How to fix Honky Low Notes on Saxophone

are you having problem with honkey bottom notes on your saxophone if that's you then I've got some tips that are gonna help you sort that out in this video so stick around get a Nigel here from sac school you know Hongki low notes is a really really common problem it's something I was asking about just this week I've been asked about it loads of times actually by sac school students and you know it's a common problem for people who are just gay started out on saxophone but very very annoying so if you're having a problem with getting a really honky low sound on those low notes like I'm talking about lows C low B low B flat then this is a way that you can get around it now the most important thing about this is we need to address our embouchure because all the problems with those low notes are going to come from here what often happens when we're just starting out is we can get a lovely sound in the middle range of our saxophone but soon as we get down to those low notes we forget all about our on the show because we're thinking so much about our fingers so what happens is often there's there's two things happening first of all often our embouchure is kind of neglected so here's a couple things you look out for if you're puffing your cheeks that's a good song that you're doing something wrong or if you're biting too hard or if your embouchure is really loose like your mouth is really loose for those low notes all of these things will immediately make those low notes sound pretty rubbish kind of honky like a you know foghorn we don't want that so the first thing to do is to address that you need to really make sure that your embouchure is a lovely relaxed shape just like it is for those middle range notes [Applause] [Music] so your mouth really needs to be exactly the same shape as you've got for the middle notes that sound great already okay so the second thing you will need to really talk about is developing our own wishes strengths now if you're just getting started with a saxophone this is something that's going to take a little bit of time but if you think about it the right way you'll progress much faster than if you don't think about it so what you need to do is every single time you play a saxophone you need to think about the shape of your mouth okay think about your lip not too much over your teeth but it's got to be supporting the Reed think about making a nice round seal around the mouthpiece of the mouthpieces is supported all the way around and think about not puffing your cheeks but think about breathing from down deep and blowing a nice steady warm stream of air into that saxophone so they're getting really lots of air supports what we call air support we've got lots of air flowing into the saxophone and is a good steady stream of it as well so that means breathing deeply not lifting your shoulders were breathing right down to the bottom of your lungs and using your diaphragm muscles to push that air out so that it's got a good you've got a good regular supply of air that's going to make for a nice warm sound so when it comes to the low notes this is super super important the low notes need a lot more air so we need to make sure there's plenty of air coming out so when we're working down those low notes you mean the best way is to start off with a note that you've got a good sound on already maybe that's the G or the F when you've got those notes sounding great then you want to move slowly down the next note and then the next note until eventually you get down to that low C but for every note that you move down it's got to make sure that the sound quality is just as good as the note before and also two more things you've got to think about playing nice long notes and the final thing is really the best thing is to play it nice and quietly okay so you could trying to get a nice soft controlled sound so like this I'll start my G and I've worked my way down to C [Music] okay so I'm really using lots of air really keeping my embouchure nice and supported it takes a bit of practice but ultimately what you're aiming for is to be able to play on the nice long low C but really really quietly if you can do that you've nailed it and you'll have a wonderful sound of that low C okie-dokie the same thing goes for low B and low B flat so ultimately I want to be able to get a beautiful long smooth quiet sound on all three of those notes [Music] okay so I'm really trying to get a lovely warm sound there you know if you want some more sound tips on the saxophone you want to check out my video 5 sound hacks for saxophone because there's some great tips in there that'll really help you to develop your sound not just in your low notes but on the whole range so check out that video for some more tips but you can hear I'm getting a really lovely warm sound on those low notes that's all got to do with my embouchure now I'm going to give you two more quick tips that can be really helpful may seem really obvious but you know what something I see so many people do when they're thinking about this low C is they forget about their G finger the ring finger on their left hand and it's really common for that finger to end up being not all the way down and that can really cause lots of problems with those low notes so just think about that ring finger and the final thing is if you're still really struggling and doesn't matter how much time you spend on your embouchure you still can't get that low note out clearly or if it's have got a wobble wall wall wall sort of warble to it it could be that your saxophone is leaking down on these bottom keys it's a really common thing to happen with a saxophone and it's really easy and inexpensive to get fixed but to check it out what you want to do is press down your b-flat key so that's this bottom one here gonna press that one down and then you want to look down your bell and what we're doing we press that key down we're closing these pads down so when it's pressed down look down the Bell if you can see any light coming in between those pads then that means that those keys are leaking and it just means your bill needs to be straightened up and it's really easy quick and should be pretty inexpensive thing to get fixed that's going to cause all of your low notes to not seal so you know you just need to get down to your pair and get that fixed and then you'll be off and on your way so hopefully that's been helpful to you hey please do leave me your comments because they really helped me to make better videos and I love getting feedback from you guys but if it's your first time on one of my videos and do subscribe because I'm putting out new videos all the time and all my videos really about helping you to learn much faster on the saxophone develop your skills and most importantly have a bit of fun in the saxophone keep practicing hard I'll see you next time

Channel: McGill Music Sax School

Views: 67,564

Rating: 4.9274526 out of 5

Keywords: how to play saxophone, saxophone lessons, sax lessons, sax, saxophone, lessons, how, to, play, mcgill music, mcgill, music, sax school, school, learn saxophone, saxaphone, best sax lessons, ultimate saxohpone lessons, saxophone tutorials, video lessons, tenor, alto, soprano, baritone, free lessons, Honky low notes, sax low tones, low C on sax, how to play low C, How to play low notes on saxophone

Id: vBCbPnVS0VA

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 21 2017