Want to learn to slap tongue?

There are many different ways to slap tongue and so many different sounds you can create!

This short course will give you an introduction to the technique… enabling you to learn the most basic slap tongue method. The world is then your oyster to develop your technique and explore what you can do with it!

 

Important things to note before you start

  • Buy yourself a synthetic reed (or two!). Learning how to slap tongue can be an expensive exercise on cane reeds…

  • Slap tonguing can take some people a day and others years (I was the latter). It took me over 2 years to learn how to slap tongue, and at points it seemed impossible. If you don’t get it straight away, keep coming back to the very basics until something clicks!

  • Don’t skip the most basic steps - the first steps are absolutely vital to developing a healthy slap tongue!

All information and exercises in this short course are universal across all clarinets and saxophones.

I will be demonstrating mostly on bass clarinet (as this is my most confident slap-tonguing instrument).

Generally the larger the reed… the easier it is to slap!

If you have an option between tenor or alto saxophone, begin on tenor.

If you have a choice between clarinet or bass clarinet - start on bass!

 

Enjoy these videos below of some masterful slap tonguing inspiration