How to Growl on Saxophone (Natural Distortion Pedal)
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- #bettersax #saxophone #saxophonelessons
Jay Metcalf explains how to growl on the saxophone.
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I’m a clarinet player and I found this video very useful, while I’m not a pro at growling I was able to growl for 3 seconds in just 10 minutes of practice. Your advice has helped a ton.
I play clarinet to I also play saxophone for jazz band
@@jellyhendren4463 my school doesn’t have a jazz band. I hope in my high school they’ll have it
@@thatboredgamer2269 start your own. You really just need two other instruments: a bass and a drum, and you have a combo. Get a keys player and you are styling, although a *good* guitartist will work, too. Someone that can comp.
@@86larsonrd thanks for the advice
@@thatboredgamer2269 I look forward to you posting your jam sessions.
I found that practicing growling just with the mouthpiece and neck was a helpful baby step to getting it down.
The growl is the result of interference from the pitch of your voice in the sax sound - i.e. the pulses you hear in the growl is the difference in frequency between the two tones (roughly speaking). So if you sing a tone close to the one you're playing, the interference pattern will become slower and more pronounced while it will get faster the further your singing pitch is away from the note you're playing. It's a lot of fun to play around with.
beats
Also, you can get acoustic effects like the Tartini tones and if both frequencies match, there is no growling effect. That's two things that I missed in the video.
What
@@nelsonwilkins347 ua-cam.com/video/8IUhJw5dIQU/v-deo.html
I was writing a longer comment and then saw yours. That's my experience too. Start with something close to the sounded note and diverge the note you're humming from there. I also like how one can change the contour of the sax's timbre, for example by introducing a hum mid-note then fading it away. Practicing this is also a great way to make long tone practice more interesting: crescendo and decrescendo within each note, perhaps sweeping the frequency of your humming over a range to get different and changing effects. I find it useful to record these sessions and play them back later, so I get more than just what I hear in my head. Massive expressive potential!
Thanks to Jay for doing this!
When I was learning Tequila way back in HS, I tried the growling part by "gurgling" or "gargling" while playing. It worked. However, when I try doing it for other solos where the growling was longer, I couldn't sustain it and it did hurt my throat a bit. I recently discovered the "humming" method, as described here. Need to work on it more as I noticed it needs more air than regular blowing (at least for me).
the "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" rolling the tounge is to me a much more beautiful growl and it doesen't hurt your throat. God bless Jr Walker
That is called flutter tonguing and in reality isnt growling. Its a separate technique that has its own purposes in forms of music. People use it when they are not able to perform proper growling technique yet
Thanks for this! Way easier for me! Never even thought to try this in a reed instrument!
once again mr saxophone Jay Metcalf teaches us something that no teacher ever taught us .at least no teacher i knew ever taught us to Growl .. don't even think they knew how, nor would they consider the Growl legitimate saxophone playing .. so i say THANKS TO Jay Metcalf because the Growl can be effective and good to have in my bag ...
Glad this helped Robert.
I didn’t know if my teacher could but i guessed he did and then someone asked if he could and oh he could, extremly good
I learned to trill my tongue further back in my mouth, off/away from the reed. It gives a sharper oscillation to the sax tone and it saves your voice. It seems easier to control starts/stops, as well. Butm I like and use both options.
So I’m not the only one! It’s like a light flutter tongue
That is called an uvular trill, as a native French speaker I can do this all day long. It corresponds to a rolled R in French as well as a rolled R & CH in some German dialects. I admit I can't do the signing bit reliably, but the uvular trill comes out loud and clear every time I need it. And yes, technically it is not a growl but a flutter tongue, but close enough for an effect one uses every once in a while... Happy trilling! ua-cam.com/video/KtwvxEwNjbo/v-deo.html
Is it also called flap tounging? I was shown this 60 years ago. Used to play the surf rock classic Miserlou growling all the way through on Tenor. Brought the house down, literally, a few tiles came down. I found it did not work too well on Alto.
Tongue trilling was a technique used by Junior Walker..Esp.. in the song Shotgun..
So how does one tongue trill?
So I've been playing sax for 33 years and it took playing Peter Gunn theme to finally start to learn to growl.
