How To Tune a Saxophone Properly

If you play saxophone then you need to learn this tuning technique because it’ll teach you how to tune a saxophone properly. Push the mouthpiece further up the cork if you’re flat and pull it out if you’re too sharp right? Yes, that’s a good start but to be perfectly in tune like a pro you must learn this technique shown in the video:

How To Tune a Saxophone

The position of the saxophone mouthpiece on the cork is the first step and basic way to measure your tuning. To get the sax perfectly in tune we need to play and experiment with our embouchure pressure as well.

The saxophone can be a tricky instrument to play every note in tune. Even when we tune it up so that most notes are in tune there will be a couple notes here and there that will give you extra problems and attention. This is where experimenting with embouchure pressure comes in.

Playing against a tuner or constant pitch of A440 as explained in the video, we can zero in on where the saxophone note is in relationship to the constant pitch of the tuner or tuning tone or tuning fork. Whichever of these you may be using.

Your saxophone note will cause a wavering effect against the tuner. A slow, longer waver will mean your saxophone note is falling flat to the proper pitched note. As you tighten your lip pressure you will notice that your waver will become shorter and quicker. This waver speed increases as you go sharp to the tuner note. It’s here that you will come back down and try to get rid of this quick waver but don’t let it get so loose that it becomes the slow and flat waver. Your aim is to get it to not waver at all, or at least hardly at all as this means you are as close to being in tune to the proper pitched not as possible.