# Reed Thickness



## Soprano_Player27 (2 mo ago)

Hi! I am a new player. I am in 8th grade, and no one I know plays the soprano saxophone. I bought some 2.0-thickness reeds, and they are working out for me, but my friend, who plays tenor, says 3.0 is best. My sister plays the clarinet and also uses 2.0 reeds. I'm unsure whether I should keep buying 2.0 or switch to 3.0.


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## swperry1 (Aug 14, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and to playing saxophone! There’s really no “right” when it comes to reeds. There are wrongs, but they’re more about what you’re doing versus equipment choices. Can you get some lessons from a good teacher that plays saxophone? You should be completely fine starting on the reeds you have. There’s a lot of beginner stuff that wards off bad habits many of us develop that’s really best addressed in person over a series of lessons. Things that aren’t intuitive to many people and things that are easy to over-think, especially when self-taught gleaning concepts from Youtube and sax forums.


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## lydian (Oct 25, 2016)

FYI the number measures the strength or hardness. Soft and hard reeds of a given brand/cut are all the same thickness.

As swperry said, reeds are very personal, so whatever works for you is correct. However, if you are having issues with intonation, tone quality or the reed closing off at high volume, then going harder will help with that once your embouchure and air support can handle it.

Unless your peers have been playing soprano at a high level for several years, their advice should be taken with a grain of salt.


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## SaxOnerd (7 mo ago)

Reed strength preferences vary quite a bit among players, depending on what they’re trying to do, what their equipment is, and how their mouth works. I’ve been playing for nearly 40 years, seriously and semi-professionally, and am currently playing 2.5. It’s what works best for me and for my rig. One of the persistent (and wrong!) competitive myths among some players is that stronger reeds mean you are a better player. Not true at all! Stick with what’s working for you!


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## FisherSax (12 mo ago)

Are you totally new to sax or just to the soprano? Did you play alto or tenor first?

It might be helpful to post a picture of your mouthpiece or describe it (Brand, other markings.)


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## hfrank (Mar 27, 2012)

I believe almost everything is said so far. Just let me add one misconception some players have. Thickness doesn’t necessarily determine the strength of the reed. Softer or harder reeds from the same brand are simply from different parts of the cane. Of course as said before reed strength is personal and they have to be matched to specific mouthpiece for a given person.


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## Dr G (Feb 2, 2003)

Soprano_Player27 said:


> Hi! I am a new player. I am in 8th grade, and no one I know plays the soprano saxophone. I bought some 2.0-thickness reeds, and they are working out for me, but my friend, who plays tenor, says 3.0 is best. My sister plays the clarinet and also uses 2.0 reeds. I'm unsure whether I should keep buying 2.0 or switch to 3.0.


Your friend on tenor is likely using too stiff a reed.

If #2 is working for you (your embouchure, your mouthpiece, your airstream), then that’s a good choice.

What matters is your sound.


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## AddictedToSax (Aug 18, 2007)

I play 2 and 2 1/2 on tenor sax. On clarinet I play 3 and sometimes 3 1/2. The instruments are different, the mouthpieces are different, the embouchures are different. There's plenty of good information in the posts above. I really don't have anything to add. If the 2 is working for you then there's no reason to change. If it's closing up when you play loud then try a 2.5.


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