How to Improve Your Saxophone Sound with Overtones
- Magnus Bakken
- Nov 15
- 3 min read
Let’s take a look at how to develop your tone, get a fatter more resonant sound, control your altissimo, and transform your saxophone playing with overtone exercises.
You have probably heard players talk about overtones and voicing. These ideas sit at the center of great saxophone playing. With a flexible throat and tongue position you’ll be able to play with an embouchure that stays stable through every register.
Many of these concepts go back to Sigurd Rascher and his classic book Top Tones for the Saxophone, which is still a pillar of saxophone pedagogy.
This post will walk you through why overtone practice is one of the most effective ways to improve your saxophone tone. It will also introduce you to my structured program, Overtones in 12 Weeks, a course designed to give you a clear and sustainable daily routine that builds real control from the ground up.
You can try the full first lesson for free on my Patreon. I will include the link below.
The overtones are really clicking now, feels like i have control and know where to have my tounge at when i try to hit the overtones.
- Patreon Member
Why overtones?
The saxophone and mouthpiece/reed is only part of what makes a good saxophone sound. Before the airstream even hits the horn, we shape the sound with our breath support, the tongue/throat, and the embouchure.
Practicing overtones will teach you how to control the tongue and throat. You’ll be able to voice differently in each register of the saxophone, making your tone bigger and more resonant. This also makes intonation easier, as you’ll be relying less on tension in the embouchure to control the reed. Overtone practice is also necessary for playing in the extended range of the saxophone, also known as the altissimo register.
When you can play the overtone series clearly and consistently, you tap into how the horn wants to vibrate. It prepares you for everything from jazz to classical or pop saxophone.
I have learned a lot from the week with this exercise, and will continue to use it to practice the feeling of moving only the tongue.
- Patreon Member
What makes “Overtones in 12 Weeks” different
This course is built as a progressive training plan. You practice for 15 to 20 minutes per day with specific goals that build on each other. You get weekly video lessons, PDF practice guides, and a dedicated community on Discord where players post clips, track progress, and ask questions.
The focus is not on overwhelming you with dozens of exercises. We begin by looking at the very basics of tone production, the airstream and embouchure. Then we ease into the overtones exercises, finding the tongue and throat position by singing, and dropping the overtones down in octaves.
Everything in the course is structured in a way that keeps your embouchure relaxed while you develop greater control over the voicing. If you have struggled with overtones in the past, this method gives you a clear path through the common sticking points.
Who this overtone course is for
This course is ideal for saxophonists who want to:
Improve saxophone tone
Build a bigger and warmer sound
Work toward a clean and reliable altissimo range
Fix embouchure tension and jaw pressure
Develop flexibility in the throat and tongue
Understand voicing and internal resonance
Improve intonation
Whether you are playing bebop, modern jazz, marching band, classical or pop horn lines, this kind of practice gives you the foundation for a professional sound.
The greatest revelation for my saxophone playing in the last decades. It will still take some time to get really used to it, but this is just wow!!!
- Patreon Member
Start with the free first lesson
The first video lesson of Overtones in 12 Weeks is completely free. It covers breath control, and the initial steps that prepare you for overtone work. If you want to follow the full twelve week program, you can join The Shed tier on Patreon to access the course and the Discord community.
Watch the first lesson for free:
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