5 TIPS FOR PLAYING A BALLAD 

Ballads are the soul of jazz. Thanks for giving more heart to my favorite vehicle.

Scott, Stardust is one of the most beautifully written ballads ever and no one has mentioned it. Also it has that wonderful introduction. Would like to see you do a video on this tune. This is from seventy-five year-old tenor man soon getting a new AW020 Alto as well. Never to old to dream.

Awesome info! Thanks for the lesson. Great instructions.

Good demonstration on that ballad, sentimental mood, good work Scott, keep doing what u doing.

Excellent changes to aspire to! Thank you 😊

So appreciate your teaching, You brake down the complex and make it doable

I really appreciate all the help you have been for me already Scott …. I just finally got reunited with my alto sax after about 4 years …. I had been making Native American Style flutes for several years and lost track of alto after so many moves … I at one time was getting to sound pretty good and looking to get it going again … The flutes I used to make were in the minor pentatonic scale and since I only had five notes to work with I think I learned how to do more with less sort of by using note bends and articulation to create more interest on the flutes. So much looking forward to doing the same with the alto now. Thanks for being you... I enjoy your lessons and enthusiastically look forward to hearing seeing and learning more Scott …. Bongo Dave - Good Happens / Love Shall Prevail

You are an amazing teacher. Thank you for sharing you knowledge with us.

Great ballad and thanks for the tips!!

Great content! You've given me plenty of pointers to think about in my practices! :) Thanks!!

Thank You Scott. I was able to brush up my favorite song by your method.

This would have been my first choice of ballad for this lesson, so this was just what the doctor ordered. Thanks, Summertime and Misty would be great for a follow up video. My three favorites.

I have recently come across your utube channel and love your lessons. They are so so helpful and you put things across so well. Thank you. I shall catch up on some of your others.

Thanks Scott. Very useful info!

Thanks again, Scott. Your other vid all about vibrato is also really helpful! “Never let me go” is great to play, especially if you think the lyrics, which are beautiful.

Great tips. I love playing ballads just because there’s so much time to think and “work it”. Thanks, Scott.

"There will never be another you" and "I remember clifford" are amazing

Fantastic demo of how to embellish a ballad. You took me back years, Scott, to when I played in a school big band when I was 17 (I am now 54!). Still loving the sax and playing my own stuff with a trio here in the North East of England. Keep on putting up those videos and they make a MASSIVE difference.

Thank you so much. I love that you give clear, concise instruction. Thank you.

Excellent teacher. Thanks and blessings, Mr Paddock.

great video, wonderful tips and I love that particular song. Going to watch this video and practice these techniques over and over. It is going to make a huge difference. Thank you, Scott!

Hello Scott!! Thanks a Lot for your vídeos! Always great tips!!! My favorits Ballads is all those played by Dexter Gordon (Darn that Dream)

Learned some great stuff!

Definitely gonna try these tips at home

Clean simple and VERY helpful .

Great tips, Scott. Many thanks

Awesome information Scott. Thanks for your wealth of knowledge.

Thanks, that was very inspiring

Another brilliant video! Thanks for sharing!

Once again fantastic Scott thanks

Thank you for this lesson. I enjoy ballads so any help making them better is appreciated.

Thanks again, Scott, for another first-rate video; clean, clear, inspiring, and another expression of your great generosity. Greetings and Blessings from Canada.

That is so useful and clearly explained. Thank you very much! :)

Thanks for the inspiration to start making music again!

So true on those swingin 8th notes, I always do that..thanks for the breakdown, well done

Thanks Scott, please keep doing this kind of great work. May God bless you.

I play summertime a lot my warm up song sentimental mood and misty love all your videos. Everything is covered and explained so well thank you Scott.

"I Want To Talk About You" is one of my favorites

I have been watching your videos for some time now, I find them very good and informative. Well done you, keep up the good work.🙂🙂

First time I've come across your channel. Nice advice. I get my students to play ballads because of tone, embouchure, and air control.

Your teaching skills are top notch!

Much appreciate the detailed explanation AND repeated DEMONSTRATION of each phrase. It's so obvious how you want your student to learn from you.

Thank you for this video. Helps me a lot.

I learned a lot from this. Thanks!

Awesome tips !!!

Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time to go over all the details with us. Will practice! Thanks a lot!

Awesome! Newby here, you answered why i sound boring. Really helpful. Keep more videos. From dubai under learning sax under covid quarantine. 3rd week. Thanks

Amazing and very helpful as always! Thank you for breaking it down to the tiniest details! :)

Love the sub-tones sounds of Getz/Gordon/Henderson and really try to encorporate their styles into my ballads. Vibrato, grace notes, turns and push/pull as well. My favorite ballad is "Good-Bye Pork Pie Hat." Still learning. Thanks for the video!😎💪🎷

Great tutorial..... 🙏🙏🙏 “ Blue Moon” and “Beyond the Sea” .... and so many more!!!

another great lesson Scott thanks

You brought me back to alto after twenty years of tenor. Thanx.

Thank you for interesting explanation.