Wish me luck
One of my favorite warm up riffs is from that song
1:39 Oh damn, that's Yakety Sax, isn't it? 😂
A good way to practice is doing it while whistling! Lots of fun
this video is very helpful, I'm able to growl for a few sec right after watching it. Thank you
But i'm unable to play the note properly after I get to high D, the sound will be 1 octave lower. Are there anything wrong with my technique or I simply need more practice?
I never really understood how to hum while I play, and then I got it once, and it really was as simple as humming while you play😂
Ahh.. Growling. I use that on my Tenor playing "Yackety Sax" I haven't played my sax in a while, a few years ago my fingers started locking up. I found the right Doc and now the problem is gone and I'm picking up my sax again. Thanks for the Growling lesson, when I get my old Conn back I'm going to try it.
I'm happy to always preferring to try to develop a warm and open saxophone sound, for every time I try to produce the growling sound it itches my throat and I start coughing ;)
I'm also a saxophone playing, In specific an Alto Saxophone player, I've been playing for 3 weeks and learned 52 songs and just learned eighth notes with tonguing but thank you very much for showing me how to growl this was very useful and educational
How did you learn/teach yourself about the fundamentals?
When I first started playing Sax I used the flutter tongue (rolling Rs like in spanish) to growl but obviously that prevents you from articulating while growling. Additionally, it was very exhausting to maintain. This technique you shared is the best. In recent years, I've pushed myself to hold a note and sing/hum intervals above/below the note being played.
Best trick i found to manage growling was to actually whistle while humming, not just blow - this was the closest to the feel you need while applying it to the saxophone!
Trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf would simultaneously vocally harmonize with his playing. Amazing!
a.k.a. polyphonics, pretty popular technique amongst professional tubists as well.
You'll get that with jazz flute sometimes.
Actual LOL here at the faces you're pulling and the titles on screen - STOP THAT! OUCH! etc. Excellent way to make the point about over-doing it. I keep having a go, but always feel like I'm going to burst several blood vessels in the process!
I've been playing alto for 7 years, and I'm now just learning about this?
Time to practice once I get back to school (I play for the band)
Jay, I had tried sax growling without much success based on various sources I had read, but your short video explains the technique really well, especially your advice about air flow! Thanks!
Glad it helped!
I use the vocalization technique when I play my xaphoon. I also get a decent-sounding growl by allowing a little air to escape from the corners of my mouth. I learned that early on when my embouchure wasn't very strong and my lips got too tired to maintain a proper seal around the mouthpiece. Now I do it on purpose when I feel like growling.
Oh wow this is the second video that I watched to learn how to growl but it was very helpful thank you
I’m not even a woodwind player but this is still interesting
I’ve been playing the Alto Saxophone since I think September of this year and I learned to play and where to put the position of mouth piece and I’m trying to take up as much information so I can get better at it
Thanks for the tip about humming and making sure your airstream is steady before putting the sax in your mouth. This is the step I was missing!
I first heard about the term "growling sax" from Dan Spencer of Best Music Coach, he was commenting on the Super Mario RPG video game OST on his channel "Music Theory for Gamers", and brought it up when talking about the track "And My Name's Booster", where there was a... well, I call it a "razz" or "stank" feel to it, but it definitely comes off as some kind of saxophone, or at least the closest approximation of such for the SNES. This intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about it, which brought me to this video. Interesting stuff.
I play tenor saxophone and I have never been able to do this since 7th grade, Today i was able to do it thanks to you
I’m gonna pick up a Sax at a garage sale and teach myself how to play, I love me some sax
I discovered a method in which you flip your tongue up and use the bottom of your tongue on the tip of the reed/mouthpiece. Then blow a bunch of air through the horn. So far I know it works well on tenor and alto. It’s sort of like flutter tonguing although everyone I’ve explained it to was confused. But it does produce a really good growling sound in my opinion
I’m a clarinet player that just started tenor sax. This helped a ton!
totally agree.... sometimes it's pretty hard to combine singing and growl on sax....
