Alto Sax Fingering Chart Pdf
Lakia Limthong
Below is a list of all available fingering charts for all sizes of saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass). Each fingering chart is split up by acoustic octaves, whose ranges are notated and clickable. Trills and tremolos are arranged in order by the lower, principal note.
The finger work for the basic notes is the same for all saxophones, so whether playing the baritone saxophone or the alto saxophone, the fingering chart is the same. However, only the baritone saxophone has a low A. To sound a low A, use the fingering for low C and then press the low A key situated below the thumb of the left hand.
When it comes to practicing the saxophone itself, you need to have the instrument at hand to be able to improve the way you use your mouth muscles and practice fingerings. There are still plenty of things you can still do to practice even when you don't have it with you.
To begin with, you can practice reading music. You can learn a lot by looking at scores to see the sounds that the saxophone makes and how these fit together with the other instruments while thinking about the roles the saxophone plays.
Listening to recordings or live performances of saxophones is another great way to study. Doing this is a necessary step for creating an image of your own ideal for what it should sound like when you play. If you listen to a recording of a wind ensemble for example, envision yourself playing the saxophone pitches and melodies. This will help you better understand how to use your breath and the ways in which it is connected to the melody.
Techniques for slurring notes without changing fingering on a saxophone, called lip slurs when done with brass instruments, can be achieved using overblowing and harmonics, sometimes called flageolet.
When you see a lot of sharps in a score, you might get the impression that it's going to be hard to play, but this is what woodwinds are made for. It's said that on the other hand, it's hard to play a piece with a lot of flats on string instruments. You should begin by practicing scales in each key over and over. If there are three sharps, it's the key of A (A major). If there are four, it's the key of E (E major). It may seem uninteresting sometimes to practice something so simple, but you will no doubt benefit from it later.
For intermediate and advanced players, you will want to use that saxophone fingering chart to remind you of those awkward altissimo fingers or other notes in the fourth octave that can be quite difficult to get your fingers around and feel very unfamiliar.
Our saxophone fingering chart shows you all the correct hand (left hand or right hand) and finger positions (essential for Fast Fingers on sax) for all saxophones from baritone, tenor saxophone and alto saxophone through to soprano saxophone.
Alternate saxophone fingerings are really useful for helping you to play faster, smoother lines. They are like a secret weapon when it comes to tackling those tricky, fast passages. If you want to know more, check out this video where I take a close look at alternate fingering for saxophone.
However, if you are playing on an older or vintage saxophone, sometimes the keywork can look slightly different. Some keys might be a different shape, or you may have a few other options with keys down at the bottom end of the saxophone.
When we add a finger on and make our tube longer, we are making the pitch we are producing from the saxophone lower, and as we take a finger off and make the tube shorter, we are making a higher note on the saxophone.
In fact, if you are new to the saxophone, make sure to grab my free Toolkit lesson bundle. Or, if you are a Sax School member, check out the Quickstart Getting Started on Saxophone course, which will show you how you can make some great melodies with those six notes too. So have some fun with them! See what you can come up with.
When you have your thumb on the button at the back of the saxophone, its heel should be on the button. So, the tip of your thumb can operate the octave key. You should be just moving the tip of the thumb to make that movement as small and efficient as possible.
With our thumb on the button at the back, we operate these by pushing in sideways. We do it this way because you can have your fingers on top of the 3 pearl finger keys, but you can also just about reach those palm keys. Again, this is about being super efficient, so we can keep your hand basically in one position and operate all those different options.
So now you know all the notes on the sax fingering chart and how to find them on the alto saxophone. Depending on how new it is, there might be some extra keys on your saxophone. But I wanted to keep the saxophone fingering chart down to the basics that you are going to use most often.
I have learned more in the last month working with you than I have for the past two years on my own! Many kudos to you for the sax lessons and especially the pace of each lesson segment. Perfect for me!
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Most other fingerings you will figure out will just be slight adjustments to the fingerings on the provided chart. Adding certain keys to the main basic fingerings can slightly change intonation, timbre, or resonance. The high F# on my tenor saxophone runs a little flat, so I add the Bb spatula key whenever I can to bring it in tune. You may find that certain notes on your particular horn benefit from adding other keys in some situations. Other fingerings provide enough of a timbre difference that it sounds as though a note was reattached. This is an effect you can use, a la Brecker, with certain notes, such as middle Bb, B, C, C#, high G, etc.
Chris K. is a saxophone player based in New York City. He specializes in jazz, but regularly performs in all genres including classical, pop, funk, R&B, reggae, and gospel. He is available for teaching lessons in the NY/NJ area and his Musika teaching profile can be found here
Thank you for this valuable information on the saxophone fingering. I just started playing the alto sax two months ago and I have a method book that illustrates the fingering, but you info is more extensive.
I get quite a few questions about French horn fingering charts (both online and in lessons and sectionals) I wanted to create a page to hopefully reduce some of the mystery of French horn fingerings for all the different types of French horns.
To see all the note possibilities for a double horn (or single F/Bb), you need something different. You need something like my harmonic series sheet. This chart shows you the partials (or harmonics) for every fingering on a double horn. All possible notes are shown!
However, some Bb horns have an A/stop thumb valve (which makes playing in certain keys easier), while others also have an F-extension (which adds about 3 feet of tubing to make open F horn notes easier to play).
These extra valves may be combined (A/stop valves are common, with the valve function determined by the slide pull, or a combined A/stop/F extension with the manual turn valve) or separate (A/stop valve controlled by the thumb, while the F extension is either an additional thumb key or a pinky key).
Keep in mind that my fingering chart assumes that your horn has both an F extension and stopping valve and that the F extension and stopping valve are separate. If they are combined, then the fingering F+ (F extension and stopping valve) is not possible, and notes that use that fingering combination are will need to use a different combination or are unavailable.
Like the F horn fingering chart, while there are commonly-used alternative fingerings listed, these are not comprehensive. To see all possible harmonics for a double horn use my harmonic series chart.
Be aware that F alto horns (as well as descant and triple horns) are very sensitive to right-hand position, and a lazy or out-of-place right hand will cause major intonation inconsistencies on these instruments.
Additionally, note that while most descant horns have stopping valves, these only work on the Bb side of the instrument. This is because hand stopping on the high F side requires the relatively easy whole step down transposition (as opposed to the half step for the regular F horn)
A 5-valve descant generally features two thumb valves (one for the Bb/F alto change valve, the other for the A/stop/F-extension), while a 6 valve descant (which usually has a separate A/stop valve and F extension) often has two thumb valves and an additional valve for the left-hand pinky.
I think part of the reason for this is the wide range of triple horn designs and quality. The different valve layouts and taper configurations can cause different models to play drastically differently. The triple horn is all about compromises, and different compromises mean different preferred fingerings.
On my particular instrument (a Paxman 75M) I use the F alto side as more of a color/timbre shift than a high-note option. Similarly, sometimes I like to use the low F side quite a bit from third space C to high G for a specific tonal color.
The fingerings here are good for beginners to learn, but there are some more alternative fingerings. On this page we only show the standard range of the saxophone (up to F on older instruments and up to F# on many newer ones) but we also have a chart of fingerings for the extended (altissimo range)
You have a mistake under Upper Register. The alternate fingering for third space C uses the left hand first finger with the right hand middle palm key, not the top one as you have indicated. An easy mistake to make.
Very good study page and ilustrations as well you could learn very fast and like a pro. No bad comments about this page at all. And using it like a reference is very good too. I play saxophone, clarinet, soprano, tenor, oboe and flute as well.
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