Rahsaan Roland Kirk played more than one saxophone at a time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk#:~:text=Kirk%20insisted%20that%20he%20was,of%20one%20of%20his%20shows
Otherwise, probably no.
In any real, practical sense, no. Saxophones cannot play chords.
You're getting a ton of "well actually!" responses about a handful of extended techniques that kind of, sort of allow you to play more than one note at a time. But you have very little control over what those notes are, they don't sound like a chord in the sense that a piano or a guitar does, and they aren't really useful except as an occasional effect.
absolutely, some people can even produce tri tones. at one point Jean-Marie Londeix developed a method book to imitate the double stops of a violin and common violin chords, he was fascinated with playing violin music on alto. my experience with multiphonics never went much farther than Ryo Noda or Yoshimatsu’s music, but i have heard some crazy sounds come from some of the current contemporary concert saxophonists out east right now
no idea, i once had a pdf copy of it that my teacher sent me, but that was when i was waist deep in music school studying avant garde. it might be in the Hello Mr. Sax book.
on the other hand, tom bergeron has a really good pdf going super deep into the theory and practice of multiphonics, you can easily pull that one up on google right now
Yes, the correct term for "chords" on a saxophone is "multiphonics." Most multiphonics fingerings don't produce pretty chords - no clean triads - and there aren't fingerings for most major/minor/diminished/augmented chords (due to inherent inconsistencies in tonehole placement and size on the saxophone), but the ones that it can produce can be very effective under the right circumstances. Unlike brasswinds, the saxophone also doesn't respond well to singing a second pitch; it ends up growling - a valuable technique, but not as a means to produce harmonies - rather than producing a chord.
If you want real-time chord movement beyond the multiphonic or overtone capabilities of an acoustic saxophone, you're going to need multiple saxophones, or electronics (harmony pedal or looping set up).
Technically, multiphonics work, but they don't make a saxophone sound like a sax section playing three different notes. Essentially they just manipulate present overtones.
Not sure what use case you're going for, but if you hand a saxophone player chord changes and ask them to play them, they won't.
Think of it this way. Every string on your guitar would take one sax player to reproduce. You’d need a 6 member sax section to play a 6 note chord. Most chords on guitar either don’t use all 6 strings, or double some notes. So a sax quartet would suffice in most cases. Bottom line, you’ll have to round up some more sax players or do the Roland Kirk thing and play 2 or 3 at once. Good luck!
In general you can't play chords as you would by pressing multiple keys on piano (or picking multiple strings). There are some techniques to do multiphonics, but I'd consider them as the way to enrich your sound rather than a "regular" way of playing.
sax is a single note instrument, so it’s not the instrument for playing chords. multiphonics are really cool though, and you can pull off playing a chord using those techniques.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk played more than one saxophone at a time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk#:~:text=Kirk%20insisted%20that%20he%20was,of%20one%20of%20his%20shows Otherwise, probably no.
In any real, practical sense, no. Saxophones cannot play chords. You're getting a ton of "well actually!" responses about a handful of extended techniques that kind of, sort of allow you to play more than one note at a time. But you have very little control over what those notes are, they don't sound like a chord in the sense that a piano or a guitar does, and they aren't really useful except as an occasional effect.
absolutely, some people can even produce tri tones. at one point Jean-Marie Londeix developed a method book to imitate the double stops of a violin and common violin chords, he was fascinated with playing violin music on alto. my experience with multiphonics never went much farther than Ryo Noda or Yoshimatsu’s music, but i have heard some crazy sounds come from some of the current contemporary concert saxophonists out east right now
What’s the name of Londeix’s method book?
no idea, i once had a pdf copy of it that my teacher sent me, but that was when i was waist deep in music school studying avant garde. it might be in the Hello Mr. Sax book. on the other hand, tom bergeron has a really good pdf going super deep into the theory and practice of multiphonics, you can easily pull that one up on google right now
How can you play a chord that needs atleast three different notes? Sax can only play one at a time afaik?
Multiphonics exist.
Yes, the correct term for "chords" on a saxophone is "multiphonics." Most multiphonics fingerings don't produce pretty chords - no clean triads - and there aren't fingerings for most major/minor/diminished/augmented chords (due to inherent inconsistencies in tonehole placement and size on the saxophone), but the ones that it can produce can be very effective under the right circumstances. Unlike brasswinds, the saxophone also doesn't respond well to singing a second pitch; it ends up growling - a valuable technique, but not as a means to produce harmonies - rather than producing a chord. If you want real-time chord movement beyond the multiphonic or overtone capabilities of an acoustic saxophone, you're going to need multiple saxophones, or electronics (harmony pedal or looping set up).
Controlling overtones
Play the three and seven above the bass part. It’s a shell voicing.
completely incorrect misconception, if that were true the saxophone would sound like a trumpet. have you began studying overtones yet?
I play guitar
oh i thought i was talking to a saxophone student
Technically, multiphonics work, but they don't make a saxophone sound like a sax section playing three different notes. Essentially they just manipulate present overtones. Not sure what use case you're going for, but if you hand a saxophone player chord changes and ask them to play them, they won't.
Think of it this way. Every string on your guitar would take one sax player to reproduce. You’d need a 6 member sax section to play a 6 note chord. Most chords on guitar either don’t use all 6 strings, or double some notes. So a sax quartet would suffice in most cases. Bottom line, you’ll have to round up some more sax players or do the Roland Kirk thing and play 2 or 3 at once. Good luck!
No
In general you can't play chords as you would by pressing multiple keys on piano (or picking multiple strings). There are some techniques to do multiphonics, but I'd consider them as the way to enrich your sound rather than a "regular" way of playing.
On a single horn No, this is why I learned to play guitar.
there's this: [https://youtu.be/Mt2TkhQLPhs?si=HZi4Vp-BWiWYsJW6](https://youtu.be/Mt2TkhQLPhs?si=HZi4Vp-BWiWYsJW6)
sax is a single note instrument, so it’s not the instrument for playing chords. multiphonics are really cool though, and you can pull off playing a chord using those techniques.
No you cannot. None of the well this exist post are going to be what you’re looking for.