Yea I love growling it was easy for me to learn it I love incorporating it into musical pieces
I am so glad I found this totoral I finally know how
Thank you Jay, growling I really do want to learn how to do. I appreciate this tutorial. Thanks for all your great work! You really do give us a place to go to learn more about the instrument we all love and enjoy. I am still a student. Got lots going on in my life so I’m not improved a whole lot and I’m sorry to say that. But your inspiration in. Like lessons and words of support are amazing. I am thankful that I bought my alto sax, and once I learn it and master it, I will be on to getting a tenor. That’s really my dream is to play at 10 or. Sorry I’m dictating if it’s not coming out right. I am blind and have a it’s just quicker this way to dictate. Thanks everyone for your patience and again thank you Jay for better sex!
I found that doing this in a quiet room is the worst way to do it. You start to obsess about the hum pitch etc. The best results come on gigs with loud rooms where the band is playing LOUD rock and roll where you literally can’t hear the note you’re humming and you wind up just moaning and grunting (yes, you CAN bang up your voice a little, but IT’S ROCK AND ROLL! ) Another good way that I stumbled upon was helping out a friends “pep band” at hockey games. If you play in the bleachers at a hockey or football game, with all the loud crowd screaming and blaring songs usually used, you can work on your hum growl VERY easily. Using these methods (especially gigs that called for it where I was set up next to the loudest guitarists tube amp ever) it became so second nature to me that I had to focus in to tell if I was still humming or not! For a while when playing with that loud band I had to concentrate NOT to hum at cocktail hour real book gigs! And don’t hum the note you’re playing on the sax. It’s not like George Benson.
I’ve been learning ‘Take Five’ as part of my practice routine. Gonna go try it with the growl 😂
😂
thank you, I make this efect even more agressively growling the note i'm singing while playing a note
I've always just done a gurgling type growl to get a growl to come out of my sax. Never tried a humming approach before. I'll give that a go
Hey Jay,
I like your videos and am looking into the sax offer next month that includes the f# key!
Thanks -Eric
Great vid Jay, I started by pronouncing the letter V....at first I was forcing too much my throat and was in pain. I'd say if hurts, better to stop and try different things.
Love your videos you’ve taught me a lot of things thank you
Glad to hear it!
Had a lot of people try to explain it to me but I just never got it. Your explanation was not only helpful, but easy to understand!
Hey Jay, I started playing a few years ago (I'm 59) and one thing no one would tell me is how to growl ("you just figure it out"). Well now I know! Thank you!
I've done a "unique" thing (lol) I asked a friend how he growls and he said he just "roll his r's" while playing. That was a struggle for me--I can't do that...in Spanish class, I'd just "gargle" when I had those rr words lol. So I did that on sax and it'd worked decently after I learned how to keep it in tune while I did it lol. I definitely use the "hum" method and it was WAY easier lol.
roll an R while playing is called "Frulatto" articulation bro, very easy for a mexican native spanish speaker like me bay the way...
oh i do the same thing lol
@@EstebanBecerraRodriguez Argentinian here, can't do it... In fact I misspronounce the hard R's: I believe it has something to do with my tongue frenulum being too short
@@arielvinda6624 Que loco carnal, hasta ahora lo que conozco del español rioplatense, usan mucho la erre fuerte, como cuando dicen "ché, sos re boludo" y cosas por el estilo. Tal vez sea como dices alguna condición única en ti. Buscate el canal de "Sarah Jeffrey/team Recorder" tiene un video explicando el frulato para angloparlantes (que no usan Rs como nosotros) explicó uno que es con la garganta que es utilizado en el idioma holandes carnal... espero te sirva, un abrazo!
Haz de sonar como el Gran Julio Cortázar al hablar hermano, con acento argentino y erres suaves...
Regarding "not overdoing it" with a sax growl, I remember going to a nightclub to catch Zoot Sims playing with a quartet one night in Toronto. Over the entire night, and many songs, he managed to find only ONE NOTE upon which to use his very accomplished growl. It was duly noted by the audience, and it was a kind of "in" joke among those who were listening carefully. Yes, it was appropriately placed, on a 'blue note' in a passing phrase, but it was so unusual in the context of the rest of the night, it brought smiles from many, including me, and from Mr. Sims as well . . .
Thanks for sharing.
