All Crystal Bowl Sets

What types of crystal singing bowls should I buy for my quartz singing bowl set?

Frosted, empyrean, clear or handle?

Frosted Crystal Singing Bowls are the easiest to crystal bowl to play, the least expensive, and the most popular singing bowl to choose for crystal bowl meditation. They are thick, white, with a rough frosted coating on the outside that creates friction with the mallet, allowing them to typically play faster and stronger than other styles of bowls. These are all around excellent for group sound baths, and personal meditation.

Empyrean Crystal Singing Bowls are like frosted bowls, though are hand polished on the outside. Because these bowls are smooth on the outside, many consider them to be more visually beautiful than frosted bowls. Further, because the rim is completely smooth, you won’t hear the strong friction noise that happens between a frosted bowl and the mallet. You will just get more of the smooth pure tone of the crystal bowl. These are considered an upgraded version of the frosted crystal singing bowl.

Clear Crystal Singing Bowls are completely clear and smooth bowls, that are not as loud as frosted or empyrean bowls. Because of this they are not excellent bowls to play for large groups unless you have audio equipment to amplify their sound. These are better for people doing smaller group work, intimate therapeutic work, and recording work. When you strike a clear singing bowl they sound similar to a metal bowl, as multiple harmonics are expressed. When you go around the rim of a clear bowl you get a really beautiful pure tone, many hear as clearer than a frosted or empyrean bowl. There is no contact noise between the striker and the rim in a clear bowl. Because clear bowls are quieter and harder to play in general, we sell our clear bowl sets in the 3^rd octave to increase strength and playability.

Handle Crystal Singing Bowls are clear bowls with a handle attached, and are not typically sold as a set. You can only play one at a time. Many people buy a full set of them because they are practitioners who wish to use them with a client, typically lying down, and they want multiple options for tones to play with that client. Because the handle makes the clear bowl so stable, handle bowls can get almost as strong in strength as a frosted or empyrean bowl. They also have the beautiful clarity of a clear bowl, with the beautiful multi-tonal harmonic with you strike them. You can play a handle bowl standing up or sitting down. They are truly a wonderful addition to a practice.

What type of quartz crystal bowl set should I buy?

We have sold thousands of sets of crystal singing bowls, with many variations, in many different keys, for many different therapeutic purposes. We custom design sets for customers, according to the notes that work best for them, designed for their specific therapeutic practice. What are the best crystal singing bowl sets? Here are some great options:

1)     A 3 to 5 bowl harmonic/binaural therapeutic crystal singing bowl set

2)     A 3 to 5 bowl harmonic crystal singing bowl set

3)     A Minor Pentatonic set of singing bowls

4)     A 8 or 9 bowl “chakra” set of crystal singing bowls

5)     A binaural crystal singing bowl set

Read more about each option below.

#1 A 3-5 bowl harmonic/binaural therapeutic crystal singing bowl set

Harmonics and binaurals are perhaps the most important relationships to work with when using crystal singing bowls. We have written an extensive article on why harmonies work here, and have written about using harmonics and binaurals together here. 

Harmonics occur when the hz value of two notes are in simple mathematical relationship to each other, so they physically move through space in harmony, and our ears actual hear this relationship as uplifted and beautiful.

Binaurals occur when the hz values of two notes are very close together so that a third oscillation occurs (it sounds like a wah-wah-wah-wah effect). Our brain entrains to the oscillation and then elicits brainwaves such as Delta, Theta, or Alpha, depending on which set of bowls are used.

A harmonic/binaural therapeutic set gives you both harmonics and binaurals. The harmonics are useful for relaxation and for eliciting uplifting feeling states; the binaurals are useful for releasing and concentrating. So, you can build a good practice going back and forth, between using the binaurals for a minute or so, and then using the harmonics.

You really don’t need something more complicated than this. For example, a 5 bowl harmonic/binaural therapeutic set is enough to create harmonic, melody and binaurals. In a sound bath, or private practice, or just guiding meditation, you will have everything you need to create a rich soundscape.

 Click here to see these sets.

#2 A 3, 4 or 5 bowl harmonic crystal singing bowl set

If you don’t want to use binaurals (like the set written above) we would suggest starting with a 3, 4 or 5 bowl harmonic set.

