Alto or Tenor sax for me?

[wimpynet]

Hi first of all, sorry for my english, in fact i speak spanish.
Im newby on sax world, but im intersting to buy a sax and my father too.
Im 23 years old, and i want to play alone, not in band.
I love balads, romatic music and melodies (for example some songs of witney houston, or like kenny g with louis amstrong in "what a wonderfull world").

My question is, what sax its better for me? alto or tenor?
Tenor its more dificult to play?

Thanks

[Sigmund451]

Tenor and alto are about the same in difficulty. Sop is pretty tough to play in tune but go with your passion.

[wimpynet]

to play solo, wich has more pretty sound? i mean, more complete.

[martysax]

Consider your voice. macho burly guy versus lighter-stepping guy/semi boy-ish girl.

Are you Terry Kath or Peter Cetera?

Barry White or Marvin Gaye?

If you're on your own, go for the Alto. It sounds like you're going for the pop melodies and girl sounds.

[gary]

wimpexnet - why don't you listen to a lot of the kind of music you want to play and then see what is used more often in your favorite music, an alto or a tenor.

[wimpynet]

wimpexnet - why don't you listen to a lot of the kind of music you want to play and then see what is used more often in your favorite music, an alto or a tenor.

What kind of music is better to play with tenor, and what kind of music is better to play with alto?

thx

[Sigmund451]

Not to be offensive but I believe your line of questioning indicates a significant lack of contact with the music you are wanting to play. There is no one that can answer your question. Go listen to more music. Once you do you will not have to ask as you will then know. Then there is work and many questions to ask from there.

However, if you want an opinion...a biased one at that, Its hard to beat tenor for smokey blues or jazz ballads.

[rogerb40uk]

It is possible, I'd suggest, without wanting to patronise him, that Wimpynet cannot identify which type of sax is playing the kind of music he likes.

If he were to list some of the music he would like to be able to play, then you experts should be able to advise him :D

So, Wimpynet, what music do you like, and can you name any players you like to hear?

[wimpynet]

i like melodic music.
Like people who play on weddings. They play modelodic and romantic songs.

[jimmitch]

I started on alto then I got a tenor I love them both its hard to say what you should start on reed all the post on this you can and go from there

[heikki]

Even though this is an old discussion, I found it pretty interesting.

In terms of the sound, should someone new in this business have hard time figuring out which sax they prefer, I strongly recommend visiting the web pages of jimmitch in the above. By clicking on Songs, you can find few tunes played both with alto and tenor. That is, you will find the same song played with alto on one file and another file including the same song played with tenor. That should help one to figure out how he or she would like to sound to.

Sure enough, it again comes to the multitude of combinations of horns, mouthpieces, reeds, blowing styles, etc., however, the basic difference between alto and tenor in association with different styles of music, can be found on the pages of jimmitch.

[ClaudeMorris]

Technically speaking, you will need more power to play tenor than to play alto.

[SmoothSaxPlayer]

I was actually on the same dilemma. I like both horns in terms of tones so its hard to make a decision. I know eventually I'll own both horns. In my research I hear people saying that the tenor is more versatile than alto. So if I want to make the tenor sounds like an alto, I probably can with a little bit of work but its hard to make the alto sounds like a tenor. In addition I had my wife listened to both horns and she digs the tenor more because she thinks it sounds saxier :D

[Hernan123]

Comprate un alto y algunos CD's de Dave Koz.

[heikki]

Pete Thomas has put some pretty general but also pretty practical advices on this matter to his web-site (www.petethomas.co.uk/saxophone-buying-advice.html). I'll quote it here, hope it helps someone.

"Listen to a lot of alto and tenor players to see which really floats your boat. Also think about which style of music you want to play, and possibly what openings there may be for performing experience on either in your area - it's a good idea to get playing with other people as soon as possible and if there is a community, college or church band nearby, find out whether they have more openings for alto or tenor.

If you want to play rock & roll, you may find that tenor will be the best instrument. If you want to play classical then there is much more repertoire for alto saxophone. (Classical tenor is mostly useful in a saxophone quartet). If you want to play jazz, whether it’s mainstream, modern, fusion, smooth or whatever, then either alto or tenor are useful."

[martysax]

Hi first of all, sorry for my english, in fact i speak spanish.
Im newby on sax world, but im intersting to buy a sax and my father too.
Im 23 years old, and i want to play alone, not in band.
I love balads, romatic music and melodies (for example some songs of witney houston, or like kenny g with louis amstrong in "what a wonderfull world").

My question is, what sax its better for me? alto or tenor?
Tenor its more dificult to play?

Thanks


So Wimpy, what did you do?

[AndyBlackard]

Hi first of all, sorry for my english, in fact i speak spanish.
Im newby on sax world, but im intersting to buy a sax and my father too.
Im 23 years old, and i want to play alone, not in band.
I love balads, romatic music and melodies (for example some songs of witney houston, or like kenny g with louis amstrong in "what a wonderfull world").

My question is, what sax its better for me? alto or tenor?
Tenor its more dificult to play?

Thanks

Hola! ?Que pasa, amigo?

I have been a semi-pro Spanish flamenco guitarist in the USA (injured my arm) and am restarting saxophone after 30 years. I went with an alto simply because I enjoy playing along with pop tunes for a diversion from practice and the alto is in the same range as the vocal parts to many songs I enjoy by artists like The Guess Who, Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Roxy Music, Carole King, David Bowie, Al Green without having to stay into the more-difficult altisimo range on the tenor. I think having fun is a big part of the experience. The alto is also really fun because there are many big band and swing play-along books with the clarinet parts arranged for alto sax and it works well (Hal Leonard).

I also have an ambition to play flamenco cante on the saxophone for a flamenco dance company since I already know the music from playing guitar. You see, American audiences don't much like flamenco singing and I want to try substituting the saxophone for what some Americans call... well...some animal dying. Flamenco rhythms are rocket science. It is unfortunate that Miles Davis missed the point entirely on his flamenco sketches, of course it takes many years to learn the 12-count rhythms correctly. His ear seems to have gone straight to the melodies without realizing that that the rhythmical foundation underneath them is the real flamenco. But the fact is that when most Americans attempt to play flamenco it is like a fancy house without a foundation.

[johnnysax]

wimpynet last visited this site in April of 2006.

[JPSaxMan]

Speaking as a future educator, I can tell you that the alto poses many less difficulties than the tenor - in ergonomics, tone production, breath control, and articulations. It's not that alto is easy, but it is far easier for a beginner than tenor.

You can start on the alto, then if you find you want to progress towards tenor - go for it.

[Frequency]

I started on tenor. The only difficulty that I encountered was practicing. I hated to practice, it was so boring. Subsequently, I stopped playing for 5 years then took up the alto on my own. I learned how to hear notes then play songs and scales. Then I jumped to the soprano which I also learned it on my own. I would be playing it now if it had not been stolen, but it was so now I have been playing alto again for almost two years and I am at home. What a journey!:D