played the lick at 3 speeds (REALLY slow, medium swing, and slightly uncomfortable) but i would take it through all 12 keys and not let myself go back and fix things or let the mind dwell on the mistakes before going on to the next speed. It was more about moving the fingers and trying to hear what comes next. very therapeutic and meditative.

[@micahmazzella]

Did you move up to a 8 just for the altissimo squeals....don’t lie to me 👀

[@Saxologic]

Haha of course! Jk, I moved up because I felt like it could be even more open - and it is!

[@issaccamarena8644]

@@Saxologic You honestly sound great on it!

[@BrunoNeureiter]

I love this format

[@Saxologic]

I love u

[@mwright80]

Apparently, recalling engages more of the brain than drilling. You wouldn't memorize the answer to every possible math problem. You would learn the algorithms that produce the answers then recall them to solve any problem. So once you learn the fingerings (algorithm) for every key and the notes (algorithm) for any particular melody, you can combine them to recall any melody in any key.

[@pierrevaneerdewegh4165]

Hi man! Really interesting video, I'll try this method in my daily practice to see how it's affecting it. Thanks for your work! All the best.

[@James-gk8ip]

This is excellent. Fresh approach, great material, objective look at yourself. More like this! How bout that Mario Kart lick?

[@axelvekemans6750]

Great idea, I feel dumb for not thinking of it but I’m excited to try it out! I’m a method 2 person normally

[@richardsorice4509]

Great video, but I do think that you did better with the third method because of what you learned in the first two practice methods. Yes, I know that it's a new set of fingerings, but you already get around the instrument well. I think the earlier practice helped you internalize the melody so well that you could sit down at the piano and figure it out in 12 keys pretty quickly. Would love to see you experiment with a new line and do the third method first and see how it goes. Thanks for sharing!

[@Saxologic]

It’s hard to say! Though genuinely think the 3rd method really did help.

[@terrycozier1825]

Great improvement

[@BritneAndJordan]

That method of practicing could be comparable to "greasing the groove" in the fitness world. Greasing the groove basically means doing an exercise many times throughout the day but never to exhaustion.

[@jeriahe.mcdowell9166]

Great video! I’m been wondering about the effectiveness of my piano practice time, so this subject would be an interesting series. Also, I love your weird humor. 🤪

[@saxy_brandon1201]

What I tend to do sometimes is play a lick on paper as fast as I can a couple of times, and then play it slower or at its regular tempo to see how much easier it’s gotten. It sometimes proves to be very effective, and sometimes doesnt

[@bradleylard159]

I noticed how great your music theory skills are. Please could you do a video trying to complete a British A level music exam !Or a video teaching music theory as iam a music student this would help :D

[@Saxologic]

Could you send me a link to such exam? I think that would be a fun video to do!

[@bradleylard159]

@@Saxologic Here is the question paper: filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2018/june/AQA-7272W-QP-JUN18-CR.PDF Here is the score, corresponding to the questions: filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2018/june/AQA-7272W-INS-JUN18.PDF Here are the extracts for the questions : filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/music/AQA-72721-EXCERPTS.PDF Here is the final mark scheme: filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2018/june/AQA-7272W-W-MS-JUN18.PDF

[@BigParadox]

That was interesting. The third method involved more of your being, the mind was forced to work more. This is in accordance with what I have learned about memorizing things, the more aspects of yourself that you involve, the better. You could probably enhance that method even more by involving something more or yourself, in some clever way. Dancing around while playing? :)

[@aidandoesmusic]

This is some good shit dude! Keep it up

[@AdrianHernandez-dw9vb]

I learn licks in 12 keys by going through the cycle of 4th instead of going up by half steps. I think it’s easier this way since music moves in fourths. You can also use scale degree numbers to anchor yourself. You always see ii V I or ii V ii V ii V so why not learn licks in that order? That’s just my thinking. Maybe you do this already but I think learning licks in cycle order is way easier than doing it by half steps. Edit: and method 3 is what we do in improv lab class at college. We learn licks using the cycle thing I said but we really only get one try at each key since we are all moving as a class so you just get one try per chord or chord changes before we move on. It works this way too for the class.

