How to Tune an Alto Sax

An alto sax is easy to tune.

Tuning is an extremely important part of playing a musical instrument. Instruments that are out of tune can make even a well-played piece of music sound bad, and the effect can be even worse if only one or two instruments in an ensemble are out of tune, rather than the entire ensemble. Every instrument has its own unique tuning procedure, some more difficult than others. Tuning an alto sax is a relatively easy task.

Things You'll Need

• Alto sax
• Electronic tuner

Instructions

1. Assemble the sax. Make sure the reed is wet and positioned well by playing a few random notes. If the instrument sounds bad or it takes a moment for notes to sound, adjust the reed before trying to tune it.

2. Warm up the instrument by closing all the tone holes to play a low B-flat, and blow several full breaths into the mouthpiece without sounding a note. The temperature of the instrument will affect its intonation, making it sharper as it gets warmer or flatter as it gets colder, so you should tune it when it's at around the temperature it will be at while you play.

3. Set an electronic tuner nearby and turn it on. Ideally, you want the tuner to be around a foot or so away from the front of the instrument, oriented with its microphone toward the sax. In a noisy environment, you may need to place the tuner closer to you to get an accurate result.

4. Play a long, steady G and watch the tuner, which will indicate the intonation of the note. Note that the intonation may change over the course of the note, depending on the movements of your mouth.

5. Adjust the mouthpiece to correct the intonation as necessary and play the G again. Push the mouthpiece farther onto the neck if your sax is flat, and pull it farther off of the neck if it is sharp. Make only very slight adjustments each time, as it is very easy to overcompensate either way.

6. Repeat the process with a high G. Your instrument may have slightly different intonation in the high range, making the high G sharp or flat when the low G is in tune. If this is the case, try to find the balance point, making both notes as close to in tune as possible rather than one in tune and one out.