| A professional mouthpiece will improve your sound | | | | 7 or 6. This has a good sound and is pretty popular. I |
| more than any other part of your saxophone. I | | | | won't talk about soprano or Baritone here; most |
| recommend that be the first piece of equipment that | | | | people start on alto or tenor. |
| you buy to upgrade your sound. Mouthpieces will | | | | Before you pay the big bucks for a mouthpiece, you |
| come in two types- Jazz and Classical. For general | | | | should always try it out first. If you bought 10 of the |
| playing you will want a good classical mouthpiece. | | | | same exact brand, and tried them all, you'd find that |
| These will be plastic looking. They are called hard | | | | they all play different. Always try out first and pick |
| rubber. There are three excellent mouthpieces I | | | | the one that works best for you. Later on you may |
| recommend that are reasonably priced. The | | | | want to buy a hand made mouthpiece and enjoy the |
| Rousseau 4R is about $70 and is fantastic. The 4R | | | | wonderful sound that comes from that. Be prepared |
| refers to the tip size. The Selmer S80 C* is another | | | | to pay the big bucks for one of these!! |
| great mouthpiece. It will cost about $100 or so. The | | | | You will probably need a different size of reed on |
| Rousseau New Classic plays like a S80 with a little | | | | your jazz mouthpiece then you use on your classical. |
| different sound. It costs about $80.00. I recommend | | | | Most people use a little softer size on the jazz. Also, |
| these mouthpieces for all of the saxophones. | | | | if you find the mouthpiece feeling funny on your |
| Jazz mouthpieces are a little more complicated. If you | | | | teeth, you can buy a tooth patch to put on the |
| play Alto, most people will go for a hard rubber | | | | mouthpiece. This will feel comfortable on your front |
| mouthpiece as opposed to the metal, which tends to | | | | teeth, and protect the mouthpiece. |
| be a little bright for the alto. If you are going to play | | | | If you are just beginning on the saxophone, you |
| a lot of rock music, you may want that bright sound. | | | | really should stick with the classical piece. After you |
| My favorite mouthpiece for the alto for general jazz | | | | are more advanced, you'll probably want the jazz |
| playing is the Meyer 6M. This is a classic that has | | | | piece for those styles. If you are not interested in |
| been around for a long time. I would probably start | | | | popular styles of music, you won't need the jazz |
| here before anything else for alto. | | | | piece. There really is a difference between the two |
| Tenor and Baritone saxophones generally prefer a | | | | types, and if you plan on playing all styles, you will |
| metal mouthpiece. For tenor I really like the Otto Link | | | | definitely need both types of mouthpieces. |