AVOID these 3 Mistakes with Trumpet Mouthpieces

Jason shares his experience fitting thousands of trumpet players to new mouthpiece configurations. Learn the three most common mistakes that hold trumpet players back from reaching their performance goals.

[charlesarmstrong]

Thank you Jason for a most informative and enlightening video presentation. As a new player this is going to be immensely helpful now and over time.

[gtj]

Thanks for this detailed lesson. Really opened my eyes... I (an amateur) have been playing with a Bach 7C all my 35 years of playing. Now, I am looking forward to try other brands. All brass players should watch this.

[tedjohnson]

I have tried several mouthpieces (trumpeters are notorious for that) and about ten years ago I settled on a Bach 1D Megatone. I get a great tone from it and it's more free flowing than others I've tried.

[plinkbottle]

Long long ago, I had only two mouthpieces a besson and a conn... You were lucky in those days to have more than one choice.... I preferred the conn because it had wider diameter and shallower cup and smaller hole. however when fitted to the trumpet the shanks were of different length so the slide had to be used for tuning.

[paulgrimm]

So that’s why we should look at exact mm instead of a chart number.

[warburtonmusic]

Great stuff, Jason. You just made the trumpet world a better place!! Terry

[Couesnonfl]

Finding Warburton mouthpieces back about 1989-ish was a revelation. Discussing backbones was very enlightening. Took his advice and Ken's and found a piece that increased range and endurance.
I changed horns, but it didn't work as well.
Found Curry 600 series works great on my Yamaha 8335La trumpet. So does a Yamaha GP7A4.
I'm an amateur/semi-pro and never bought into "just practice more to overcome..." whatever.
ITG research articles on the physics of trumpet playing convinced me to explore options and experiment as much as I am able.
Love your videos, Jason!

[paulgrimm]

The Bach 5V rim hurts my lips .So I need a wider rim, with the Bach V cup, and your 155 throat or your H cup.The back-bore and gap is my last choice to figure out.Thank You ! You have helped me understand all the variables that work together on a mp.I will forget mp charts .

[kvblum]

One question I have about tip #1 is how do you determine the rim diameter and shape without having to physically try a bunch of different mouthpieces. Is it possible to use some type of material that forms a mold of the players mouth? Just a thought...
As far as tip #2, that can be more of selection as you explained.
As far as tip #3, the 5MM modular system seems like it would work great. I look forward to trying it. My setup right now has a gap of .244 after carefully measuring it. I definitely want to reduce it after watching this video and see what happens. Thank you again for this video.

[morganternow]

Thank you - after a life of playing the trumpet I still learn new things.. I have soooo much mouthpieces which I tried over the years and I now have two which works great.. but if I would have known this a long time ago I would most likely have spent less on my mouthpiece collection over time.

[nicscott]

This is the content people like! Congrats for bringing some respect back to your brand. Going online and complaining about people's behavior does not help anyone and only hurts you. This helpful, specific, and mature content is great. Please keep it up!!!

[siegfriedwifling]

Thank you very very much for sharing your knowledge and deeper understanding for those really important section..
I appreciate that extremely thanks a lot..

[prouavaustralia]

Wow! So much information. Very interesting. Thanks.

[StudiodotCom-Real]

I think when I get my playing back closer to my expectations, the next logical step would definitely be take the time to find out "what's best for me".. Your approach to customer service is similar to mine. Time for me to get to work!

[jakobushans]

Very informative. Appreciate the lesson.

[hayesman]

Very, very interesting and educational video. Thank you.
It seems to me that one aspect of trumpet mouthpieces that is consistently overlooked is rim width and how it impacts playing. I’d be very appreciative if you could produce a video focusing on this issue.

[Joe_Biden]

I played a beginners trumpet until my senior year. My dad got me a nice yamaha my senior year and I hated it. At my high school, 25 years ago we never talked about mouthpieces. I never considered that the reason I hated my trumpet might have been mouthpiece related. They were both 7c so they should be the same right? I would love to be fitted professionally. I would like to try to get a warmer jazz sound without breaking the bank trying all the wrong things. I also play slightly off center of my mouth so im not sure how that affects my embucure. Im trying to build my chops again but I want the right line to change sound.

[louramoreira]

I really appreciate your shares, your knowledge. All teachers in brass must (not should), really really must known all this aspects and work on students, because sometimes the student don’t need to change nothing at all. Just knowing what’s going on it’s enough.
Now, if you can, have some questions related to this topic.

#1 Not only the Entrance but the Length of throats too.

I mean the length and shape throats, at I call the “neck” and “shoulder” throat and the length of the drill it self. This it’s a 3rd part that are uncalled (on all brands, I think) it’s the Vertex of it. If it’s too long increase pressure, decreases back bore.... and other things too, if shorter increase back bore length and shape. So, the place where the vertex occur determine airflow feel, sound, response.... you know.

#2 Backbore shapes and length.

To accommodate/balance all mouthpiece parts, can we divide back bore in two or three parts ?? I mean the shape of it self.
So, instead of a V or U bore shape, why not a UV or VU shape ?

#3 Drill measures.

If drill are too big do we need to have a larger shaped back bore ? Or a “standard” bore will do the job with that bigger drill ?
With bigger drills, Cups need to have more or less deep ? I mean in general terms.


I know it’s all balance, on personal work player and so on, but really will appreciate your thoughts on this matters. Please.

Cheers and keep the awesome work.

[musicofnote]

Very interesting. When I was a trumpet player, flat rimmed "original" copies for valveless trumpets were the rage, as they are now, except now, they are considered mandatory. What do you think of these?

[JADickson]

It’s interesting, the old Bach mouthpiece manual recommends flat rims for people with “ protruding teeth”. But your reasoning for flat rims for flat teeth makes a lot more sense.