Reddit reviews Scratch My Back: A Pictoral History of the Musical Saw and How to Play It
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Hey there,
Here are a few things that might be helpful.
1 - Get a percussion mallet. Essentially a stick with a ball on the end. The ball should be hard drubber and not wood or felt. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Shappy-Mallets-Glockenspiel-Sticks-Percussion/dp/B075LN9V1L
2 - Buy a cheap violin or cello bow...don't spend too much.
This would probably be fine. https://www.amazon.com/Violin-Stunning-Carbon-Fiber-Violins/dp/B01J19ABGI
3 - Buy some rosin for the bow, you'll need it!
Practicing:
First, just start with the mallet. Get a drone/single note playing on your phone or on a keyboard with a note that is loud enough for you to hear well. Try and play the note on the saw by striking the blade with the mallet and bending the saw into an S-shaped curve. Bend up into the note from below, then bend down into the note from above. Do that a bunch, then change the note and do it with a different note.
After you can do that reliably for different notes, try playing a simple melody with the drone...twinkle twinkle, silent night, etc...keep the drone going and really listen, try to stay in tune as best you can.
Once you get a sense of how to find notes when playing with the mallet, try out the bow. Make sure to rosin up the bow pretty good as it will give the bow more bite on the blade. Focus on keeping the bow perpendicular to the flat (non-teeth) side of the saw. Play a note and let it rig by talking the bow off the blade. Practice playing a major scale (do that with the mallet too).
Take care to keep your left hand relaxed (the hand on the tip of the saw blade) it's so easy to create a lot of tension in your body when first learning, and you want to be relaxed. Also, when you bend the saw into the S-curve shape, it doesn't have to be bent too much....again, just try to keep your hand/arm relaxed. Try to find the minimum amount of pressure/tension that you need to get a good sound.
Also, very important, it's fucking tiring at first, so limit your practice time to 10 minutes. Listen to your body. If your hand is hurting, take a break.
I taught myself from this book about 25 years ago, might be a good place to start for you. Fair warning, the book is super cheesy with lots of bad saw-related puns. But it has all the info you need on how to get started. https://www.amazon.com/Scratch-My-Back-Pictoral-History/dp/096208820X
Finally, here's a little arrangement I made of Are You Lonesome Tonight with a saw/saxophone accompaniment, came out pretty good!
https://soundcloud.com/andrewinnes/are-you-lonesome
Here's anther arrangement I did of a hymn: https://soundcloud.com/andrewinnes/doxology
Have fun!