Frank, the alto sax is tuned to Eb which is up a minor 3rd from concert C. A piano is tuned to concert C.
When you play a B on your alto sax you are playing a minor 3rd down from the concert pitch which would be D.
If you are familiar with what a relative minor is then you are playing in the major key of the relative minor to sound the same pitch as concert.
For example if the piano is playing in C major, the concert pitch, the alto sax would need to play in the key of A major. The relative minor of C is A minor.
So if the concert pitch is G you would play in E, if concert is pitch is Eb you would play in C and so on.
What you are doing is playing in your key to bring the sax to the concert pitch.
Hope this makes a little sense.
Keith
B# is C natural fingering and E# is F natural fingering
Sharps move the sharpened note up one half tone hence E sharp is F and B sharp is C
Here’s a just in case scenario – are you sure you typed the letters in your post correctly?
Any chance your hands are upside down – left at bottom and right on top – just a shot in the dark but what you are explaining sounds impossible without, as Johnny said, an improperly working saxophone or a really weird problem – please keep us posted we’re all super curious on this one.
Some info would help, how long have you been playing, is your sax new, has it been checked by a tech?
Learning to play sax definitely requires a teacher.
Proper embrochure, air support (diaphragm), reed placement with a strength reed suited to your ability, and a suitable mouthpiece are necessary first steps.
Practice long tones and learn to play your major scales with good tone will help to get you started
If you’re stuck for a track karaoke-version.com is a great resource.
Only cost around $4 too.
i use to use my laptop but now convert everything to “wav” format and play it from a usb stick on my keyboard – works great 🙂
i make most of mine on my keyboard recorded through my mixer to Adobe Audition. If it’s just something for practice I’ll just use one track and record the bass, piano, drums, etc. onto the one track. If I’m going to record it to make a CD I’ll record each track separate and then add in vocals, sax, etc. on separate tracks as well.
Once I have everything recorded I’ll mix it and then master it.
We use a lot of my backing tracks when our trio plays dances on the weekends.
If you’re looking for relatively cheap backing tracks check out http://www.karaoke-version.com (no affiliation) They have full tracks that are completely finished in mp3 format as well as separate tracks that you can mix to your liking prior to download.
It’s a great site and the quality is quite good and done to the original artists structure and key.
And to top it off – your purchased tracks are under “my files” link when you log in so if you want to change the key (up or down 2 half tones), or change volume on different tracks (custom tracks) you can change them and then download them again – no limit – they’re yours.
You need to set up an account naturally which is free 🙂
Send me the link to the medley. I cant promise anything but I’ll check it out
Keith
Great, thanks I’ll give that a try- thanks again
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