4 Octave D blues on tenor sax!!! Altissimo

[MichaelJackson4lifez]

Gosh , iOnly know the of my blues scales and they on go 2 octave . That was great nice pitch and tone

[Hulkforce103]

Man fuck Altissimo, this is soprilitissimo!

[96Zeus96]

NICEEEEE!!!!

[rihanna338]

wtf dat zijn toonladders dat is geen blues

[johan0234523]

@rihanna338 ummm, het is een blues toonladder. Staat ook in de omschrijving: "blues scale".

[Vapor419]

Oh it's not like your biting up at all on the last scale...pathetic.

[sackadoodle]

That's neat, but it's only four octaves, since you played the scale 4 times.

[MrSaxmanJones]

What mouthpiece are you using?

[BlockKingdom]

You scared my dog lol

[pedroga0]

wooa

[MrSaxmanJones]

What was your setup?

[MrSaxyjohan]

or my cat! hhehehe FB; saxyjohan@hotmail.com

[CodyL211]

GAAAAAH! YOU MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY!!!

[TheOmari12]

how did you learn the really high octaves cause i cant find them

[socaliguy81]

not bad



[abukamoon]

That is very impressive.  I wish I could do it.

[ericoschmitt]

my guitar has only 21 frets. i couldnt play 4 octaves even in e minor.. damn

[ericoschmitt]

wooooow... thats insane. but thats C minor heheh

anyway, i couldnt do 3 octaves of a D minor blues scale on the flute. i dont even know fingerings above the fourth C

[dragonflz95]

@ericoschmitt Um...tenors are in Bb...

[ericoschmitt]

@dragonflz95 yes, i know.. he fingers d minor and sounds c minor. that makes the title ambiguous

*there are tenors tuned in C too.

[kmoon4life]

@ericoschmitt actually, those are called C-Melody Saxophones

[rjbdream]

Tag should be "tahhh" stupid autocorrection

[rjbdream]

Man you guys really analyzed this! Anyhow the set up is most important, listening second, then technique, the trick is all in the tongue and vowels. My tongue makes a u shape and the aperature gets smaller as I go higher. I almost want to say "tee" but the notes get sharp. So it's a "tag" syllable with a curved tongue. For fingerings make sure the fingerings your looking at are for tenor, alto, etc. Once you get above the triple high a your partials do get smaller so a few fibgerings work

[porge97]

like a whistle

[mrjazzydude]

AWESOME!!!!! :D

[MaxTheBariSax]

i can get up to an altissimo G on my tenor and alto (my bari is so old that it doesn't have a high F key and all my sax's don't have high F# or low A keys), but then again im 14. I can also go down to to low A on all of them and none of them have a low A key. I love experimentation :)

[Madden98rocks]

I love it! Lol, You should check out The high school Jazz band my son is in and tell me what you think. It's on my profile.

[CINCOEXTREMOS]

sos un genio,

Martin from Argentina

[lyininthehandsofgod]

can someone tell me the secret in getting notes that high on a tenor?

[camilopaspi]

@lyininthehandsofgod

creo que una buena caña baldore o ricoroyal francesa numero 4 a 5 y un buen aire es lo que yo utilizo,y andomen

[JazzVanSwingman]

@lyininthehandsofgod Who the hell that knows?! It's a special fingering and you need to be able to play a glissando i think... Whatever anyone says you need to try some different fingering, you need a good reed and a good overlap saxophone and thats all i think...

[SupahflyJazzguy]

@lyininthehandsofgod

An ass would tell you 'practice'

A genuinely nice person would tell you to practice with harmonics and find which fingerings work out for you.

I'm telling you to simply bite down on the reed (try not to use teeth, as it will damage the reed) and squeak. It's not real altissimo, but it's just as fun, and psuedo-impressive to pull out when jamming or something.

[camilopaspi]

lega llegar tan arriba

[kuhtje]

Awesome.

[totalanimalgirl1231]

oh wow

[7890ally]

pretty lights in the background

[felicksk8]

oh my god..

[bdsaxophone]

now you should post a video inproving on these notes

[bienboy2710]

@bdsaxophone shut up.

[marazm1]

these notes should be a standard part of the instrument. I hate when people rip scales up and down on a tenor in the 2-octave range. Makes me bored!

[Quyen22]

how much does a tenor sax cost like on a cheap range?

[iJellyRoll]

wow your altissimo comes out nice! haha.

[BbMinor7]

Rob, your crazy...

