A professional mouthpiece will improve your sound more than any other part of your saxophone. I recommend that be the first piece of equipment that you buy to upgrade your sound. Mouthpieces will come in two types- Jazz and Classical. For general playing you will want a good classical mouthpiece. These will be plastic looking. They are called hard rubber. There are three excellent mouthpieces I recommend that are reasonably priced. The Rousseau 4R is about and is fantastic. The 4R refers to the tip size. The Selmer S80 C* is another great mouthpiece. It will cost about 0 or so. The Rousseau New Classic plays like a S80 with a little different sound. It costs about .00. I recommend these mouthpieces for all of the saxophones.

Jazz mouthpieces are a little more complicated. If you play Alto, most people will go for a hard rubber mouthpiece as opposed to the metal, which tends to be a little bright for the alto. If you are going to play a lot of rock music, you may want that bright sound. My favorite mouthpiece for the alto for general jazz playing is the Meyer 6M. This is a classic that has been around for a long time. I would probably start here before anything else for alto.

Tenor and Baritone saxophones generally prefer a metal mouthpiece. For tenor I really like the Otto Link 7 or 6. This has a good sound and is pretty popular. I won't talk about soprano or Baritone here; most people start on alto or tenor.

Before you pay the big bucks for a mouthpiece, you should always try it out first. If you bought 10 of the same exact brand, and tried them all, you'd find that they all play different. Always try out first and pick the one that works best for you. Later on you may want to buy a hand made mouthpiece and enjoy the wonderful sound that comes from that. Be prepared to pay the big bucks for one of these!!

You will probably need a different size of reed on your jazz mouthpiece then you use on your classical. Most people use a little softer size on the jazz. Also, if you find the mouthpiece feeling funny on your teeth, you can buy a tooth patch to put on the mouthpiece. This will feel comfortable on your front teeth, and protect the mouthpiece.

If you are just beginning on the saxophone, you really should stick with the classical piece. After you are more advanced, you'll probably want the jazz piece for those styles. If you are not interested in popular styles of music, you won't need the jazz piece. There really is a difference between the two types, and if you plan on playing all styles, you will definitely need both types of mouthpieces.