Saxophone mouthpieces are confusing, right? If you’re just starting to make your first steps at upgrading your mouthpiece, then you’re probably as confused as I was when I first tried to do that too.
You’re wondering, what’s the best sax mouthpiece size for you? There are loads of different brands, and loads of different styles and materials. But also, every single mouthpiece comes in different sizes from 5 through to 9.
So which mouthpiece is right for you and which one should you go for, particularly if you’re relatively new in your saxophone journey?
Well, I don’t have all the answers. I’m not an expert. I’ll leave that to guys like Jody Espina and Theo Wanne. But I can tell you what I’m using, and also, what I’m changing to, and why.
So that’s what we’re going to be digging into today.
And I’ve been playing around three Jody Jazz DV HR mouthpieces with over the last couple of weeks. I love these, they’re a great mouthpiece. I’ve normally been playing on a 7, but I’ve been experimenting with a 6 and a 5.
Mouthpiece comparison
To help you choose the best sax mouthpiece size that will suit you, I’m going to show you what the 5 sounds like in comparison with the 7. And I’ll give you some ideas on why you might also consider moving down to a smaller mouthpiece or upgrading to your first pro-level mouthpiece, but in a smaller size.
Jody Jazz DV HR – Size 7
So just to give you a starting point, I’m going to grab this size 7, and pop it on my saxophone.
Listen to what it sounds like.
What do you think of the sound? Sounds nice, right?
Why upgrade your mouthpiece
So before we start digging into the details here, why should you think about upgrading your mouthpiece? I get asked about upgrades a lot by our thousands of students inside Sax School. And I always say that when you’re ready to upgrade, rather than thinking about your saxophone, focus on your mouthpiece first.
And for most players, when they’re just getting started, once they can get a good sound, and play comfortably through a few songs, and then it’s time to start thinking about that upgrade process.
So the mouthpiece always is the first thing you should upgrade. That’s because it’s the thing that makes the biggest difference in the sound production of the entire saxophone.
If you think about it, the thing that’s going to affect the sound most is the first thing you blow into – and that’s the mouthpiece. So the further that you go down the saxophone, the less impact it has on the quality of the sound.
You could upgrade from a standard mouthpiece that might come with your saxophone, to something like a Yamaha 4C. That’s a great option.
I’m also a big fan of Jody Espina’s mouthpieces – Jody Jazz, and I’ve done loads of videos on our YouTube channel where I’m checking out some of those. And, loads of our saxophone members use the Jody Jazz mouthpieces now. I like this DV HR. It’s not too bright, not too dark, – it’s somewhere in the middle. It suits me just fine. It’s a Goldilocks mouthpiece.
Understanding mouthpiece sizes
So if you are brand new to the whole process of choosing a saxophone mouthpiece, you might even be wondering what these numbers refer to. So I’ve got a 7 here, this is a 6, and this is a 5.
The number refers to the tip opening. And that’s the distance between the tip of the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece.
So the bigger the number, the greater the gap.
And the smaller the number, the smaller the gap.
Now in simple terms, a larger number generally means the mouthpiece is harder to play and you can get a bigger sound out of it.
A smaller mouthpiece means it’s easier to blow and takes less effort. And generally, a lot of people think you get a smaller sound.
But that doesn’t mean the best sax mouthpiece size for a great sound is a 7, 8 or bigger.
Mouthpiece sizes for famous sax players
If you look historically at some of the great players, loads of the great players through the 50s and 60s used small mouthpieces and soft reeds. And someone like Cannonball Adderley, who had an amazing sound – he played on a Meyer 5.
In contrast, if we look at tenor players, Ernie Watts is one of my favourite tenor players. And I remember talking to him years ago at a gig in Australia, and he said he played on a size 13 mouthpiece. So that’s basically like having Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lips! Really, really, strong.
And he played on a hard reed. The relationship between the reed and the mouthpiece is also very important, and we’ll get to that in a second.
My mouthpiece history
So what mouthpieces have I been playing on over the years? I had a look through as I was preparing to make this video today and I was quite surprised.
So this is a mouthpiece that I played for absolutely years. For all sorts of things from playing shows, to doing pop gigs, to doing jazz gigs, big band things, all sorts of stuff. This is a Yanagisawa Metal and I was surprised to see it’s a size 9. Okay, that’s a big mouthpiece. But I played that for a long time.
