crappy ligature been holding me back

[Anonymous]

I’ve been using a ligature that was supplied with my mouthpiece.
A bog standard leather one that held the reed in place.
The last few weeks i’ve found it to be either too tight or too loose on the reed!
So finally had enough & bought a new ligature for my mouthpiece a Rovner
Versa Ligature. Its leather, but has a metal plate to hold the reed in place.

So much better – it’s made the altissimo notes a lot more stable, just shows what a difference a good ligature can have on a reed!

[john]

ya, checked it out, those ligs look quite nice and like they’d do a good job.

[UU Pfister]

I just got a new Rovner Versa ligature too and I’m happy with it too 😀

[Anonymous]

UU – i’m pleased with mine, i’m using the thin metal plate, with the flaps underneath.
Now i can hit the overtones for high F, altissimo Ab & Bb, but struggling to get the high D & Altissimo C.
My old ligature was really unstable.
This ligature is more even across the whole range of keys, even my middle D sounds better.
Today i tried the Altissimo range and could go as far as Altissimo B, struggling to get a C.
In December i plan to get back on Johnny’s Altissimo course and complete all 8 overtones.
My teacher can play all the Altissimo range, and i asked him to do the overtones – he was a bit
rusty on them as he doesn’t practice them much. He showed me a very easy Altissimo G which worked
everytime i tried it and was in tune on the tuner – it just shows once you hit them you can find lots of variations
for altissimo. But like Johnny says – you need ones that are easy to flow together on the scales,.

[Dazza]

I’ve been struggling to find an alternative to my 4c yamaha mp so I can reach high E – F# and wonder if anyone has the same experience with stepping up from a cheap mp like this into another mp and experienced a dramatic change. I can only dream about altissimo notes and won’t even contemplate them with my current setup. I am strong throughout the rest of the range but cant get these notes out well, if at all when starting on them. sxpoet, what mp are you using to achieve that range?

[Anonymous]

Hi Dazza, my sax (Alto yamaha YAS480) came with a 4c yamaha mouthpiece & ligature.
I could play high E to high F# not long after i started playing.
If i remember rightly – it was more a case of getting the right reed for the 4c that was more of a problem.
With the 4c you can do the altissimo range & get a good tone.
I think i used Ricoh Royal reeds 1.5 at that time.

Also when i started the Altissimo course, i found a lot of my reeds would not work at all in the
Altissimo register but were ok below (i chucked all them). I now believe it was more down to
the ligature i had at the time.

Currently using a guardella king
http://www.sax.co.uk/guardala-king-alto-sax-mouthpiece-gold-plated.ir

[UU Pfister]

sxpoet, I just changed to the to the thin plate yesterday. It sounds very clear. Now I have to find the right reed. I like the la voz and the standart rico reeds. Usually I play with a 2. With my new lig a 2.5 works ok. What reeds do you use? I’m not keen on Vandoren.

[Anonymous]

Thats funny – i like the La Voz medium/soft as well!! got some La Voz mediums, but tried them yet.
I’ve had problems with Vandorens from day 1 on a yamaha 4c mouthpiece & on a theo wanne kali mouthpiece,
and now on the guardella king that i currently use (my sax teacher told me to stick to one mouthpiece, otherwise its going to play havoc with your embouchure, if you keep swapping them).
But saying that, the only Vandorens i could get on with is the ZZ’s 2. , they seem a close second to the La voz,
but i found the reeds went too soggy after a few hours playing.
The ricoh jazz selects are another favorite of mine.
What i find annoying is the fact that it takes me ages to find a reed that sparkles, the minute you play one,
you know you’ve found one. I broke my last good one, so i’m on the hunt.
For practicing purposes i make do with 2nd best ones, until i find a good one.

[UU Pfister]

great, report back when you tried the la voz medium ones. So next time when I’m up the Westend I get a couple of zz’s and rico jazz. I’ve downloaded the killer blues and being busy practicing the scales.

[Anonymous]

i’m not quite ready for the killer blues course yet.
Still working on the improvisation course,
that leads up to it. So you’re way ahead!

[Author]

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