[@notkylephillips9360]

What a good looking mic!

[@paddylandreville8501]

I said it before and I'll say it again, you are a musical genius, tks for posting, By the way, I just purchased a Paul Mauriat bari 300 UL and without any special knowledge in musical anything, I chose the same kind of mouthpiece you have on your alto sax. Pure luck? Yes indeed

[@Yoshinori76]

Great video! I'm always looking for new ways to approach the horn. Could you do a video on each method? Testing over a period of a week?

[@byf4ith]

Who's the new guy?

[@emmaanueeel]

ur ears are on the next level bro ! just curious tho, when you're hearing a solo that you want to transcribe, do you hear the scale degree of the melodies relative to the overall key (ex: key of G major) or individual chords like the ones u labelled in 5:02 Or Both? it seems like u can seamlessly hear the scale degree relative to individual chords (based on how u explained ur process), but for me i tend to keep hearing everything (especially melody) in terms of the overall key and not individual chords .. how can i keep switching my mental thought as the chord keep changing just like u did .. is it just a matter of hardcore transcribing?

[@Saxologic]

I think your way of thinking is totally viable! This is just how I learned. Many ways of thinking can get you to the same goal.

[@Kai-cm5mj]

The lad is back

[@grantkoeller8911]

Please try out the Meyer 7MM hard rubber, because you are a bebopper, It has the Phil Woods tone. It has a .081" tip.

[@samuelbevans6145]

I love the hair cut!

[@danielkinzelman7093]

Cool video Nathan. I'd like to suggest an alternative to the cycle of fifths (once you are really comfortable with it, which you obviously are). When I was at university, I was trying to increase my fluency with tritone intervals and began practicing everything in keys a tritone apart. So rather than doing C-F-Bb-Eb etc, I would do C-F#-F-B-Bb-E - first a tritone then a fourth. I carried this forward and recommend it to all my students for a number of reasons. First of all, you get really fast at memorizing the sound and feeling of that relationship (and knowing what it sounds like), and this helps you recognize that sound when you hear it (Monk). You also have that sound and feeling ready to use in case you want to slip in a tritone substitution while improvising. Also, a tritone is the furthest you can get from any note (since larger intervals invert to smaller intervals), and this also applies to the number of accidentals in the key signature (C has no sharps or flats, whereas F# has 6 sharps and Gb has 6 flats). As a result, you are initially disoriented, but at the same time you are developing mental agility in making the largest possible leaps. Finally, a tritone pair generally contains an easy key (C) and a difficult key (F#). This means you can usually do it easily in the easy key, and thus always have an example of what it feels like to YOU to do it well. We should strive for that same sensation and result in the difficult key. Finally, I found it helped me avoid getting frustrated by hammering away at Db-F#-B-E, which can seem really long and discouraging if you're doing something difficult. Anyway, thanks for the video. Efficient practice is super important - we are all busy, there's so much to learn, and there's no way to increase the number of hours in the day, so if we can make our time count for more that's a huge win.

[@Saxologic]

Hey man this is really great! Thank you for this, I am going to start trying this!

[@danielkinzelman7093]

@@Saxologic cool, I hope you like it. I graduated from UM actually, just saw you're studying there now!

[@kodiererg]

I had assumed #1 would be the best, but now I see the error of my ways.

[@NOLASkaGuitarist]

I'm still trying to figure out if the piano run he mentioned practicing in the beginning was on sax or on piano. Learning piano is built into any music program (at least at accredited universities) and your forearm could legitimately be sore from either.

[@bobbarksofficial4335]

HA! I KNEW I was gonna get greeted with the Mario Kart Lick! Classic!

[@rico._5067]

Anyone else notice the “ritual” timestamp lol

[@MrSax93]

@Saxologic that microphone are you using in this video?

[@Saxologic]

Rode NT2A

[@lilyjohnson5781]

What’s that lick in the beginning?

[@perioax6506]

I think the third one is best because when you return to one of the keys your mind doesn’t have it in short term memory anymore and if you keep doing long enough, your mind will be like I keep doing this so maybe I should put it in my long term memory so I don’t have to keep site reading it

[@Tetasha]

man what a nice microphone I'm sorry what was this about again?

