#73 Forget Me Nots (Patrice Rushen) - Learn The Sax Solo

Sooo excited this week! This is one of my favourite EVER sax solos - Gerald Albright's awesome tenor solo on "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. It's masterclass of how to play a memorable and funky eight bar solo solo, executed with precision, soul and flawless intonation. You can pick up your free PDF sheet music for Forget Me Nots here, which is lovingly transcribed for alto AND tenor sax, and if you want to play along with the backing track click here.

Oh yeah, I almost forget to say, if you want a real laugh then keep watching to the end of this video as my kids hi-jacked my studio and took over!

Here are the Q&A topics covered in this lesson, with video time stamps (min:sec). Clicking on the time stamp will take you straight to that portion of the video on YouTube (in a separate tab). Full Time stamps for the video and a complete transcript are at the bottom of the blog.

Who plays the sax solo on Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen? (0:54)

• the sax solo on Forget Me Nots is played by famous L.A. session tenor saxophonist Gerald Albright

What saxophone is used for the solo on Forget Me Nots? (0:54)

• the Forget Me Nots sax solo is played on tenor sax by Gerald Albright
• it's very high for tenor though, in fact, it's even very high for alto!

What are the chords for Forget Me Nots?

• in concert pitch the chords for the sax solo (chorus) section of Forget Me Nots are: F#m7 Dmaj9 |E6 C#m7 |F#m11 Dmaj9 |C#9sus 
• the key of the song is concert F# minor (G# minor for tenor and D# or Eb minor for alto)

Who is Patrice Rushen?

• Patrice Rushen is an American R&B singer, songwriter and keyboardist and Forget Me Nots, released in 1982, was her most famous song

Where have I heard Forget Me Nots sampled? (0:54)

• Forget Me Nots was used in the 1997 movie Men In Black with Will Smith
• the lyric was changed to "we are the men in black"

What are the notes for the sax solo in Forget Me Nots?

-=low octave, *=second octave, **=third octave, __=longer note

• phrase 1 - tenor (2:07): D**__C#**  (D**  C#**)  B**  G#**  F#**  D**  C#*  B*  G#*  F#*  B*__C#*
• phrase 2 - tenor (3:23): F#*  G#*  B*  (G#*)  B*__G#*  B*  (G#*)  B*__
• phrase 3 - tenor (4:16): C#*  D**  C#*  B*  C#*  B*  G#*  F#*  B*  G#*__F#*  D#*  C#  B__C#  G#__F#  B__
• phrase 4 - tenor (5:10): F#  G#  A#  B  C#  D#*  E*  F#*  G#*  A#*  B*  C#*  D#**  F#**  D#**__
• phrase 5 - tenor (6:09): C#*  D**  C#*  B*  C#*  B*  G#*  F#*  B*  G#*__F#*  D#*  C#
• phrase 6 - tenor (6:41): B  C#  D#*  B  C#  D*  C#  B  C#  B  G#  F#  B  G#__

• phrase 1 - alto (2:07): A**__G#**  (A**  G#**)  F#**  D#*  C#*  A*  G#*  F#*  D#*  C#  F#*__G#*
• phrase 2 - alto (3:23): C#  D#*  F#*  (D#*)  F#*__D#*  F#*  (D#*)  F#*__
• phrase 3 - alto (4:16): G#*  A*  G#*  F#*  G#*  F#*  D#*  C#  F#*  D#*__C#  A#  G#  F#__G#  D#__C#-  F#__
• phrase 4 - alto (5:10): C#-  D#  E#  F#  G#  A#  B  C#  D#*  E#*  F#*  G#*  A#*  C#*  A#*__
• phrase 5 - alto (6:09): G#*  A*  G#*  F#*  G#*  F#*  D#*  C#  F#*  D#*__C#  A#  G#
• phrase 6 - alto (6:41): F#  G#  A#  F#  G#  A  G#  F#  G#  F#  D#  C#-  F#  D#__

Does Gerald Albright use licks in Forget Me Nots? (5:42)

• the first 3 beats of phrase 5 are identical to the first 3 beats of phrase 3 (although that lick starts on beat 1 in phrase 3 and beat 2 in phrase 5)
• this exact same phrase is used again on the last 3 beats of phrase 6, except down the octave
• that's THREE uses of the same phrase in one eight bar solo! lol (Although it IS a mega phrase, so...)

