Altissimo G fingering lesson–choosing which one to use

[Michael]

Hi Johnny,
I’ve been using my tuner that came in this week to check every single note that I play LOL and I’ve made a few little discoveries about my Altissimo G–I can play both fingering positions 1 and 2 that you teach, but it seems like there’s a trade-off with each one. It’s a little bit easier, smoother transition for me to go from the “forked F” position to Alt.G, using fingering position No.2. But I’ve noticed on my tuner, that the intonation on my Altissimo G is actually better using fingering position No.1; the low Eb key like you teach really helps clean it up too. For me, fingering position No.2 was just a little flat. Is it a good thought to be open to using both Altissimo fingerings in our playing? With my Trevor James Saxophones having the high F# key that so many new Saxophones have these days, what are your thoughts about using it in my Altissimo G? It’s almost “too easy” to hit some of these notes when using the side F# key but I’ve refrained from using it in my actual playing.

[Michael]

Talking about how it’s almost too easy to hit Altissimo notes with the use of the high F# key on the side, if I play high F# using fingering position No.1, by simply adding the high f# key on the side, it instantly becomes Alt.G. With my Selmer Bundy, that’s out of the question because there is no high F# key on the side.
The post I put above was referring to Tenor Saxophone…for my Alto it’s precisely the opposite, fingering position No.2 is far better; the tuner shows it to be exactly right on spot.

[Michael]

Here was my question for you Johnny, check it out when time permits.

[john]

well Michael you’re discovering the nuances that every horn has. you experiment and adjust. but actually, I found your altissimo notes have been very good intonation-wise….it was more the general intonation on the rest of the range. many of us don’t have perfect pitch or anything even close to it! so it’s very important to get in tune and the only way to do it is by working with the tuner as you are now starting to do. just keep working with it and you’ll get there. this is a very crucial time for you because you are going to audition with a group soon!

[Michael]

No need to apologize for not seeing this post earlier…I know what you mean about being busy. Will have your autographed picture hanging on my new wall very soon 🙂 So if you had a high F# key on your Sax, would you make use of it in your Altissimo? Let’s go back to your fingering positions that you teach…the high F# key is not in there 🙂 I’ve always told people that your fingering positions work…I’ve used them on 5 different Saxophones with no problems. I’m not relying on it in the sense that I “have” to use it and if I don’t use it then I can’t hit the notes, no way and as you’ve seen I’ve clearly been fine in this regard without it. I just didn’t want to think that I would be doing something “wrong” if I used it here-and-there when hitting high notes, again it’s not used in any of your fingering positions. Yes, the tuner is just….awesome. I can see, visually, that I’m in tune and it’s helping me BIG time already in seeing so many subtle things, nothing is wrong with the intonation anymore 🙂 A440 hz videos just weren’t enough for me. Kind of goes back to being able to visually see on the Piano keyboard important things like minor thirds, perfect fifths, etc.. Once we see it, then it’s much easier to hear it.

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