What sounds better? Alto saxophone or tenor saxophone?

Question:I play alto sax but I'm thinking of switching to tenor what your opinion.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I play alto sax but I'm thinking of switching to tenor what your opinion.

It depends on which you are more comfortable with. They are both fun instruments, but they can come with their difficulties. My one friend tried to play tenor, and couldn't get a sound out of it. But, my other friend keeps breaking tenor reeds because he uses a lot of air. I'd say try switching, and see how you like it.

Unless are limited to only being able to play one or the other for some reason, you might as well play both because they each offer their unique benefits in sound. Tenor sounds richer when playing lower octave notes, but with Alto you can hit high notes that only tenors can dream of. It's not hard playing both, you just have to remember that Alto is in the key of E-Flat and Tenor B-Flat. Once you get the transpositioning memorized, it's easy.

A good quality alto sax should have a nice sound, but personally I prefer a tenor sax. Could be by age, since these were popular in the '50's and early '60's rock and pop music. And most jazz recordings had a sax in there somewhere.

If you want to portray someone walking down a rainy city street at night, alone, I think a tenor sax would be the only way to go. Harlem Nocturne, I think, is the music in question.

Bill Clinton is a pretty decent tenor sax player. Yeah, that Bill Clinton...

Depends on your innate talent. There are many more alto sax players than tenors. BUT, you would be in a much better position to obtain employment for a piece written for tenor sax, than one for alto. Tenor sax players are a rare breed. There's a surplus of alto players.

Question: do you plan on being a professional musician? Think about it.

Wotan

In what way are we comparing them? This is such a personal opinion question, and it can depend on many factors. Does someone like a lower sound or a higher sound? While the one guy said there are more alto players than tenor players, there are also much fewer tenor positions available than alto positions, so the logic of a tenor has a better chance at more jobs is faulty. As a saxophonist, you should own and play (well) all of the saxophone family, especially if you are playing jazz. You should also play other instruments as well. Sitting in a first alto chair for jazz band, in one concert I had to play alto, soprano, tenor, flute and clarinet. You can also sometimes be needed to play bass clarinet, piccolo or even oboe.

I been playing the sax for a couple of years now and notice that the tenors sometimes sound really nasty unless you buy cetatin equipmant like a jazz mouth piece or stuff

Depends. will you join marching band? please!