Thanks to Jim Glass for this very cute picture

The baritone saxophone is a beast!

It’s larger than many children and the biggest saxophone that many people have seen.  (despite the rare existence of bass saxophones and contrabass saxophones)

I didn’t even try playing one for a while.

My first instrument was clarinet and I picked up tenor saxophone a few months into that (while continuing to play clarinet).  Alto sax may have been a better choice for getting the power on the horn, but for some reason I chose tenor.  Probably had to do with my favorite sax players seeming to favor tenor.

A few notable saxophonists have favored the bari sax including Gerry Mulligan and Ronnie Cuber.

It lays down the bottom of a sax quartet and you can get a mean sound out of it.

I also love the sound of a bari sax in Latin music.

A little while back Darrell asked, “Im about to play bari in my schools wind emsemble any tips?”

Xavier Johnson said, “lots of air”

Travis Breeon Cobb said, “drop your jaw for the low low notes”

Greg Beaty: Walk one hour every day and practice using your diaphram as you walk. You are going to need it to push the air through the bari.

His question made me curious about who plays the bari sax, if it’s their main horn, and thoughts on it.  So I asked some Sax Station folks about it.  Here are some thoughts on the baritone saxophone:

Alex Ring Gray: Played alto for three years, bari for one and now I’m starting my second year of tenor as my primary sax. Never have gotten a chance to play soprano.

Neal: @Alex, cool, soprano can be squirrely in terms of intonation, it also cuts through and it’s easy to get the high notes than doing altissimo, haha.

Alex Ring Gray: My friend plays soprano in our sax quartet every 2nd semester, I’ll probably try it out then. I’ve always noticed the intonation seems harder to control, though.

Duncan Brandt: tenor is deffinately my main sax. mainly because i actually own one and it has much more range in music pieces. however i play bari in my highschools jazz ensemble and lllooovvveee playing bari.

Lori Coleman: Playing bari for our community band, for both concert and jazz music. Love it. Took a while to make it behave, but now I’m glad I volunteered to do so. (Wish I was playing on a newer horn…)

Alex Tate: I can proudly say that I am most comfortable on Bari Sax, always have been, and always will be. I love it and my tone is my own on Bari. Dont let that fool you though, I play them all!

David Hayes: Bari is my main sax though I do double on all other saxes. Bari is great fun to play!

Joe Thrower II: I have in the past in high school, but i havent recently. i would like to buy one in the near furture…well actually i would like to own one of each saxophone

Neal: Sometimes I think I should play some more bari, but that would involve getting a bari too, haha.   ‎@David, nice. Seems like people fall in love with the bari after they try it sometimes

Thanks to Jim Glass for the photo at the top!

What are your thoughts on the baritone saxophone?  Do you play it?  Is it your main horn?

Saxophone Fingering Chart - Middle D

Got a question about the middle D on saxophone and stuffiness.  How the note seems to be harder to get out than notes around it and doesn’t quite sound the same, with the same tone & power you want to be able to get.  Thought it was a great question that many saxophone players have likely experienced.

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My response:
About the D and resistance, that’s a good question and cool you noticed it.  The D has a LOT more resistance than most notes.  So it sounds ‘stuffy’ often times.  Especially compared with the note a half step below (middle C#).  It just doesn’t seem to come out as easily as even a whole step above (E) either.

On some saxophones, the adjustment and fine tuning was done so well, that the middle D is not as much of a problem.  But that tends to be the exception rather than the rule in my experiences.

If we think about the physics of what’s happening, The air has to travel much farther in the tube before getting out and because of the way the keys are positioned, the middle D happens to have a lot of resistance.  The air stream has to go through a long section of tube and exits in a somewhat strange position on the bell.  You may have to use more air on that note to compensate.

Also, depending on the adjustment of your saxophone, you might want to get pads above the holes on the bell raised a little bit, that can help may the D less stuffy.  But be very careful with that, you probably want to get it done by a professional, basically don’t try it unless you know what you’re doing.

Curious to get some input about this since I have only played so many saxophones myself.  How does your middle D sound on your saxophone?  Leave a comment!

Question about chord tones and how to use them in a sax solo…..  Are they the only notes you should play?  And should you use the rest of the scale as well?

A few ideas about chord tones and improvisation on sax:

The chord tones include defining notes for the chord.  A minor chord isn’t a minor chord unless it has that minor third between the root and the third.  The seventh is also very important. The other chord tones add color to what you’re playing.

So if you’re going to emphasize a note, the 3 and 7 tend to be good choices.

Higher extensions – 9, 11, etc can be interesting too. As well as alterations.   The notes give you different colors to play around with.

However, you shouldn’t only play chord tones in your sax solos though, that would be very restrictive and not very interesting. Early on with your improvisation, you can somewhat mechanically play around with more vertical (arpeggiated) ideas and more horizontal (scalar) lines.  Getting comfortable with different approaches will make your playing more musical since you aren’t worrying about the individual notes you’re going to play.

When you speak, you don’t worry about the letters in the words you’re saying, the words and phrases just come out of your mouth most times without a lot of deliberation.

Knowing how to effectively use the colors of the notes while also having your tone, dynamics, phrasing, rhythm, articulation and other dimensions of playing music in control is challenging, but it comes with practice and experience.

And remember, the ‘right’ note in the wrong place isn’t ‘right’ anymore.  Also, the ‘wrong’ note with good timing, articulation, etc probably won’t sound as bad as you think it might, could even lead you in an interesting direction.  You can always go up or down by a half step and get to a ‘right’ note.