I have always (roughly 3 years) growled by dropping the back of tongue and letting the air kind of “bubble?” off the roof of my mouth all the way in the back
One week I was hearing what I was about to play in my head as I was playing which was pretty normal for me but for this week I was subconsciously humming what I was hearing in my head as I was playing it (without noticing). Someone asked me why I was growling everything and I was super confused obviously but I eventually figured out that’s what was happening so I stopped humming it lol
I tried to replicate it when I went to learn this style of growling and just couldn’t, having the same issue you described at the start of the video but earlier this afternoon I decided to try again and got it to work.
Intonation is a little sketchy and actually falling into that sort of growl in a smooth manner isn’t too easy yet but hopefully I’ll get more comfortable with it
The old was just seems more consistent
I will say that the “flutter tongue”/“broken air stream” method sounds exactly the same except it’s not as bright as the humming method
Here’s a short I made
ua-cam.com/users/shortsj6dCmoarHv0?feature=share
0:03 nice
Had to figure this out on my own back in the 90s. Band teacher was a brass guy, didnt know about it.
To avoid hurting your vocal chords while growling, try using airflow management techniques like chest compression. This is how rock and metal singers can distort their voices without hurting themselves. Chris Liepe's (vocal) channel goes into this in detail, but the principles are pretty much the same.
I don´t know why I always hate that growling sound so I never practiced it... I will give it a new tried after 38 years hahahaha thanks for all of your videos
Thanks Jay!
I didn't know how to do it but thanks to your method I made it thanks💪🎷
Happy to hear this.
That is interesting I will give it a try.... I have always just used a gargle technique to give me the growl sound.
I feel like the only person who does it this way. I loosen the left side of my lips while still touching the mouthpiece, letting it buzz freely, and it creates a natural vibration when I push air through the horn, creating the growl effect.
Well, I growl without using the the octave key (like trying to play octave notes without using the key). Works fine just in some notes. I will try to use this technique... thanks
Been trying to growl for months guess I’ll keep learning
this video pointed me in the right direction, although i wasnt able to figure out the humming, i figured out that if i vibrate the back of my throat to make a kind of pigeon sound, it sounds like a decent growl, on bari sax anyways
This is making me want to play my sax rn, but it’s 11:00 pm
Somebody told me to just scream into the horn, and boom, growling. I also do that epiglottal/uvula rolling growl thing but it sounds different. You hear Lenny Pickett do it on SNL a lot.
I play mostly blues/rock/funk and use growling and flutter tongue techniques sparingly. I listen to great blues oriented vocalists like Ray Charles, BB King and sax players like Lee Allen and Red Prysok to understand where those techniques work the best when playing. When to keep it smooth and when to make it scream. All the articulations like growling, fluttering, trills, double & triple tonguing really add to solos and sax lines in a hard driving band but they need to be used where it counts the most.
I'm only learning this because I want to do that flourish thing Charlie Parker does in some of his solos. You say at the start "promise you won't overdo it" -- well Bird often did this for literally one note in his blistering solos! Cool to know though.
Thanks for the advice, always wondered how they do that! I am looking forward to trying it
This video helped me learn to growl In one day.
how do the different techniques vary in terms of sound? most of the guides I looked at described how to do it by "gurgling" I've never seen the humming method but I did find it MUCH EASIER to learn
Great video!! Hit the nail on the head!! 🎯
I have to say that even after practicing this, my results are erratic. But I have found that my setup makes a substantial difference. If my reed is even a bit stiffer than normal (often a new reed), I just can't do it. Some mouthpieces work better than others, for the same reason. I need a pretty easy-blowing setup to have any success at all.
Great video! Thank you for sharing!
Lovely job ! Great lesson. Cheers Jay .
I figured it out by whistling and humming at the same time but I also figured out another growl where I vibrate my uvula to create a fatter slower growl.
Thank you so much, this is so cool explained. I am unfortunately still at the very beginning and am happy when the tones are right. But I have already tried with the "RRR", with the singing is still difficult for me. But after the longtone exercises I try it again. Groovy regards, Kay
👍🏽Got my 2nd Bettersax growling ✌🏽🎶🎵🎷
Grrr!
