WARREN HILL SAX CLUB Altissimo Fingerings
Figure 1 (below) is a chart of the saxophone keys. For this set of fingerings we do not use th the left, or right hand, 4 finger “pinky” keys (G#, low C, C#, B, Bb, etc), so they are not shown. Also, this is derived from an older Selmer Mark VI without an F# key.
Figure 1
Hi G Palm F B
Palm D# Palm D
A G
Side E Side C
F
Side Bb
E D
Altissimo notes are really overtones, or harmonics, as they are notes that are above ab ove the standard range of the saxophone. The fingerings are quite different from the normal notes on the horn, and they can differ quite a bit from horn to horn, especially older, hand-made horns that have their o wn unique tuning issues. On my horn, there are two “sections” of fingerings that I use, which I have devised for ease of playing. One section is for the notes F#, G, G#. The second section is from A, A#, B, C, C#, D, E. Section one has a couple of different fingering options, whereas section two only has one fingering option. Therefore I have divided the following charts into the 2 sections.
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WARREN HILL SAX CLUB Altissimo Fingerings SECTION ONE: F#, G & G#
Fingering option one.
F#
G
G#
G
G#
Option two:
F#
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WARREN HILL SAX CLUB Altissimo Fingerings SECTION TWO: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E
A
A#
B
C
C#
D
D#
E
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