Is there a backing track for Forget Me Nots? (8:28)

• you can find the backing track here. It features my buddy Greg Hagger from Greg's Bass Shed playing the role of bassist Freddie Washington

So I hope you've enjoyed learning Forget Me Nots. I LOVE IT!! It's always been my ambition to learn this solo, so I'm a happy bunny. Don't forget to pick up the free PDF sheet music for Forget Me Nots and I'll see you next week, where we'll be covering the basics of saxophone articulation. See ya!

Jamie :-)

Video Timestamps

0:00 - INTRO PERFORMANCE

0:18 - Intro and titles

0:54 - about Forget Me Nots

1:28 - how to get the free PDF sheet music

2:07 - PHRASE 1 BREAKDOWN

2:31 - how to get your free one hour Saxophone Success Masterclass 

3:23 - PHRASE 2 BREAKDOWN

3:37 - what’s YOUR favourite funky sax moment?

4:16 - PHRASE 3 BREAKDOWN

4:36 - the scales used in Forget Me Nots

5:10 - PHRASE 4 BREAKDOWN

5:42 - how Gerald Albright uses licks

6:09 - PHRASE 5 BREAKDOWN

6:41 - PHRASE 6 BREAKDOWN

7:00 - how to sound great with one simple scale

8:00 - FULL PERFORMANCE

8:28 - •••FREE BACKING TRACK•••

9:01 - ___STUDIO HIJACKED BY MY KIDS___

9:52 - funky end card music

Video Transcript

[INTRO PERFORMANCE]

Hi, I’m pro saxophonist Jamie Anderson and you’re watching Get Your Sax Together. I sax up your Sunday every week with technique tips, player profiles, tips on playing great solos and, of course, my famous breakdowns of the world’s best loved sax lines.

In today’s free online sax lesson you’ll be learning how to play one of the funkiest, tastiest, most memorable sax solos of all time and that’s Gerald Albright’s burning tenor solo on Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen.

[TITLE MUSIC]

Forget Me Nots is featured on singer/keyboardist Patrice Rushen’s 1982 album Straight From The Heart and was famously sampled by Will Smith for the Men In Black film. The funky sax solo is by LA session god Gerald Albright, and it is NOT easy I’m afraid folks!

Many of you might struggle with this one, even on alto, especially the first phrase which is mega high, so apologies for that, but it’s one of my favourite solos of all time and at the end of the day it’s my channel and I love it SO much that I’m gonna do it anyway! lol

Before we dive in to the fiendish first phrase remember to go down into the description for this video and click the link to get your free PDF sheet music for Forget Me Nots which looks like this…

[HOLD IT UP]

…and it’s written out for alto AND tenor sax, with all the phrase numbers marked in. In another life I’m a bit of a music copyist, so believe me, these PDFs have a lot of love put into them!

Right, let’s get straight on and learn the first phrase now. As I’ve already mentioned, this is super high, so you might do better to take it down the octave. However, if you wanna give it a go the fingerings shown are for the altissimo notes. Here it is, played in slow motion for you to learn…

[DEMO PHRASE 1]

Like I said, don’t panic with this one if you can’t scream it out upstairs, just take it down the octave. Just before we move on to the second phrase though, I wanted to quickly mention my free Saxophone Success Masterclass.

It’s a totally free and exclusive one hour video lesson, with loads of in-depth teaching to help you improve your tone, improvise a great solo, design a structured practice routine so you don’t waste your time and there’s loads of other super cool pro tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the years as well.

I’m telling you, there’s no fluff or padding - this is sixty minutes of solid in-depth teaching to transform YOUR playing. I’m not even sure why I’m giving it away for free to be honest, but there we go, all the better for you! The link is in the description, or you can visit getyoursaxtogether.com/masterclass. 

