Fingering for Beginning Saxophone Players

Video Transcript

"I am going to give you a brief fingering overview of the saxophone. This is, again, kind of little posture lesson. Basically your hand needs to be positioned like mine is here (my left hand). I'm covering all three main pearl keys on the front. On the back, you have to have your octave key covered. And in the side, you have to keep in mind you have these side keys, that are high notes. You want to be able to play these side keys with the inside of your hand. So it is important not have your hand all down on the sax like this. You want to have your hand out the front of the sax. The bottom hand is not so difficult. You just basically put the three keys here. You got your thumb through the thumb hook to hold the weight of the saxophone and your pinky goes on these side keys here (similar to left hand side keys). These down here, are played with the inside of your fingers; and in this case, at the bottom, with the fourth finger on this hand. O.k., a couple of good ways to practice good posture with your hands: Imagine double side tape, taped to all of your keys. You can actually put double sided tape on your keys to keep your hands in place when you are practicing. When you are going through scales or exercises or playing a tune, you don't want your hands jumping all over the place. You want to keep your fingers on the keys at all times. That way, you can come back and continue to play notes without having to reposition your hand. It doesn't sound that important but if you're playing fast it really takes an extra second to get your fingers back on, if you're off. By practicing from the beginning with good technique like that, you're going to carry that throughout your playing career. So it's real important to keep your hands on the keys. Make sure you have good posture, just like I am demonstrating here. And use that consistently in your practicing and you will be a good player with good technique by the time you start getting your skill up."