Yeah, altissimo g is really a hard note to hit. I was able to hit G#, A, Bb, B, and C before i was properly able to hit G. It requires a huge amount of air in a very fast and steady flow, with a dropped jaw and very tight lips. Forget how it sounds and how in tune it is, that will come later once you can hit it. Once you can attack the note and sustain it for a while, try working on the tuning by lipping up or down or altering your air flow.
-Bleeding Gums Murphy

thanks for the clarification on the stuff murphy. (lower saxes get more overtones = F)

so to try to get this straight this is what i`ve gathered.

When you begin, start on the lob Bb, and lip up. Ok, I have gotten to on F (that is, the octave F) easy an occasionly the G. Obviously not altissimo yet. So... what do I do now?

just go to a fingering chart and use the basic fingerings listed for the second octave. You`re obviously not too experienced, so after you`ve MASTERED that, try their altissimo fingerings. Different players will use different altissimo fingerings depending to their preference. Here`s a link to a good one.
I use them for a lot of my alternate and altissimo fingerings for my solos (Altissimo is a great way to impress the crowd!!)

http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/sax/

Hope this helps,
Bleeding Gums Murphy

Wildband: what note did you say you could get up to,
was it G just above the staff or G on the fourth leger line above the staff?

If a leger line is each one of these (-) above the staff than the highest i can play is an octave above the B tha is 5 leger lines above the staff. In other words, b 5 legers high + 8va. Oh, im new by the way. How old r all u guys. Im a junior.

can`t sax go like 5 octaves above the staff, like as high if not higher than trumpets?

The highest note I`ve ever hit is a high d (yes, 3 d`s higher than the lowest one). As I recall, I fingered an altissimo B and used the next overtone to achieve the D. And it was actually in tune! I`m usin a meyer 5 with a 1950 conn 6m.

actually, I havn`t gone into overtones much at all. While I am profeicient at most everything else (though I don`t claim to be a pro yet!) I simply havn`t experimented enough with altisimo. I`ve been busy with all the other tricks on sax, but this topic has prompted me to pull out my "top tones for sax" book and look at it every now and then when I have the chance.

~~~this is off topic, but i`ve heard that you can put a piece of wood in your sax to make the low notes sound better. I havn`t had any luck yet. Any idea?
http://www.petethomas.co.uk/sax-acrobatix.html
Not sure what "small" is. Neat stuff though.

i didnt believe this when i first heard it but when i took my sax to my repair guy he put some cork in the bottom and the low B and Bb came out like magic.

what kind of sax though? is it only alto, or everykind? probably everykind. And does the brand or type of metal effect weither it works or not?

~sry off topic

my teacher can play a 3 octave G scale on his Yamaha Allegro.I could be mistaken. It might have been 4. It was amazing though. He could only do it on that sax, not even on my Series II. That thing is nice and cheap if you`re lookin for a good sax(Allegro). So who has the highest note so far. I can play a 5th octave C nice and full. Who`s higher. Its mostly cuz of my new ligature that i can.

ya I guess the sax makes a difference cause the layout metals blah blah you all know it all. The wood in the bell thing does work, I tried it with a cork top.

Hey are there recomended mouthpieces and stuff or does it really matter?

that was worded rather badly, but you get the question.

I want to compare what you all think to my sources.