Okay without further ado, let’s look at phrase two now. Thankfully, this one is a bit easier! lol Here it is played nice and slowly and watch out for those ghosted notes in brackets that are quieter than the other notes…

[DEMO PHRASE 2]

Oof! That one is funky as you like when it’s played up to tempo. Actually, while we’re on the topic of funky sax, let’s get some healthy debate going on in the comments then - what’s YOUR favourite funky sax moment of all time? 

I’d say my top favs are this one, Wilton Felder on Street Life, Brecker on Native New Yorker, Ernie Watts on The Dude, and about another hundred I haven’t mentioned, but I wanna know what yours are, and if one is popular enough I’ll even cover it on the channel!

While we’re at it, if you never watch to the end of these YouTube videos, keep watching right to the end this time and let me know what you think of the Get Your Sax Together funky outro music cos I bloody love it! lol

Moving on then, here’s phrase three…

[DEMO PHRASE 3]

Apart from the major scale coming up in the next phrase, every note in this solo is from a concert F# minor blues pentatonic scale, that’s a G# minor blues scale for tenor and a D# minor blues scale for alto and you can see this if you go down into the description and click the link to get your free PDF. So if you wanna get to grips with pentatonics and with the blues scale used in this solo check out my video linked on the card up there now.

Phrase four is taken from a B major scale for tenor, F# major for alto, and it goes like this…

[DEMO PHRASE 4]

That’s such a great example of the importance of learning your major scales folks! If you get bored practicing scales or don’t know how to do it effectively, check out my scales practice video linked up there now.

Phrase five and phrase six actually make one phrase but I’ve split it into two phrases to make it easier to learn. Now here’s a hot tip - the next phrase, phrase five, is EXACTLY the same as the start of phrase three, but starting on beat two, proving that this is definitely a pattern that Gerald Albright uses or used systematically in his solos. 

Spoiler alert coming up - [INSERT KLAXON] - everyone uses pre-programmed licks folks, so if you’re worried about being formulaic, get over it! Here’s phrase five in slow motion…

[DEMO PHRASE 5]

As I mentioned, phrase five flows straight into phrase six, and anyone that’s got their eagle eye on will notice that beats two and three of this final phrase are exactly the same as beats two and three of the previous phrase except down the octave. Like I said - everyone uses pre-prepared licks man!

[DEMO PHRASE 6]

So that’s it - we’ve got all the phrases covered now but just before I play this through for you at full battle speed it’s worth noting that this whole solo only uses one blues scale and one major scale, but it still sounds absolutely amazing!

If you want some advice on how to sound great using only a few notes, like Gerald Albright does in this solo, then check out the video linked up there now, where I give you three tips on how to sound better when you solo, WITHOUT learning any new notes or scales.

Okay, let’s put this whole thing together now - remember to get your free PDF from the description to follow along with each phrase as I play it. 

I’ve put together a backing track together for this one and it features the fantastic bass playing of my old mate Greg from Greg’s Bass Shed, who does a fantastic job of re-creating the legendary Freddie Washington bass part on this track. I’ve put a link for Greg’s Bass Shed in the description if you know any bass players who might be interested.

So there’s four bars intro then the sax comes in, here we go…

[SONG PERFORMANCE]

[MY KIDS HIJACK THE VIDEO!!! lol]

So that’s it for this Sunday, I hope you enjoy learning Gerald Albright’s wicked solo on Forget Me Nots. I bloody loved MAKING this video, I can tell you that much!

So just before we get to that funky end card music you’ve all been waiting for, if you wanna learn some more in-depth sax stuff go to getyoursaxtogether.com/masterclass and get your free one hour lesson with me, and as always you can support me by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, click the bell icon to be notified when I upload new content, check out my Insta AND my NEW Facebook page. Ooooh! All the links are in the description.

Until next Sunday, adios amigos and bring on the outro music!

[ROLL END TITLES]