Lips and Bends

Bends and lips are an important aspect of a saxophonist' style and expressio. It's common when listening to a jazz saxophonist that one would hear one of these techniques. You may be wondering "What's a bend and a lip and what's the difference between them?" A bend is when a note is started at the original pitch, dropped down, and then is returned to its original pitch. Here's an audio example of what a bend is:

On the other hand, a lip is a when a note is started as it is underneath the pitch and then brought up to its final, actual pitch. Here is an example of a lip.

Although these two techniques themselves aren't particularly hard to do, the concepts in which when and where to apply a bend  or a lip becomes a difficult topic to try to explain. This lesson will explain the mechanical movements that go into being able to bend or lip a note. In the exercise called "lipping" we will more closely examine the topic of when and where to lip notes.

Bending a note

Bending a note basically comprises of playing a note flat but lowering one's jaw and then quickly bringing up the jaw to bring the pitch back to its original pitch.

1) Start by playing a 'G' above the staff on your saxophone. Any note works really. Generally, the higher the note, the easier the note is too bend.

2) Hold out this note until you have been able to sustain the pitch.

3) Slowly lower your jaw without letting the note crack or jump widely in pitch. You want to have a smooth gradient of the pitch going downward.

4) Once you have moved your jaw down as far as you can control (it will not be so much at first), slowly bring up your jaw to it's original position.

5) Do this several times at the same speed until you have a good physical feeling of what it is like to bend a note.


6) Try doing the bend a little bit faster, repeat steps 5-6 as needed.


Lipping a note

Lipping a note is nearly identical to bending a note but instead you start with your jaw already lowered.  

1) Recall how low you were able to bring your jaw downwards in the bending exercise and move your jaw down into this position.

2) Play a 'G' above the staff and make sure your note does not crack.


3) Once you have a steady tone and a steady pitch, slowly move up the jaw into the original position.


4) Do this several times at the same speed until you have a good physical feeling of what it is like to lip a note.


5) Try lipping a little bit faster, repeat steps 4-5 as needed.