Are you a beginner saxophone player? Learning to play saxophone could be easier than you think. In our saxophone notes for beginners, we’ll share tips to guide you to practice any type of saxophone with confidence.
These free saxophone lessons offer you a detailed overview of the basics of playing saxophone notes. Read through and see yourself playing saxophone soon.
Where to Begin
Making your first sounds as a beginner saxophone player is very exciting. However, it is important to get it rights because a wrong beginning can hold you back, which would be devastating. Let’s kick off with the basic elements of learning saxophone notes as a beginner.
The Right Posture
Whether you are sitting or standing, the most important thing is that your back should be straight. In addition, your shoulders and arms should be relaxed without extra tension.
Place your right thumb under the hook at the back, bottom of your saxophone, and your left thumb at the black button up toward the upper part of your saxophone.
Just let your thumb rest and close your hands around the front side of your instrument without pressing the keys down.
The Right Embouchure
A beginner saxophone player needs to get his embouchure right. You have to make a small cushion with your bottom lip to produce a good sound on the mouthpiece and support the mouthpiece for the reed to vibrate.
Place your bottom lip over your teeth and make a seal around your mouthpiece. Once the embouchure is in the correct position around the mouthpiece, take enough air and blow out.
Tonguing Techniques
Tonguing is the technique that one uses to start every note on the saxophone. You do this by touching the tip of the reed with your tongue. Then you release your tongue to produce a note sound.
Start by placing your mouthpieces in with no fingers down. Put your tongue on the reed and try making “to, to, to” sounds. Practice this severally.
How to Use Your Fingers
Let’s guide you on where to position your fingers on the saxophone.
Starting with your left hand. Your left thumb should be placed on the button at the back of your instrument. Then, position your left fingers on the pearl keys going down from the top.
You will realize that there is a small key between the first and second keys. Position your index finger on the first key, skip the small key and put your second finger and ring finger on the third key.
It is relatively easy with the right hand as only three pearl keys remain. Place your first finger on the first pearl key, the middle finger on the second, and the ring finger on the third.
When you put your right hand down, you must first put your left hand down. The saxophone resembles a long tube with holes down the tube, and you close the holes to make it longer.
Thus, you place your fingers in turn. You must close the left-hand keys for the right-hand keys to function.
Your fingers go down on the saxophone in a specific order. You begin with your left-hand index finger, add the second finger, and then the third one. Then you add the first right finger, then the second, and lastly, the third finger.
As a beginner saxophone player, having a fingering chart is essential as it helps you discover some fingerings by yourself.
Beginner Saxophone Notes
In this section, we’ll introduce you to the sax fingering for several notes to help you start playing your saxophone.
You can start by pressing all the keys apart from the two pink keys. Thus, you will press 123 on your left, the thumb key, and 123 on your right hand. Ensure that you don’t press any key near your palms.
Take a deep breath and position the correct embouchure as we mentioned above. Then blow the note as long as you can.
That is known as a D note. You will get a different note sound if you are playing tenor or soprano saxophone from the one you can get from an alto saxophone.
You may note that playing a D from your sax is different from a D on your piano or guitar.
Saxophone Fingerings
Music notes follow the first seven alphabets, which are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, which correspond to the white keys of the piano. Since you already know the D note let’s practice C and B notes.
- C – You play this note using one finger, your middle finger, or 2 of the left hand. They lift up other elements including the octave key.
Make sure that the rest of your fingers are placed lightly on the pearls of the keys to avoid pressing down when playing the C note and other open notes.
- B – You use your index finger or 1 in your left hand. Just like when playing the C note, your other fingers should be resting lightly on the key pearls.
Final Thoughts
Playing the saxophone is fun, follow these easy steps, and you will be playing the saxophone like a pro soon. Make consistent practices to perfect your notes.
By Heinz Lewis