This is another mouthpiece that I moved to. I played it for a long time. This is a Theo Wanne Gaia. And it’s a size 8.
And then a few years ago I moved down to a size 7 in the Jody Jazz HR* and I also like the 7 in the Custom Dark. And I’ve been getting into the Jody Jazz DV HR.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with moving down from a size 7 to a size 5.
Relationship between mouthpiece and reed
Now just before I show you what the size 5 mouthpiece sounds like, what about this whole relationship between the mouthpiece and the reed?
So just like mouthpieces, reeds come in different strengths or sizes. And the bigger the number of the strength, the harder the reed is.
Most adult beginner players might start on a size 2 reed, or sometimes on a 1.5. And most players play around a 2.5, maybe up to a 3.
So I’m using a Légère synthetic reed. I love Légère, I’ve been playing them for years now on all my saxophones. And the 2.5 is good.
This is the brand new French cut Légère , and I think they sound great. Quite dark, really, cool.
So, the thing about the relationship between the mouthpiece and the reed is you can go to a smaller mouthpiece, which means that the distance between the tip of the reed and the mouthpiece is smaller. And then you can complement that by having a slightly harder reed. So that means you still have the same resistance.
And conversely, you could have a big mouthpiece and then play on a softer reed. So you still get that same balance between the two.
So when you are choosing the best sax mouthpiece size for you, it’s a good idea to take into account the strength of your reed too.
Light set-up
Now,I’ve been experimenting with a very light setup all the way around.
So, I’ve been going to a smaller mouthpiece, a size 5, and still playing on a size 2.5 reed. I want to see if I can get that nice, warm, full sound, even with a light mouthpiece setup.
So, I’m going to put the size 2.5 reed on my size 5 DV HR now.
Listen to the sound.
So what did you think about the sound of the 5 compared to the 7?
It’s interesting, listening to it back, I thought that the 7 had a lovely sound, very round and dark. Although, because I’ve been playing on this 5 for a couple of weeks now, I did find it a little bit harder to get it into tune.
In contrast I thought the 5 sounded really nice. It’s quite bright and zingy.
But I know that I felt a lot more relaxed when I was playing on that mouthpiece. And that gave me a lot more possibilities of colour and shape that I could get out of the sound. So I quite like it. But what did you think?
The best sax mouthpiece size for you?
A lot of people fall into that trap of thinking they need to play on a hard reed and a big mouthpiece to get a real professional sound on their saxophone. And maybe there was a time when I was younger when I fell a little bit into that trap as well.
But I just wanted to reassure you that it’s not the way forward. The best strategy is to find a setup that feels very easy for you to play. So if you’re having to work too hard on your mouthpiece, or you’re getting too tired too quickly, chances are your reed’s too hard or your mouthpiece size is too big.
So make it easy for you, you’ll be better off in the long run.
Pros & cons of a smaller mouthpiece
So let’s just quickly talk about the pros and cons of going to a smaller mouthpiece.
I’m going to stay with a size 5. I love it. And I think it’s the way forward for me. And I’m also going to experiment with a smaller mouthpiece on my tenor sax too.
So, the benefit of going to a smaller mouthpiece is it’s much easier for you to play. So, you don’t have to work as hard to maintain your embouchure strength.
Benefits of a smaller mouthpiece
- much easier to play
- you don’t need to work as hard on embouchure strength
- easier to keep in tune
- easier to control.
There are not any negatives that I can think of about going to a smaller mouthpiece. This is particularly true if you’re prepared to experiment a little bit with your reed strength, to find what feels comfortable for you.
Pros and cons of a bigger mouthpiece
However, going to a mouthpiece that’s too big, such as a 7 or a 8 if you’re not quite ready for that, can lead to lots of problems.
- It can take a lot of effort to maintain your embouchure to get a great, clear sound
- You can also have lots of issues with intonation.
So, if you’re not ready for that big mouthpiece, or if it’s a little bit too hard for you, you might struggle to keep your intonation even enough over the range. And if you’re finding that’s a problem, that’s a red flag that maybe you need to think about a smaller mouthpiece.
Final thoughts
I hope that was useful to get you thinking about the best sax mouthpiece size for you.
And If you want to see what we’re doing over at Sax School and how we’re helping thousands of people, then you can get 14-day trial by clicking the link below.