Saxophone Technique

Saxophones use wide varieties of sound or saxaphone technique. Some techniques like a "growl" can give a saxophone a rocky sound to it. Other techniques such as vibrato are commonly used with all music. Some saxophone techniques include:

• growling
• vibrato
• laugh
• circular breathing
• flutter tongue
• pitch bending

Growling is a very popular technique used in rock or aggressive sounding music. Growling kind of mimics a growl by singing a note into the sax while playing. Usually the note you sing in the sax is a little off pitch than the note you play. To actually get a growl sound out of a sax play a note and at the same time sing a note off pitch to the note you play until you get a "growl" sound.

Vibrato is used in both singing and instrumental music. It sounds like a note being bent upward (usually a half step up) and back down giving a good sounding note. To do vibrato on sax move your jaw slightly up and down while playing. Vibrato is played at a fairly fast speed. Average speed for vibrato would be an eighth note triplet.

A Laugh on sax is a technique used to mimic a human laugh. To do a laugh play a note and kind of laugh as you play but sing a note as you play as well.

Circular breathing is used to be able to play a note for a very long period of time(as long as you can keep the technique up). To circular breath puff your cheeks full of air and play normally. When you run out of air, blow with the air you have stored in your cheeks and breath in through your nose while using the air in your cheeks to catch breath. After That process puff your cheeks full of air again and repeat until you want the note to end. A saxophonist famous for circular breathing is Kenny G.

Flutter tongue flutters a note fast. To flutter tongue on sax trill your tongue while playing and get a good flutter sound out of the sax.

Pitch bending is also commonly used in instrumental music. Its used to "bend" a note up and down without changing fingerings. To use it just play a note with your jaw more open and slowly tighten your jaw to get the pitch to bend upward.