Tonguing is an important and fun saxophone technique that you can use to take your sax playing to the next level. If you’re already a competent sax player then you don’t need to be able to tongue your instrument – you can still play it well without needing to use this technique. If you want to learn how to tongue, then great, because you don’t need to relearn the sax from square one, although you might make slight adjustments to how you play.

What is Tonguing?

Tonguing sounds simple enough. All you do is use your tongue to break the airflow as you play the instrument by placing it on the reed, creating additional sounds as a result. Tonguing is a great way to add a beat or volume to a piece of music. If you play the sax without tonguing, you’ll find your music is more subtle, which can be useful in a band situation or if playing as backing to a vocalist.

To Tongue or Not to Tongue?

While you can decide whether you want to tongue your saxophone or not, it is a technique most want to learn as it stops them from “honking,” or being too aggressive with individual notes.

Experienced saxophonists find that tonguing helps them fully control the music they’re playing. Rather than having to breathe into the instrument, you can simply release the air in your lungs (sax players will know the difference between breathing and releasing air) before lifting your tongue from the reed and thus playing the note.

Ways to Tongue

As with anything in music, there are many different ways you can use tonguing to create the sound you want.

You can gently and subtly tongue your sax reed to create soft sounds, or you can create a beat like a drummer by being more aggressive. If you need to lead a group then this is a great technique for keeping the rhythm of a piece.

The best way to look at tonguing is that it gives you the opportunity to create a new and unique sound or style of sound when you’re playing your saxophone. Music is all about creating different sounds and coming up with something new, so why wouldn’t you want to do it?

Even if you only use it on select occasions, tonguing is a sax technique that you should have in your repertoire so you can always use it when playing solo or constructing a composition.