[Sax Player Guy]

Hi David,

The parallels continue. My teacher had me learn Freight Train this summer. The difference is he had me learn a simple syncopated version right off the bat (so that the word "train" is anticipated).

What helped me to get it was I took only the first bar, the first "Freight Train" iteration, and played it slowly, over and over and over, then sped it up. Then I increased it to the first two bars ("Freight Train, Freight Train") over and over and over. I got to where I could watch a TV show and play those first two bars without thinking.

Davidbeinct is right about the autopilot thing. When I think about what I'm doing it messes me up! Well, I had to think about it at first, but the trick was to get it on autopilot. One small piece of it, then gradually expanding it and getting to where it's my hand doing it "unencumbered by the thought process" as the Car Guys used to say.