Welcome to this beginners guide to play notes in the Alto Saxophone.
This Sax lesson covers how to play E on Alto Saxophone. There are three E notes in the range of your saxophone and we'll cover all three of them here.
Playing the E note on Alto Saxophone
Instructions: There are three E notes within the normal range of the saxophone. The basic fingering is to use both your left and right hand palmed around the saxophone, supporting the sax with your neckstrap and two thumbs on the back of the saxophone.
Play low E on alto sax
The left hand at the upper part of the saxophone and the right hand at the lower part of the sax.
Your left hand needs to push down the B,A and G keys on the saxophone. At the same time your right hand needs to push down the E and F keys, so that you cover a total of 5 keys.
The B,A,G and E,F fingerings is the basic fingering for the E note on your saxophone. This will give you the low E on the sax.
Play middle E on alto sax
When you've figured out the low E fingering (above) you can easily finger the middle E on your saxophone as well. The only difference is that you need to add the octave key (register key) in order to play the middle E on on your sax. (use your left thumb on the back of the saxophone).
Play high E on alto sax
To finger the high E note on saxophone you push down the octave key (left thumb) and the nr 1 and 2 side keys (left hand palm).
That's the D and Eb palm keys. In addition to that you need to push down the upper side key on your saxophone with your right hand.
That's three keys with your left hand and one side key with your right hand.
There's also an alternate high E fingering called the Fork E or Front E on Saxophone. That is useful in certain fingering combinations.
Want to learn all the Saxophone fingerings?
Great! Make sure to download the free Saxophone fingering chart PDF to keep as a reference when you practice your saxophone.
