Saxophone Effects - The Laugh

The Saxophone Laugh

This is quite an easy effect, especially if you have already learnt to do a bit of note bending. The most important part of the saxophone laugh is to articulate a ku instead of tu to start the note. It’s then just a question of making each note bend downwards slightly and playing a series of notes that simulate a laugh. In the example I’ve used a chromatic scale downwards, followed by another one starting a bit higher. It’s a good idea to listen to people laughing to really get the feel for it and also other ways of doing it.

This is what Walter Eby (1922) has to say:

And a solo piece that uses the saxophone laugh: