Tag Archives: RICO Masterclass

How to Prepare Reeds

Let’s face it, when it comes to the saxophone few things give us more frustration than reeds. Finding a good reed is like finding the perfect playing partner: when the reed plays well, you play well. I’ve found that RICO reeds give me the best chance of finding the best ones; I play Rico Select Jazz 4M at the moment on my tenor sax.

In this video I explain my process of preparing reeds. I’m not someone who spends a lot of time on this – I would far rather be playing! However, I do find some soaking and breaking in helps the reed ‘speak’ better and extends its life by quite a few weeks.

Anyway, here’s my video review – enjoy it, and please leave your comments below!

RICO Reeds Masterclass at Southport International Jazz Festival

Here’s a 10-minute video highlights package from my RICO masterclass at the 2013 Southport International Jazz festival.

Some of the questions are:

1. How can I follow the changes in a standard?

2. How do you improve playing by ear?

3. What is the best method to keep my reeds in working order?

and much more …

I hope you find this useful!

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