Foundation for Ghosting: D-N

Today's post is about GHOSTING aka:
doodle tonguing
dooden tonguing
dawdle tonguing
deedle tonguing
half tonguing
side tonguing
swallowing
muting

Before I share with you what is anatomically a better way of thinking of this technique, I need to mention one very important thing about it.

What you are doing when you ghost a note is using the tongue to cover one side or corner of the reed while allowing it to still vibrate. Because of this, jazz saxophonists all the way from Charlie Parker to Kenny G play with the mouthpiece slightly off-center or at an angle to make this happen.

Check it out.

​Now that I have forced Charlie Parker and Kenny G to exist in the same space, let's move on. I hope this wasn't triggering for anyone.
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Ghosting: L Is Dumb and N Is Better

Often, teachers will refer to this technique as "Doodle Tonguing".

It's called "Doodle" tonguing because one note is attacked (the syllable "Dood-") and the next note—or group of notes—is ghosted or dampened/muted (the "-le" syllable).

Why L Is Dumb
To use an "L" tongue shape for ghost notes is very inefficient and requires the tongue to move far out of position to make this sound happen.

The tip of the tongue is in a ready position to tongue the next note, but the back of the tongue must come up to achieve this "L" sound. This means the actual tone you're producing (as well as intonation and voicing) shifts just to ghost the note(s).

Specifically called a "Dark L" sound, this tongue shape is illustrated in the image above.

from Cal Learning:

"Dark L
The /L/ at the end of the word. This is difficult to pronounce.
Dark L is produced after a vowel (or schwa): call, school, tell, people.
The tip of tongue touches the alveolar ridge, and stays there.
Dark L has a “uh-l” sound.
The back of the tongue is raised toward the soft palate."

I used to believe this, and if you've seen some of my older stuff then you know I used to teach it but...
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N Is Better

"N", I have found, is better than "L" for articulating ghosted notes.

You can see clearly in the diagram above that the tongue position for "N" is very close to the "E" position I mentioned previously: the throat is not blocked, and the evenness of the tongue is preserved.

↑ The simplest articulation pattern using ghost notes: "D-N" ↑
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D-N Is the Best Option

As I have been teaching more and more one-on-one lessons, it's become very clear to me that the conventional ideas about ghosting on the saxophone are flawed in one simple yet significant way.

Historically, jazz saxophone teachers will call this "Doodle" or "Dooden" tonguing.

What I struggled with, and what most students who work with me find most puzzling, is the point where the second "D" sound in these 'words' occurs simultaneously with your ghosted "L" or "N" sound: DN/DL.

It's impossible to "D" attack the reed while simultaneously ghosting "N" or "L" and have either the attack or the ghost come out clear.

In my professional experience, I have found "D-N" to be the best way to approach ghosting on the saxophone.

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Now here's Mahatma Gandhi to help you remember this.

Gandhi was Indian, and the "dian" (D-N) part of this word is how I consider the attack-one-ghost-one articulation pattern.

That's all I have for you for now. In my next post, I'll be sharing with you how to practice this technique and some practical ways of working it in to your playing for a more authentic style. Hint: start here ↓

Thanks for reading and stay tuned,
Jake