Harmonics are our generally our top recommendation for any practitioner using sound. You can read about what harmonics are, and why they are effective here. In short, a harmonic set will give you the most harmonic connections between musical notes, so when you play them for your clients, you clients will be enveloped by an uplifting sound environment. From there is it really simple for the client to entrain to the uplifted harmony, going into states of relaxation, or other states of inner wellness.

Harmonics are just effective; they will bring your clients to more relaxed states and they are very easy to use. 

We typically suggest these sets over a full chakra set. It is true with a full chakra set you will get lots of options, but you don’t really need all those options, unless you know you want to create more complex melody.

A harmonic set will give you the sound you need to do powerful work. 

Click here to see these sets.

#3 A minor pentatonic set of singing bowls

See minor pentatonic sets here.

The minor pentatonic scale is the scale used in Native American flutes, Japanese Shakuhachis, many Chinese string instruments, and many other meditative instruments around the world. It is an ancient progression, that is found all over the world, and historically used in spiritual and meditation practices. With the minor pentatonic set, you have harmony, which creates an uplifted energy, but you also have minor relationships that create downward grounded energy. You have a musical progression that both makes you feel good, but also makes you feel present and centered. It is melodically much more beautiful than a chakra set. It is very easy to create simple and beautiful melodies.

We highly suggest if you want to buy more then just a harmonic set or therapeutic set of singing bowls, to listen to the minor pentatonic sound files.

See the minor pentatonic sets here. 

#4 A 8 or 9 bowl “chakra” set of frosted crystal singing bowls

If you want to get a whole “chakra” set, we suggest a 8 or 9 bowl set over the 7 bowl chakra set you will see other places. The most popular set you will see online is a set of 7 bowls, with notes C – D – E – F – G – A – B, that sings Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti. This progression is called the major scale in music. We call this a “chakra set” because people pair each note to a chakra when doing a chakra meditation.

Do you need a “chakra” set of 7 bowls to do effective sound work? No. There is no real relationship between any musical note and chakras. You can pair each note with any chakra, and build a practice from that, however it is not true that if you hit any of the notes you will necessarily do anything to any of your chakras. The power of sound is dependent on the quality of your awareness and intention. How you meet the vibration with your attention matters. This is the basis of powerful sound work.

Why buy a 8 or 9 bowl set rather than a 7 bowl set? A 7 bowl set has no conclusive note at the end; it sings Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti, and the “Ti” note leaves the participants without a harmonic conclusion. An 8 bowl set adds in a 8” C note to the end, making the musical progression sing Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do. The final Do with the 8” C has important harmonic significance giving the whole set a melodic conclusion. The final "Do" note is far more important for melody and harmony than the “So” or “La” notes. Adding that 8^th note to the chakra set is important, and isn’t a great additional cost.

The 9 bowl set adds a low deep base note to the 8 bowl set. We add a 14” F. This gives a harmonic bass note that the other notes will play harmonically above. It is like having a deep grounding note, and then having the other notes play uplifted above in an angelic way.

In total, with either an 8 or 9 bowl set, you will have a crystal bowl set that give you lots of options. You have 8 or 9 notes to play melodically together, in a way that will always just sound uplifting and nice to the listeners.  Click here to see these sets.

#5 A binaural crystal singing bowl set

A binaural occurs when two notes are played at the same time having very similar hz values. Typically the sounds are so close together it is somewhat hard to tell the difference. We typically work within the Theta range, so the bowls have a 4-8hz difference. When the two bowls are played at the same time, a third oscillation occurs, that sounds like a “wah-wah-wah-wah-wah” sound. In the theta range, the brain entrains to the oscillation, and produces theta waves which are associated with deep meditation, deep relaxation or deep sleep.

Experientially, meditating with a binaural is like being disallowed from holding onto discursive thought. The thoughts just go, as the mind is enraptured by the binaurals effect. It is good for letting go, or for coming into a present minded concentrated state.

A binaural pairs great with harmonics. A binaural can send a client into a concentrated state; A harmonic can send a client into an uplifted state; so, using the two together, or one after another, has been shown to be effective. Click here to see these sets.