[marshallmeyer1]

i can only hit high F sharp on my alto... lol

but im 13

[songsmadeforyou]

@marshallmeyer1 age is no excuse, but then again there are more important things than altissimo

[MrHeavanell]

@marshallmeyer1 nobody cares how old you are and that's a normal note anyway

[shrillz]

@MrHeavanell its pretty impressive if he doesnt have an F# key.

[tucorreomispolainas]

omg very good

[jjbb81]

that's only 4 octaves bro..nice though.

[songsmadeforyou]

@jjbb81 it spans 5 octs bro, but yeah your right

[Elloit2345]

im jealous hey how do u get that last octave i dont know ho to get that one but i can get the one below that

[olafsax]

what for?

[darian1114]

you should show us the fingerings

[songsmadeforyou]

@darian1114 agreed

[cooperjamify]

oh yeah, I guess it's okay

lol jks man you're a freak

[mattowens55]

you sir, are a beast

[tmyers08]

really it's only four octaves, but very nice!

[JazzMustah]

GREAT!!!

[Swoodc2]

you missed the last c but very good :D

[tflover1221]

kewl

[nord1991]

nice dude ;) on tenor i think it's even more difficult than on my alto

[rasenganpimp]

i actually can go higher on my tenor than my alto and it's easier on tenor (for me)

[mdb205]

@rasenganpimp same here, I can get higher on my bari than I can on soprano

[songsmadeforyou]

@mdb205 hahahahahahahahahahahaha (laughing with you)

[mdb205]

Altissimo is so much fun to screw around with!

[dukesback69]

WOW!!! bass

[bassik123]

WOW!! bass

[usmcsax81]

haha.. good job..

[disfan14]

Dude i just shit my pants..... thats awsome!

[snowbirddude]

Holy shit

[bonebadboy369]

Wtf How Ish That Possible

I Play Tha Tenor

Thats Hella Hard

[jsaxophone1]

rofl ik what u mean i play tenor to

[mmullan81]

You do your overtones(2-1's, 3-1's, etc) and that top octave, as you can see if being pushed up a lot by his bottom lip. Just make sure you can hear the notes and you can get them

[rf1308]

maybe just a typo

[rf1308]

that was 4 scales

[mrmickyg10]

how do you get such high notes on that mouthpiece? i can only get a G

[MandyBH25]

SaxophoneProductions, I play the tenor, but I switched from a clarinet.

[SaxophoneProductions]

hey, not everyone but most start on alto

[littleshortkid]

by the way im only in 10th grade so just to show you where i am lol

[Deandude222]

quit bragging.

[boffyrox02]

@littleshortkid 10th grade and you can only go up to 4th D? And you are the best player in your school, other kids are jealous of you, and many people called you the best sax player? I dont know which country/town you came from but people in your residence and you are HORRIBLE LOL. I was able to go up to 4th F when I was in 7th grade lol.... and can use it in my improvisation with style... yet I am one of the worst players in my jazz band rofl... Big world eh? I am in 8th grade btw :)

[Xx11256xX]

@boffyrox02 maybe ur the worst because you don't spend time working on the lower notes

[boffyrox02]

@Xx11256xX Thats interesting, because when I warm up, I play B flat to the highest note I can hit on that day chromatically, and I am usually in tune when I play the low notes. I think its more like experience and talent that makes me the worst in my band, cuz almost everyone made it to the Eastern U.S auditions or higher lvl bands, while I only made it to North eastern (NJ, NY, Vermont, etc) band :/

[littleshortkid]

farthest ive gotten is a 4th D on alto sax as an overtone of an alternate 3rd G fingering (his fourth F im pretty sure)... everyone in the marching band hates me for it... because they cant play it AND its so high... but i got my 3rd G and A to where they sound good

[falseaddress010]

kewl... I can reach the 4th F#... but my chops are on altissimo D and below (every single note on tenor). Plus I can do the same thing on alto... and guess what? I'm almost gr. 10

[littleshortkid]

well the thing is for me (and i just found this out recently) its the highest note i can play (no F# key = fail). But with voicing i actually can play the C/C# and the D with just the octave key. really all it is is voicing and tuning a squeek though it is quite hard

[Zeltrax11]

if you can get your overtones playing a low Bb and play a high F then you should be able to play it much easier...

[littleshortkid]

also yeah the fact that im in 10th grade and i can play higher than everyone but one junior in the advanced band class makes me happy :) btw the junior is a trumpet so thats a duh. as soon as i get a horn with an F# key on it im either getting kicked out of my house or my dog will hate me. also ive been told like 15 times that im the best sax player :)

[falseaddress010]

u don't need to play that high on alto btw -.- altissimo is better for the ears on tenor. the F# key is really really really really really really really really useless. It's harder to use. I use the front fingering so it's easier to move up and down the horn. plus it's better if u master the basic range rather than playing one high note... unless u can incorporate the hi notes in improvisation.