[@chuck4972]

YES NATHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@awookieandagerman]

Shoot dude, that was impressive! You're making me want to practice...and I never practice, lol.

[@ilangumush6911]

Do you think that the method will still work if I would cycle 2-3 keys?

[@Saxologic]

I think so! Though I think you are safer with a little more space, unless learning the lick in other keys is really hard!

[@oscarlin-b7453]

Great Video!

[@onewiththeplantv]

Interesting stuff.. good job :)

[@raphaelrobles8104]

This was pretty cool. But, I play bass trombone. that saxophone looks like a very cute size, and I'm a little jealous haha.

[@d.guillermo2163]

love this cat!

[@5hyguy42]

I like just listening to this video even if I’m too tired to comprehend what’s happening:) Also don’t play saxophone lol

[@steinnos]

Awesome video. In the 3rd method, if you made a mistake on any 1 try, did you do it over?

[@Saxologic]

No, I went back to the mistake I made and corrected it but then kept going

[@vincent_c_tran]

Did my man at 6:10 say B-7 is the ii chord of AbMaj7? 🤔

[@Saxologic]

Crap I meant to say Bb minor 7 haha I was talking too fast

[@kai0zen-669]

3:31 I was like Coltrane?

[@MrApprobatur]

Super interesting video! I really like the 3rd method, but I can't tell if it's far superior the 1st one - what if you tried a 4th one; starting off with the 1st one as is (around 10 min) and then top it off with the 3rd? I think one would be done in 15 minutes, being even more fluent than in the 3rd!

[@ohlookitsmj7579]

what was the piano run??

[@paulgrass4855]

Do these same methods for a few days/week and come back to show the results and which method made you learn them the quickest.

[@doriangrayest]

For an electric bassist, the third method is crap since the pattern of a lick is the same throughout the 12 keys. Simple repetition would be better for practice But as an upright bass player, method 3 is nuts!! Fingerings matter so much more and they change a lot through the keys. Thanks for the tip!! Source: electric bass player that thought he was the hotshot prog god until I switched to upright. Oh boy am I crap.

[@Vanamutt]

My prediction, before the video. The best method is practicing slowly.

[@owenwalter451]

Surprisingly, you sound quite different switching between the syos and the babbit ny Meyer. You have your own sound on the syos but sound a lot like Vincent herring on the Meyer. Both are great!

[@Saxologic]

You’re great

[@jasdog]

Is there Zack's studio on the other side of that curtain???????

[@Saxologic]

No haha I am in the basement! Zack is upstairs from there

[@jasdog]

@@Saxologic love u babe

[@LucaszJazz]

what mic is that? i see it everywhere

[@Saxologic]

Rode NT2A

[@rrgaming8248]

Hey saxologic, do you rest your teeth on the top of the mouthpiece or do you use your lips instead?

[@nikolausscm]

next vid lezz go

[@tristanyokom1542]

How you go about transferring the short term recall to long term memory? Would doing method 3 daily be effective long term? I'm assuming it will, but I'll have to try it out and take notes

[@DrLeventBatu]

If you're using a DSLR, why don't you use a dummy battery so it doesn't die?

[@anthonygiordano792]

17:20 what was this quote? I want to say Chad lb but idk

[@gustavoastudillo401]

I like yo cut G

[@anthonymacias5334]

Does anyone know what sax that is

[@fdavidevans]

You should try another experiment called don't eat taco bell!

[@Saxologic]

Never!!! Lol jk

[@atherismagic4639]

My takeaways from this: Method 1: Dece Method 2: Still works, but maybe not necessary Method 3: Woooowwwwww!

[@Jonathanhsax]

YES TACO BELL

[@ballsacksologic1108]

I have returned Nathan

[@cadesauce]

Please Ball Sacksologic, have my children.

[@Saxologic]

Welcome.

[@streetzfpv]

When im practice something new and challeging it seems i only make so much progress on the first session. After i sleep and come back to it clicks.... for me at least. Like spaghetti the second day after the sauce sets in wayy better

[@sarahowens8897]

Is that the Olatunji concert you’re practicing?

[@trumpetaceman7806]

I like ya cut Abb