“How can I be able to give a good pitch?” (on saxophone)

“I am now learning and am having problem with my pitching as well as my fingering.”

Playing alto sax one month, practices twice in a week

-George (Ghana)

My response:

Start practicing more than twice in a week.

If you don’t practice more often, it will take a very very long time to get a good tone on saxophone.

Try to make it every day.

This is somewhat a default response, for people who don’t practice every day, try practicing every day. You almost undoubtedly will start to sound better. You need to be aware of your sound as well. Getting feedback can help a great deal.

 

“how do I get to play the upper notes and the lower notes at the same pitch without the upper notes being higher than the lower notes ?”

Playing soprano sax two years, practices once a week.

On day 1, sounded “awful”

-Oloja

To be frank, it’s going to be hard to sound good at all if you only practice once a week.

Soprano can be harder to play in tune compared to alto or tenor.

Realizing that the notes are out of tune is good.

Part of it will depend on your saxophone. Some saxophones are a bit easier to play in tune. And your mouthpiece, that can also make a difference.

Main thing I would say for you is to practice more. Including some ballads/long tones could be good.

“….its just hard to learn the alternative and the original fingerings at the same time but you explained it well.”

-Acacia

My response:

You probably want to learn a ‘default’ fingering for each note especially early on.

In certain situations though, the alternatives can be very useful so it’s good to have options.

And at the very beginning, it’s probably best to start by learning the mid range of the saxophone.

(Question on Quora)

Without background, here are some general tips.

It will help to start with some lessons to get started in the right direction.

You can develop good habits easily, but you can also develop bad habits easily.

You want to hold the saxophone correctly as not to damage it. You don’t want to be fighting unnecessary problems.

Being able to properly place the reed on the mouthpiece with some precision will help you and save you some frustration.

Also keeping your fingers directly on the keys (almost all the time) will be a good habit.

Listen to saxophone players you like and learn music by ear. It will also help to learn to read music.

When you’re going in the right direction, it will help to practice every day.

If you have a specific question, you can go here

Stuck with something? Want some help with saxophone?