[littleshortkid]

i know but its fun and i just like to try to play high notes and make them sound better because when the high notes sound better, your other notes sound better and i like to incorporate some of the altissimo into improv... i might throw in like a D somewhere just to make them go O_O and go down to a low C or something. im also thinking of a method of improv that involves trilling within a half-step

[Saxyman14]

You didn't invent trilling. When you get older, hopefully your ego will diminish enough for you to practice that actually matters.

[littleshortkid]

i wasn't saying i invented it i was thinking of adding in the method for improv.

[SaxophoneProductions]

yes but you were being arrogant and conceited. it doesn't matter if you sound excellent for your first year of playing, it matters how you sound overall and I doubt you're the next bird

[littleshortkid]

I realized I have been acting conceited with the comments on this man's video and I apologize. Happy?

[p0ezi]

There is no such thing as the next Bird

[Saxyman14]

There's your first problem. You consider improvisation a "method." There should be nothing methodic about it.

[littleshortkid]

HAH! Well at least I'm right about something. It is methodic. The way it is methodic lies within the fact that you use both sides of your brain (classical or theoretical and random or intuitive). Right brain-left brain is an essential element of improv so that you can come up with your own rhythms and play something your audiance recognizes. Now I am sorry that I was a bit conceited with these comments on this video but you saying that improv has nothing to do with methods is incorrect.

[SaxophoneProductions]

no the F# key is a help. most professionals aren't used to it yet though because it is a new invention. the high G key is starting up again and i'm all arms. professionals including the great jazzers have used altissimo on alto all the time. altissimo is more used on tenor mainly because its so much easier. after playing 1 year you should be able ot play some tenor altissimo. on alto it usually takes at least 10 yrs

[evergreach2346]

10 years?! really?! cuz i've been playing alto for a little over 4 years and i can play altissimo. . . sort of haha. for some reason i can't hit a G, but i can hit an A no problem. i still don't know the fingerings for B and C but i can hit a D pretty easily. admittedly, the tone on my A and D aren't as solid, but they're still decent.

however, i'm assuming you meant that it takes 10 years to master altissimo on alto. cuz i'm FAAAR from mastering altissimo. i'm still really new to it.

[SaxophoneProductions]

it should take around 10 years to be able to use it PROFESSIONALLY. first of all, there is that dreaded G and it sucks because it is one of the most useful altissimo. next, you should be able to play everything else just as easily as playing normal notes. during my 4th year I was able to play all altissimo on tenor and all altissimo but G on alto very comfortably. it also VERY much matters what the mouthpiece is. high baffle pieces make it easy, other pieces are HELL. even pros have trouble

[Saxyman14]

Which means you probably know nothing of theory or ear training. There are a lot of kids like you. Playing high means nothing if you don't use it correctly. It's about musicality, not if you can play an octave higher than everyone else. Grow the fuck up.

[theghettohouse]

holly crap

[frizzzzzzal]

I bet your dog hates you.

[trestresbrel]

looooooooool

[adysaxman77]

@frizzzzzzal. His dog loves him to bits, it's deaf! 

[tazrevo]

How do you do that?! I've always wanted to do that!

[Muriness1]

I love your tone

[spiffydude16]

That was crazy good.. did you bite the reed to squeeze that last one? lol

[tubatenorsax]

I got into the altissimo register back in 1974 when Ben Harrod made me a special 11* Otto Link and I used mainly #3.5 Rico Royal reeds and sometimes on a good day #5 but I did not like 3s, 4s or 4.5s for some reason and in those younger days I closed up 2.5 and below. I use similar fingerings to Eugene Rousseau whose range extends for tenor an octave and a fourth to second harmonic Bb or Bb below double high C on a Bb trumpet. .

[reedman9]

hey rob. love it.

-cody

[Derral147]

HOLY FLIPPIN NUT CAKES!!! (tenor sax rocks)

[shortymcvorty]

try squib cakes -tower of power. the tenor solo ends on the same high d

[Lemke68]

that is cccccccccccccccccrazy

[OprahMemorizedPi]

psh, alto is better. :]

[pyannaguy]

Both saxes have their strengths, and I'm not sure if calling one better than the other is supportable, BUT - one thing is NOT a matter of opinion: you can make a Tenor go higher, but you can't make an alto go lower.

