Intonation

Intonation is one of the most problematic areas of a starting saxophonist. Heck, forget beginning saxophonist, I know plenty of professional saxophonist that still struggle with intonation. One of the things that any aspiring saxophonist must realize is that intonation is a constant struggle and must be worked on daily.

With that being said, here are couple of quick tips about playing in tune.

1) Whenever you practice, always, ALWAYS have a tuner in front of you. This idea is simple. Unless you have a perfect sense of pitch, you won't be able to know you are out of tune unless you have a tuner.

2) Make sure you have proper air support. You can check out my lesson on air support here.

3) Make sure you are using a proper embouchure. More on that here.

3) Know the tendencies of your horn.

4) Train your ear. Say you play in public and you don't want to have or can't have a tuner in front of you. Now what? Well now, the only way you can tell if you're in tune is if you rely on your ears. To be be able to better hear pitches and hear what is out of tune, you need to better train your ear. Scroll down to the bottom of this lesson for "Quick notes about tuning". I will write a full lesson on ear training in a few weeks.

Every single saxophone has different "tendencies". By tendencies, I mean that there are certain notes on a saxophone that may want to go little bit sharp, or a little bit flat. All saxophones are different and it's important that you know the tendencies of your own horn. As much as you work on getting a consistent embouchure and air support, the unfortunate thing is that there will always be notes that you have to adjust for. Generally speaking, here are some notes to watch out for on the saxophone:

Generally sharp: D, D#, E
Generally flat: C#, B above the staff

The way to discover these tendencies is by making sure your saxophone is in tune and then checking each note with a tuner one by one. F# above the staff on a saxophone generally dose not have any tendencies and can be used as a good gauge. Make sure your F# is in tune and then proceed to tune the other notes, comparing it to the F#.

Quick Diagnostics: 

High notes are flat
 
This is usually a problem with improper air support. When a saxophonist plays loud, and there is not enough air pressure and air speed behind the reed, the pitch will go flat. More on that here. This also may be an issue of a too hard reed. If your reed is too hard and your embouchure is not strong enough to support it. The pitch may go flat if one does not compensate by biting. This usually will result in a flat upper register.

High notes are sharp

This occurs usually when there is biting on the reed. If you're playing anything higher than a 3 1/2 sized reed for jazz and you notice yourself biting when playing in that register, your pitch will go sharp. Work on getting a stronger embouchure and perhaps a softer reed. More on that here.

 Low notes are flat

This isn't a problem for many people, but for some, if this happens to you, it probably means that your embouchure is not too relaxed and not tight enough. More on that here.

Quick notes about tuning:

Tuning itself can be a little bit imperfect. There are some human errors themselves that go into tuning. To avoid these errors, try hiding the tuner from your view. Put your tuner on another side of a stand or put a sheet of paper over your tuner where you can't see. Hold out the note you want to tune until it is steady. After you feel you have got it in tune, check yourself by turning around your stand or removing the sheet of paper. This is also a great way of training your ear. Eventually, through trial and error, you will be able to program your ear to be a tuner without having to constantly rely on your tuner.