having decided to learn the saxophone , i was wondering which type is best to start on?
I can read music already and am studying for my grade 5 french horn.

I would love to start on the baritone sax! I just love the sound, but is this unwise?

Any opinions would help please

Adam

PLEASE HELP

Yamaha is a good make on sax.
I'd personally start with alto.....or tenor as I have done.
Bari-sax is lovely , not sure what it's like to play though

Hey there!

I suggest starting on an Alto. I started on one of these when I was just seven! I still have the same one It is great for both young kids, and adults. Bari is a nice instrument, but even for myself who has been playing for what feels like a loooooong time, it is still very difficult to play in terms of breathing.

If you decide to start on a smaller one first, start on Alto if you want both Saxes in the same key.

Alto is the most common sax to start on, probably because the size is OK for young beginners without having the embouchure and intonation challenges the soprano poses. Starting a bit older and bigger, tenor becomes a realistic option. Personally I don't know anyone who started with bari. I agree it's got a great sound, and it's not at all difficult to blow but there are practical problems:

- it's a big instrument and needs a lot of air to fill it
- it's a big instrument and heavy to carry around and when you're playing it
- it's a big instrument and prone to damage by knocks
- it's a big instrument and it's more difficult to get neat, quick fingering than on the smaller ones, especially if you're new to playing a woodwind instrument in the first place
- it's most often played as part of an ensemble and rarely gets the tune, there's not a lot of repertoire for bari sax, and of course you'll need to get to a certain minimum standard before you can play in ensembles (especially on bari because they act as an "anchor" for the group and there's not often anyone else doubling the part)
- they're expensive, whereas you could get a reasonable studant alto for £400-£500 it would be over £1,000 for a "cheap" bari

If you've completely fallen in love with the bari and want to play that more than anything else, well there are always exceptions and of course it would be possible. I think you'd be better off starting with alto or tenor though. and comforting yourself with the fact that everything you learn will be transferrable to bari at a later date.

everything TSax says is such good sense.
Although lots of people start on alto, you might be able to start with tenor - that could be realistic. Again as TSax mentions, it depends on how old/big you are.
Tenor is a really lovely sound, but so is alto.

Well, if your big enough I suppose you could play tenor.

I was going to have played tenor sax to start off with! However, I tried it out and it's quite heavy on the neck (but it has a lovely sound ). The only reason I could have played it is that I'm really tall so it would have been a different woodwind instrument to start off with. Most people here normally start on alto (though come to think of it, someone had a soprano sax since they were quite small.) Start with the bari-sax if it's what you really want to do!