@Better Sax
Nicely done Jay! That’s almost exactly how I present it to students, but it still doesn’t always work. I think the major hurdle is getting kids to comprehend how much air it really takes to truly get a good sound - and growling takes even more!
PS. I was gonna post a link of either Jimmy Forrest or King Curtis growling on ‘Night Train’, but my memory was wrong - they barely use any growl on THE quintessential R&B sax instrumental of all time!
What I've done is just growl in the back of my throat and play. But I have recently been trying to learn how to properly growl like in the video. I think I hear Kamasi Washington do it in his playing all the time.
My technique is to blow while lifting the part of the tongue that attach to the throat to the point it starts to vibrate and makes gargling sound
Jay, great explanation ! I really mean to try this technique with my alto sax! 🎷
Great video again! Thanks Jay.
If you try reproduce the sound from a little dog baby with your throat, then comes growl sound in your horn.
And the other way is with your tongue.. pronouncing the latin Rrrrrrrr..rrrr, while you blow the notes.
And you can combine both too.
Thanks, now I can effectively play Comanche by the Revels!
Do you have lesson/video on flutter tonguing?
I’m a percussionist wtf am I doing here
Join the dark side
Welcome to the darkside 🎷😎
welcome
😂
3:24 cool 4 metal
Hi, I wish I'd seen this video over 20 years ago (or asked someone who knew) before trying, and briefly succeeding in growling through my tenor sax. I did it by somehow making my soft palate flap/buzz. Then it was painful, then my soft palate started leaking air up the back of my nose and I haven't been able to play the sax (or other reed instruments) since. I literally last about 2 minutes before I can't stop the air leaking up the back of my nose and it hurts. I guess I must have torn my soft palate or something. I still haven't been to see an ENT doc to have them look in there. It can sound great, but it can also do serious damage if you come up with the wrong way of making the sound, like I seem to have done. I miss playing my sax.
WAY back when, I asked my teacher how I could sound like Clarence Clemmons. I'm not sure he really knew anything but jazz, but he suggested I buy a metal mouthpiece, which did not take me far in my intended goal. So now, 35 years later, I know the secret of the growling sax. I loved that teacher but he apparently did not know the secrets that Jay does...
Hey, i don’t know if you’ll answer or not but, I was looking to ask for a new mouthpiece on Christmas. I’ve been playing about 2 years and I need something that will balance marching and concert band with highest being $100 any suggestions?
i'd watched another video that said you could growl by rolling your r's as you play - you'd mentioned at the end if anyone had another way of doing it - i dont recall which creators video it was though
Thanks a lot!
Thank you good advice
i don't even play saxophone yet but i love learning how to play without it
THENK YOU SO MUCH
I spelled thank wrong. 🤦♂️
ahhh - i've been doing it wrong! Thank you!
Any tips on flutter tonguing, Jay? I got growling pretty easy, still trying to master the flutter.
random quick question: when i go from a c or c# to a middle d, the tone totally changes (i play on alto, where fingering switches from no fingers to all fingers & octave key). what does that mean i am doing wrong?
Excellent 👌
I also try gargling but I am not good at gargling naturally. I find singing works best for me since I am singing all the time. I have found also that growling hard irritates my singing voice. My throat and voice are very sensitive so even talking or yelling or music at a Karaoke Bar hurts my voice by the time I get called up to sing. Lots of water and Vitamin C cough drops help coat my throat.
Nice! I do wish you included "The Old Castle" solo from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in your examples. To me, that would be the worst place to use growling. If anyone can come up with an even less appropriate use, I'd love to hear it! 😆🎷
I heard that this is oftenly used in Jazz am I right?
Love to see it!
growling also makes altissimo easier for me, some notes i can't not reach yet i can growl out
Jay... ok ... the weird thing was I was playing in a Jazz band all summer and I would naturally growl on certain notes... it was innate... which I don't know where I picked it up and I was very young at the time.. and the director just liked it.. so I kept doing it when he wanted it.. now of course I realize what it is... I am an old guy now ... and put it down for a while.. hoping I can get it back in 6 months or so.
So I have a intermediate level saxaphone and I use a Yamaha 5c mouthpiece if I were to get a better mouthpiece do you think that it would help me get a "jazzy sound"?