#70 Learn To Play "The Logical Song" Sax Solo

I've got a real cracker for you guys this week! I breakdown exactly how you play John Helliwell's classic alto sax solo on Supertramp's 1979 hit The Logical Song. Proper Sax Hall Of Fame! I haven't shown the notes and fingerings for tenor for this one as it doesn't sit well on tenor at all, but if you're a tenor player, the free PDF sheet music for The Logical Song has the music for alto AND tenor sax.

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 "The Logical Song" by Supertramp? (0:40)

• the alto sax solo on The Logical Song is played by Supertramp band member John Helliwell
• Apparently he recorded the solo in the toilet of the LA Studio due to space restrictions! 

What sax is used for The Logical Song solo?

• the solo on The Logical Song is played on alto sax by Supertramp band member John Helliwell

What is Supertramp's The Logical Song about?

• The Logical Song is about a struggle with the rigid confines of the formal school education system

What time signature is The Logical Song in? (4:34)

• I've notated The Logical Song sax solo as bars (measures) of 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4, 4/4 (repeated) but on the transcription sent to me by John himself it is notated in straight 4/4
• as long as you just play the music as written it doesn't make any difference, I just like to see the emphasis and flow of the music with the 2/4 bars

What key is Supertramp's The Logical Song in?

• The Logical Song is in concert Eb major/C minor, which is F major/D minor for tenor and C major/A minor for alto

What are the notes for the sax solo on The Logical Song by Supertramp? (1:26)

• I've broken the solo into seven phrases. For more details get the free PDF sheet music download for The Logical Song sax solo, which is transcribed for alto AND tenor sax. The pitches here are just for alto (*=second octave, **=third octave, __=longer note)
• phrase 1 (1:26) - Eb** D** Eb** D**
• phrase 2 (1:55) - C* A* C*__(Db* C*) A* Eb* D* C D* A C_(Db C) A A G A__G
• phrase 3 (2:28) - D#* E* G* A* C*__(Db C) A* C* A* C*__A*
• phrase 4 (2:46) - Eb* D* C A [x4] E* G*__A*
• phrase 5 (3:20) - E* G* G* E* G*__A* E* G* A*
• phrase 6 (3:34) - A** G* C#*__D** D** C* C* A* C*__A* Eb* D* C A
• phrase 7 (4:04) - Eb* D* [x5] C A C__

How do you get that growly sax sound on The Logical Song? (1:38)

• you can get a growl on sax by humming in your throat as you blow. Learn how to growl on sax here

What scale is used on the sax solo on The Logical Song?

• John Helliwell uses the minor blues scale almost exclusively on The Logical Song. A minor blues scale for alto, D minor for tenor
• you can  learn about pentatonics and blues scales here

Is it easy to play The Logical Song sax solo?

• The Logical Song is pretty hard to play on alto sax, especially to play it well, and it's even harder on tenor
• as with all solos, the devil is in the detail - attention must be paid to the phrasing, groove, sound (growls etc) and articulation if you want to sound good

So that's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed learning how to play another classic sax solo. Don't forget to get your free PDF sheet music for The Logical Song sax solo and I'll see you next week for something that you're ALL gonna love - how to play the blues on saxophone. Jamie :-)

Video Timestamps

0:00 - brief intro performance

0:22 - short intro and titles

0:40 - a bit about sax solo on The Logical Song by Supertramp

1:11 - how to get the sheet music for the sax solo on The Logical Song

1:26 - phrase 1

1:38 - how to growl on sax

1:55 - phrase 2

2:28 - phrase 3

2:46 - phrase 4

3:20 - phrase 5 

3:34 - phrase 6

4:04 - phrase 7

4:28 - putting the phrases all together

5:09 - FULL PERFORMANCE WITH NOTE NAMES

5:38 - the importance of learning the phrasing

6:07 - sign off and end cards screen

Video Transcript

Welcome back to Get Your Sax Together. I'm pro saxophonist Jamie Anderson. This week I'm going to teach you how to play John Helliwell's amazing Alto solo on the Supertramp classic "The Logical Song". Let's get straight into it!