Very nice sound and tasty playing. Thanks for the tips : )

I guess ill hang my tears out to dry .... Beautiful.

Killing Me Softly. I used to play this with a B3 backing me. Always got applause. Nice long notes, dynamics and offbeats. With a touch of reverb from a WEM Copicat. Beautiful!

Very concise and fun! Got me blowing young man!

Wow, these ideas are really going to help me to enjoy playing my sax. This is exactly what I intend to do with my playing, but now I must master a lot of things to be able to play like that, since I'm rather a beginner on sax. Thanks, Scott

Hi Scott, thank you for another Masterclass. My favourites to play are "a nightingale sang in Berkley square", "feelings" and "send in the clowns"

Great lesson.

Excellent lesson. Need to have at least a full hour to replay over and over to "digest".

Very eye opening (says guitar player). Thanks a lot.

My favorite things to play are ballads. I Misty and The Masquerade are my go-to's when I just want to play something, but there are so many great ballads, especially Antonio Jobim's songs. Thanks for the tips. It will help me improve my playing a lot.

Nice helpful lesson, Scott. I’ve done Georgia before with a jazz band. My favorites are Samantha, I Remember Clifford and Dedicated to You.

I love summertime, and early autumn

Love this video crazy helpful!!!

Love it! Like all your videos.

When Sonny Get’s Blue is my favorite!

Scott that was a great help thanks

My One and Only is also one my favs. Another is Dedicated to You (Hartmann / Coltrane). Some things I’ve learned doing ballads are: do lots of long tones, especially soft ones which you discuss. Ballads are tough on embouchure! Another is obviously breathe support because those phrases can be long and you don’t want to end them too soon. Another thing is to relax. You just can’t play if you’re tense so make sure your rig is setup right, drop your shoulders and be comfortable. Thanks Scott.

thanks a lot Scott

Stars fell on Alabama last night Thanks for the videos

Thanks Scott, I really enjoy your videos. In a Sentimental Mood is also one of my favorites, along with Summertime, Georgia On My Mind, Mood Indigo, Bye Bye Blackbird. I could go on, I love ballads on the sax, it seems to be made to play those kinds of tunes.

Great information! Thank you!

Another awesome video, thanks so much Scott! I was just going to request for you to do a video on playing ballads too. Great minds think alike I guess :P

Very helpful, thank you and best greetings from Germany

Stairway to the Stars... gorgeous❤️

Love this, esp. the varying of the time. Keep up the excellent work, Scott. Don't move out to pasture!

Thank you Scott. I have been practicing with this ballad using backingtracks which makes it pretty metered in quality. Gonna try it without to see if I can get the same feel.

Very nice, thank you.

Very useful information, thank you. Also love your tone. Trying to get your tone on my Mk7..

Brilliant! Very helpful. Love your work. Didn't know you had a CD. Where can I get that?

hi scott,, been playing balleds for years on saxes, in the business and the best thing is to listen to singers and emulate them also at appropriate time when you feel it at the end of phrases add slight runs with feeling that lead into key changes or the bridge. but listen and listen and learn to emulate singers phrasing. . on balleds a sax needs to be romanced to sound good. with feeling and with good tone. made to sound pretty.

My favourite ballad is Unchained Melody, probably because it was the first song I learned on my loaned alto sax. Wanting now to play it better, with some ornamentation/improv.

Misty and Everything Happens To Me. All The Things You Are at slow tempos can also have a ballad feeling, it sound amazing to me

In a sentimental mood, body and soul- Coltrane, Charlie parker- Laura, Misty is one I could go for to

I've always liked Autumn Leaves, or maybe Someone To Watch Over Me. But there are so many good ones.

great thanks

Scott, to see and hear you play almost every day and for you to reply; for some one like me that isn’t too much into social media, it’s really quite touching and much appreciated. It’s the first time I’ve ever posted much less received s reply back. Cheers bud. Keep up the good work, I for one am listening and learning 👍🏾

that was fucking AWESOME, Inspiring...much respect

Oh thanks Scott, I love playing ballads. Hard to pick a favourite though My One and Only Love is high on my list. Do you have a vid on playing/practising/achieving those cool embellishments?

Stranger on the shore is my all time favourite. Originally played by clarinet, but I'd love to hear it on sax.

love it

My favorite ballads to play are My Foolish Heart, Tenderly, Misty, and In The Mood For Love.

Scott Paddock❤Love from Ghana 🇬🇭

Thank you!

I double up on lead vocals for a lot of numbers in the band I play in and have a tendency to “play around” with the timings ( as on sax ) to the ‘annoyance’ of the keyboard player/ leader. 😁

Early Autumn and Moonlight in Vermont. Yes, I am a Getz fan. Saw him four times in London.

I tend to like "Smile" and "When I fall in love". I think that's because my mum used to play Nat King Cole a lot when I was a kid and these were the first ballads I learned to play. So, everytime I learn something new or want to innovate a bit, I turn to that song to see how much better I make them sound.

Misty and in a sentimental mood, Sarah Vaughan made me love it