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Home Alt Forums Problems With Your Sax? Upper notes D# and higher are flat on tenor; ideas/tips?

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 24 total)
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  • #55634
    Jazz Cat
    Participant

      hi Johnny, hope you’re having a good summer. despite my best efforts at tightening up my embouchure, my upper palm key notes are all flat; hi D# thru F#… its me not the sax, my yts62/otto link sounds great with notes up to a or b, then I’m really flat above that. any tips? much appreciated! 🙂

      I’m trying to play like stuart m on Sade’s ‘is it a crime’; great solo if i can get those upper notes sounding on pitch

      #55646
      john
      Keymaster

        Yes check my blog section there is a lesson video on just that
        I can’t put the link here as I’m not on my computer

        #55660
        jake
        Participant
          #55667
          Mel
          Participant

            Nice Song Jazz Cat!

            #55716
            Jazz Cat
            Participant

              thanks; found it; good tips, will try

              #55718
              brother cavefish
              Participant

                i have sen you do this figuring, for your higher octave, the g and a finger pressing down, leaving off the b finger and maybe the high d side key what is this

                #55750
                john
                Keymaster

                  not sure which note you mean, let me know where in the video it is.

                  #60903
                  john
                  Keymaster

                    Has any body found a sax mouthpiece patch/cushion that lasts more than 30 minutes of playing? I tend to bite through the thickest vandoren mouthpiece cushions.

                    #60905
                    Anonymous

                      Wow – i would change your embouchure. If you are biting that hard, that will tense up your air flow and make it harder to keep a steady pitch.

                      Try to start with a double embouchure ie top lip curled under top teeth, bottom lip curled over bottom teeth. Place mouthpiece on bottom lip and then lower upper lip onto top of mouthpiece – then push the top lip out of the way with the top teeth coming down and resting on the mouthpiece.

                      This results in a flat even tensed horizontal bottom lip which will give a firm steady pitch, then with the top teeth resting on the mouthpiece, seal off the mouthpiece with the rest of the top lip. Your embouchure lips have should now have a firm seal around the mouthpiece – start blowing, and gently increase the pressure by pushing the bottom lip up.

                      This is where you fill your stomach with a decent amount of air, and pull your stomach in firmly to increase the air pressure on the mouthpiece, so the stomach pressure is more in use, rather than using a lot of air pressure in your mouth. The more air pressure you use in your mouth may result in you biting more to control a steady pitch, whereas you can take a lot of pressure off the mouth, if you use your stomach to control the pressure instead.

                      this probably wont help, but it’s worth a try.

                      #60920
                      john
                      Keymaster

                        Thanks sxpoet. I’ll try the double embouchure. Here’d JB on the subject.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E48GB6WqA-E and David Liebman on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROPRATRrGjA I do have a sharp incisor that cuts into the mpc pad

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