Free online help with sax playing.

jim.jpg (109326 bytes)Our store manager is Jim Cheek, an established saxophone teacher based in Brighton. 

Jim was brought up in the rolling hills of the Scottish Borders, where there was plenty of free time and space to make as much noise as possible. He started learning tenor sax at age 12 under the peripatetic school  system and was soon playing with various local bands. When he reached 15, one of Jim's music teacher's advised him to take up a more "classical" instrument  so he started learning the oboe. Luckily the fingering is very similar so the two instruments were fairly interchangeable. 

Jim eventually decided to study music properly at college so he headed south to Birmingham Conservatoire where he undertook a four year degree course in performance. Here he gained experience in playing in quartets, small combos and big bands. Following this he did a further year's study at the Royal College of Music, after which he was offered a job in a Portuguese orchestra. He only remained in this position for three months as the playing and working conditions were poor, so he put all his savings into buying a better saxophone and came back to England where he began teaching and playing in Brighton. He is now happily working full time here at saxophones.co.uk and squeezing in the odd bit of teaching in his spare time.

Jim and his experienced team are happy to help out with any problems that you may have learning to play the saxophone, whatever level you are at. 

If there is something that you would like to discover then why not e-mail us and we will do our best to answer your queries on any saxophone matter including the following:

  • Mouthpieces, reeds
  • Breathing, breath control and developing your sound (see below)
  • Styles of playing and phrasing- rock, jazz to classical and world music
  • Tutor books, DVD's, playalongs, general study aids
  • The physical attributes of playing the instrument- stance, posture , hand positions etc
  • The saxophone repertoire - what music is out there for me to play?

`Saxophone Breathing
...a useful excerpt from the YOU CAN PLAY TOO tuition DVD
Presented by Jim Cheek

More excerpts from the tuition DVD:  Introduction,  Mouthpieces,  Reeds

Click here to help solve a few common problems eg. sticky pads

Click here to read our thoughts on some of the worlds finest saxes.

Click here to read our mouthpiece road test.

If you do not have menu buttons on the left hand side of this page click here.