[musicbsk]

... holy shit

[fredbob82]

holy mother that was amazing

[btsax2]

holy crap.... that was awesome..... i play alto sax...... but that was amazing

[Daylen007]

You sir, are a winner.

[Lemke68]

holy crap!

[sll2992]

omgomgomgomgomgomgomg

[electricninja69]

I now realize why people play tenor with a lot of altissimo rather than just play an alto... that fullness of the tenor just can't be beat.

[SaxophoneProductions]

but the clearness of an alto can't be beat. and altissimo sounds nothing like natural range. and most people with a tenor play alto fyi

not to say one is better than another I love both :)

[KristophWilis]

how do you play that high on a tenor

[metalsaxman]

cesarinman which sax do u play its different for alto and tenor for altissimo for tenor its octave key, first finger on left hand, side fingering for Bb and the key right below that one.

[metalsaxman]

I can only get one altissimo octave not with great tone but its amazing you can get 2 octaves in the altissimo with good tone nice job I'll get there eventually hopefully

[tipsyTM]

holy moly guacamoly..

[cesarinman]

Wat is your fingering for the altissimo G? (The first one that is haha =p)

[Saxodude95]

its amazing that you are using your fingers to get that high. Good vid

[TeqCuervo]

shit i can do 4 and accurately squeek the rest. fuck. he was using fingers and shit.

fuck my life.

[thedudeofdoom45]

holy shitmonkeys.

[grudgemaker5]

thats rudiculus

[XdarkdomainX]

awsome, off tune in the end though, but only pros can make those in tune, dud thats amazing

[MagicmAKir]

I hate you...

[mrkandyman1911]

I hate you LOL, Great job man!

[thebozz1988]

Haha, nice job man!

[krazykyl00]

cool XD

[skater4nater]

how the fuck do you do altisimo??! over tones or what?

[birdsdontdie]

speechless!

[TheOboeMaster]

Mother of God, chuck norris, baby jesus....

[DCATPYEO]

holy shit

[mexicankid140]

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KarlovackoFan]

I didnt know it was possible

[humanoidismalakian]

I managed 3 and a half hahaha

[joosjoos]

impressive

what mouthpiece?

[Zeltrax11]

You make it look so easy!

[robbiewillrock]

f man.

i can play 4, but that was utterly ridiculous.

jeez.

[EricandBen]

i can play the altissimo but how do you not make it sound like your instrument is dying

[schpenxel]

Practice ;-)

[nanoquaver]

fuck!

[rosstones1]

yeah yeah yeah. sheesh i thought i was cool cause i could the 4th octave but then you went one more. are you biting the reed on the last octave?

[clarinet343]

Cool! I play clarinet and my highest note is above the piano.

[JamesHGraff]

Love it! That's great - fantastic altissimo playing. Did you used teeth for a few of the very last highest notes?

[bLuEnOsEbLeEd]

LMAO!!!!!!!! i laughed really hard on ur last one, amazing

[jbano6]

Your hi c is flat.

[pluh1]

lol

[Inzehambay]

so's your face

[iSax1234]

very good. Would like to know your setup as far as (sax, mouthpiece, lig, reed). Again great job. See that was a D5? amazing wish i could play altissimo like that

[eyeheartchrist]

you can, it's about practicing your overtones, and you'll eventually learn altissimos through that.

[drumstyx6464]

4 octaves.....lol, but still amazing...i need to learn that stuff

[Leonidas1994]

WOW!!!!!!

[iTreelex]

holy...omg :D very impressive

[montananon]

Wait...that was awesome, but wasn't that 4 8va's?

[jazzway]

good job`````````

[AKTxProductions]

where did you find your fingering chart?

[jazzmanbob1]

YEAH!!!

[appple03]

which mouthpiece do you use and which reeds?

[Sopransaxman23]

OMG WTF!! u are something special!!!

[pooprscupr]

0.o wow

[themandylan07]

woah hou do u do that

[SotR59]

Whoa. I just started learning sax a few weeks ago. I can only seem to get the standard lower and upper register scale. I want to learn how to make it scream high like you.

SotR

[CTravaglini]

first practice singing, yes thats right, imagine your doing a very sarcastic impression of a girl, and when you talk very high, thats your falsetto range. practice singing the falsetto range alot. then after doing this, pick up your sax, and go up to the highest note on there. i will assume this is f because not all student sax's go to f#. then when you have done this, try using the front f key (the one above the b key), the a key, and the side b flat. this should give you f#.

Is that possible on the alto sax?