Charles Mingus
how do you flutter tongue on alto sax for a jazz solo?
I am doing a solo for alto sax on Moanin by Charles Mingus and i need to learn how to make it wail and make it a muffled sound and i need to use flutter tongue and i need to know how to do it! Anyone?
It only takes a bit of practice, but you need to know how to roll your r’s. If you can do that, just roll your r’s while playing the saxophone! It is a bit tricky because your mouthpiece and reed are right there in front of your tongue, but after some practice you should be able to get it. Start off by rolling your r’s, with the mouthpiece in your mouth, and then try playing a note at the same time. Then just practice it five or ten minutes each day until you can play scales and entire passages that way.
If you cannot roll your r’s (many people actually can’t) then just growl, and it will produce a similar effect. Again, it is not too difficult with practice. I learned how to do it first by “screaming,” literally, screaming, while playing a note. Then, after some practice, I could work it out so I would only need to growl and it would produce the same effect.
Good luck on your solo! Mingus charts are SO much fun, especially on alto. I have a solo on “GG Train” in a couple weeks.
Charles Mingus – Moanin’
