How to Choose Saxophone Reeds

In today's lesson we are going to discuss how to choose saxophone reeds. This initial post will be mostly geared toward the beginner player, but you experts out there might find this useful as well. Let's begin.

As we all know, saxophone reeds are quite expensive. In addition, they are quite inconsistent in quality unless purchasing a synthetic reed. Most reeds are made from natural products which lead to large quality differences. These differences even exist between reeds of the same brand and style. In addition, most manufactures don't implement strict quality control procedures to ensure a constant product. In defense of the manufactures - we can't expect them to play each reed before shipping! However, this can be problematic for players of all skill levels. How do we solve this? Sometimes we cannot. Some stores will not allow you to sift through the reeds to find the cream of the crop. In this situation, you buy a few and hope for the best. In other cases, the store will let you look through the boxes to find a good reed. Most high end shops will allow you to perform a thorough inspection. Here is how we do it:

Let's first look at it. Hold the saxophone reed up to the light and look for any cracks, chips, or holes. Discard any that have those qualities. Look for discoloration in the wood grain. If you see discoloration, and the wood grain is not uniform, then select a different reed. Ensure that the wood grain is a consistent width, and not too coarse. You want the reed to look as uniform as possible. Inspect the flatness, and look for imperfections. A slight curvature is okay, but it should be limited.

Now, lets check the stiffness. If the store will let you, try gently flexing the reed. You don't want to break it, so be careful! A good reed should be stiff. If the reed feels loose (this will come with experience), then select another. A loose reed may be out of balance, so it is important to choose a stiff reed to eliminate this potential problem.

If you perform the procedure above, you'll greatly increase your chances of finding quality saxophone reeds. Now, to be fair, it is not always possible to pick out a bad reed by looking at it. It's also not possible to try out the reed before purchase. Therefore, I suggesting buying a few reeds at a time in case one doesn't work out, or breaks soon after purchase.

Good luck!

Welcome to my saxophone reeds blog!

Welcome to my blog about saxophone reeds. You might be wondering, what the heck? Why is this dude writing a blog about this? Well, I love playing sax, and have been playing for over 15 years. I hope to share some of my experiences and knowledge about this topic, and eventually create a community where others can share their experiences as well. I have played tenor and alto sax with tenor being my favorite.

I have met many new players over the years, and one on the biggest questions I run into is the following: What type of reed should I get? Well, that's not an easy answer, as it depends on the experience level and type of play. Reeds are also very expensive, so trying many types can be cost prohibitive. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of information on the Internet about this topic. I've made this site to provide quality information and reviews for saxophone players of all types and skill levels. I'll do my best to make it simple and easy to follow. I'll incorporate content for both the novice and expert musician. Let's get started!

Here is a list of topics I plan on covering this month:

• An overview of type types, and why reed selection is important.
• Choosing a reed - which brand?
• Saxophone reed strength.
• How to condition a reed.

Eventually, I'm going to post reviews and other sources of useful information. Please feel free to post questions and comments. I might branch out to other topics as well, but we'll see. Let me know if there is a certain saxophone reed topic you would like covered.

That's all for today!

Saxophone Reeds Blog - Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for saxophonereeds.blogspot.com

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at saxophonereeds@yahoo.com.

At saxophonereeds.blogspot.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by saxophonereeds.blogspot.com and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, saxophonereeds.blogspot.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
saxophonereeds.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on saxophonereeds.blogspot.com.

Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to saxophonereeds.blogspot.com and other sites on the Internet.

Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include:

Google Adsense

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on saxophonereeds.blogspot.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

saxophonereeds.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. saxophonereeds.blogspot.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.