This track is from Supertramp's sixth studio album "Breakfast In America" and features the incredible alto work of John Halliwell. Now on his website, johnhalliwell.com, it says that he recorded this in the toilet of the studio in LA because they recorded all the other parts live, so he was stuck in the toilet to record it. Probably accounts for some of the kind of echoey sound on it.

Anyway, steaming straight on, I'm gonna break it down into phrases as usual. I’m not going to give you the tenor fingerings this time because it's really high. If you go down into the description you can get a free pdf - just click the link, really easy, and that has got the alto and the tenor transpositions written out for you, but for this video we're just going alto only because the tenor is super high and doesn't really sit.

So, without further ado, let's crack on - here's the first phrase - I'm gonna play it really slowly so you can learn it. Here we go…

What you can hear on the original recording from that first phrase is a really throaty growl to the phrase. Now if you want to learn how to grow on your sax I've done a video covering it, just go to the card linked up there and you can learn how to growl just like the opening phrase of this solo.

Right, let’s move on to the second phrase - fairly long phrase this - a little bit intricate, a bit tricky. You're going to need to take your time over this. Practice it slowly and work it up until you get there. Here it is broken down at a nice easy tempo for you..

Phrase three. A bit shorter. A nice funky phrase this one. Here it is, played slow.

Phrase four is all about the fours. It's phrase four, and there's four lots of four sixteenth notes. lol So, take your time. Now, it's quite sort of articulated.They're quite short these notes. You're going to need to tongue each one, which is pre-tty tri-cky. So here is phrase four played nice and slow for you…

Phrase five. Nice short, crisp, funky phrase. Here it is…

One of the most distinctive moments of this whole solo comes in phrase six. This is wicked! He just sort of yelps out this high A on alto before going straight into the next bit of the funky phrase. It's really distinctive, really quirky. I love this.This is phrase six for you.

Phrase seven rounds the whole thing off. This is the final phrase, quite an easy one compared to some of the earlier phrases. Here is phrase seven, the last phrase.So that's it. You now have all the material you need to play Supertramp’s "Logical Song" sax solo.

In the transcription I've done, I've got 2-4 bars (get your free pdf transcription with the link down there). John emailed me the transcription he's got of his own solo and he doesn't have 2-4 bars in there! lol However, it doesn't make any difference, a beat is just a beat, so as long as you play it [like the music] it's going to sound exactly the same.

Let’s try and put all this stuff together. I've created my own backing track just for the occasion because I love it so much, and here it is all played as one thing. Remember, the phrases aren't just separate - some of them join into each other. So here's my stab at it, fingers crossed, here we go - hope you enjoy!

One important thing to remember, as I always say in these videos and it never gets any less true, make sure that when you learn these solos you listen to the original. I've already transcribed it for you, so that that's a big help, but make sure you copy the phrasing precisely. The bends, the timing, the pulls, the pushes, the growls. Because that is how you're really gonna progress in sax - that's how you sound convincing. Go and copy the phrasing, go and copy the phrasing, go and copy the phrasing. Super important.

So that rounds it off for this week, learning how to play the alto sax solo on Supertramp's “The Logical Song". Hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoy this kind of stuff, learning classic solos, go up to the card now and you'll find my Hall of Fame series. We’ve got loads of classic sax solos in there, all broken down for you, and don't forget to go down into the [description], click the link and you'll get your PDF transcription which is gonna look a bit like that... all lovingly transcribed by me, of course, and it's all got the phrases marked in and everything, and the chords if you want to play it with your band, so pretty cool.

Hope you're enjoying the content as usual, if so, please go down and subscribe to the channel, click the bell icon, that way you'll be notified when I upload new material, go and check out my Instagram feed and I look forward to seeing you next week.Take it easy, happy saxing! Bye!!