My jaw joints have been getting all cracky and achey and it's freaking me out D: What do I do? Chill with the practicing? Any of you guys get this too?

Don't ever stop practicing even if it kills you. My jaw ached a lot when I started learning to play. Just take a couple of days off but don't ever stop.

If you're finding that you have to blow real hard to get a note then your reeds may not be warmed up. When you first start practicing each day blow through the sax without pressing any keys at all. That's the easiest way to start the reed working and requires the least amount of breath. Blow the sax like that for a minute & then press the first key to lower the note & blow through the sax for another minute. Do that with each key until you have them all pressed. This gradual conditioning of the reed loosens it up perfectly & makes it very easy to blow. If you start playing with most of the keys pressed in then the reed is going to be less flexible and will need extra effort to get it moving, but if you slowly condition the reed like I mentioned then when you press all the keys in the reed is much more flexible & easy to blow.

But I've been playing for quite a while, and it never bothered me before 'till now. :/

Maybe it's the weather that is effecting your joints? Whatever you do though don't stop playing. I bought a new alto sax a couple of days ago and I tried all types of reeds on it and the hard reeds made my jaw ache. But usually I can play the hard reeds easily. Lately however joints all over my body have been giving me trouble due to the seasonal change & the extra humidity.

Mabey it's an infection. You should regularly clean your mouthpiece and neck with rubbing alcohol. Soak a Q-Tip for the mouthpiece or a hankerchief. Pour a little in the neck, seal ends with your hands and shake a bit before running a swab through. That was a suggestion from Candi Dulfer's web site. It made sense so now I do it regularly to.

DO NOT PRACTICE TOO MUCH, ESPECIALLY NOW. It could be TMJ. TMJ is caused by a slipped disk in your jaw, and can get even worse if you over do it with practicing. Some symptoms of TMJ are pain or stiffness in your jaw or directly below your ears, a cracking sound or a "catching" feeling when you open your mouth, and neck and shoulder pain. You can just do an online search to find out more information about symptoms and such. I don't play the saxophone, but I have been dealing with TMJ since last spring as a result of using reeds that were too hard, and over practicing using those reeds. The worst thing you could do is practice and practice until your jaw hurts until you know if you have TMJ or not.

The things that have helped me the most are:

TAKE IT EASY WITH PRACTICING. If your jaw starts to get stiff and sore, take a break and put some heat on it. I only have been practicing until I start to feel any pain in my jaw, then I stop.

If your reeds are too hard, find some that are more comfortable to play on. I switched to some other reeds, and have had a dramatic decrease of my symptoms. My jaw rarely gets sore when I play anymore.

If it gets worse, I would go to a doctor or see if you could get some physical therapy to help with pain and jaw mobility.

TMJ is very frustrating to us musicians, but just keep going! It will get better if you just take it easy for a while!

Good Luck

Abigail

if you keep on practicing you will stop aching. if you feel as if you sax is to loud then switch to a harder read. when ever you take your sax out to play. warm up with scales or an excise book for about 20min. then play your music. if you fell your mouth and jaw hurts to much the take a break.i practice 3 hours every time when i take out my sax. if you do 3 hours only 3 times a week you will be a good sax. it will hurt at first but just fine really good music and the time will fly by. don;t push your self to hard. slowly bild your posture and make sure your working out your mouth mucles.