Any tips for a begining trumpet player?

Well I picked up Trumpet again, but I must say I'm quite a begginer. My range is probably low A to the Middle C and I've even managed to hit the d above that C before. But right now I can't manage to hit above that and haven't even got into the high register yet.

So yeah right now I can pretty much only play in the lower range. When actually playing a song I can barely hit the A in the middle. Something I find hard is transitioning between the lower notes in the middle notes. Often times I'll play the lower D E F in a song, but then I won't be able to reach the G consistantly. I notice going down from notes above that g is hard to and often times I'll screw up those notes. Like I'll play G F E D and somewhere along even though I do the right fingerings, it comes out wrong.

So my question is how can I get good at consistantly reaching basically any notes above low F? I'd like to know this. Another thing I'd like to ask is, how can I make my transition between the lower and middle notes... more smooth and not miss out on notes? I'd like to know that too. One last question, on a trumpet, what is the key to getting a good, brassy tone on the instrument? Sometimes even if I can hit the notes it sounds like scraggy.

My range...

Low A to Middle D on a good day.

Thanks.

Work on long tones. Maybe play a concert B-flat (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C) or concert C (D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D) and hold each note for 2+ bars at 60 bpm before moving to the next one. This helped me build my chops for more consistent notes and a fuller tone.

Work on long tones. Maybe play a concert B-flat (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C) or concert C (D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D) and hold each note for 2+ bars at 60 bpm before moving to the next one. This helped me build my chops for more consistent notes and a fuller tone.

Thanks man, I'm definitely gonna try that.

1. Start buzzing on just your mouthpiece. no horn. slur down from low pitches to high pitches. This will increase your flexibility and eventually your range. Hold the mouthpiece at the end of the shaft, so as to make the pressure minimal on your chops.

2. Pick a pitch that you can comfortably play with the horn and play that note on the piano(or other available instrument) play that note on your MOUTHPIECE. With some practice, you'll be able to hit the note as soon as you start buzzing, instead of having to search for it. This will help you gain control over your pitch.

3. Now, with your horn (and mouthpiece, naturally) play a low C.

Play a slurred chromatic down to low F# and back up. try to keep everything as in tune as possible. do this SLOWLY.

4. Do another slurred chromatic, starting on C again, but this time going up. Make sure to pull out your third valve slide on low C# and D!!!! Go as high as you can go COMFORTABLY and back down. You will find some days will be higher than others.

5. Play all major scales. Now I realize that you probably won't be able to play the F major scale, as that obviously goes up to an F. Here's what you do, Start on Low F, play up to.. i don't know.. maybe Bb? as high as you feel comfortable within the key, and go back down again. But this time, when you get back to F, keep going down to whatever note you ended up high, but an octave lower. then go back up to the F. (i.e. F G A Bb C Bb A G F E D C D E F) PLay these both tongued and slurred. This will help with Technique and some fluency. Try to make each note as crisp as the last.

6. Once you get your range up comfortably to C, do lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of slurrs from G to C. Up and down and up and down and up and Down. Do this with all your valve combinations. So your order will be (open) GC slur (2) F#B slur (1) FBb slur etc etc. This is one of the most important things you can do to improve your embouchure and range!!!!

Other tips:

-Take lots of breaks. DO NOT, under any circumstance, completely kill your chops.

-Be consistent with your playing. Don't play it one time one way and another time another way (unless of course your playing it differently because your improving :P)

-Be consistent with the amount you play on a weekly basis. Playing one day a month is not going to help you at all. If you even get in 10 minutes a day five days a week, you'll improve greatly. As you get better, you'll naturally have to up you time though.

This site has many exercises that will help you with many things. They may be a bit beyond you now, but you'll get the gist(is that a real word?) of what they're trying to get you to do.

Exercises

Btw, please pm me back if this helps at all. Questions are welcome as well. I kind of like to know if anyone's actually taking my advice. :toothygrin: Thanks much

I would suggest you get the schlossberg book and work on sluring and long tones, that is the key to getting a good sound. All nots below the low F# are more like peddle tones and you will never be asked to play them on a Bb trumpet. The more you play the better you get. You need to build up your ambiture and the only way to do that is to play every day. Always practice with a metronome if you can it will really help you have even playing and better fingers.

Save the world a lot of grief and just quit and pick up a more useful instrument, like kazoo, or therimin. :p

In all seriousness, long tones with a tuner are the best way to improve tone quality and even stamina.

I think that these ideas will help anyone starting off fairly new, or out of shape... I'm just beginning so I know that these will help me out A LOT!

No one on the internet knows anything and I doubt anyone in this thread even studies trumpet at any sort of collegiate or semi-professional level. With that being said.

TAKE LESSONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good grief, I didn't realize so many brass players hang out here :X

Juicin is giving some very very practical advice - I agree wholeheartedly.

Once you have built up your embouchure a bit - preferably after you can play a few notes above the staff - I would like to humbly recommend the following

Advanced Lip Flexibilities

That book, in a word, is possibly the best summary of any flexibility and strength-building regimen I've found anywhere. I'm sure portions of the same concepts can be found in other books, but everything in it is good. There is a lot of slurring and getting confident in where the partials of each fingering combination are "located" - it will help your muscle memory and play with more ease on all the "parts" of your horn. Get it, use it with moderation. Just a very, very helpful thing to have in your library - and of course, find appropriate portions to add to your warm-up/warm-down routine :)

MORE AIR. :w00t:

I don't care where you go, that's always what people say to beginning brass players. Or even brass players of 4 - 6 years highschool level. Just put more air through the instrument, let the air do the work instead of your chops/lips. Also, always keep a tab on your mouthpiece pressure. Once a day spend a few minutes on trying to play without barely pressing your lips on the mouthpiece at all - with the mouthpiece in the trumpet or not. I'd do both. Also, practice your dynamics. With a correct embouchure, playing quietly works many of the muscles that you use to play high, so spend some time on playing with dynamic contrast. When I first started teaching myself I alternated playing as loud and as quietly as I could on a note. Always watching mouthpiece pressure, and trying not to sound like an elephant in heat with bad constipation.

Experiment with different mouthpiece placements. It took me quite a while to figure out the upper- to lower-lip ratio. Many say use 2/3 of your upper lip, and 1/3 lower. Others say half and half. Play around with both, and tweak your placement until you find what works for you. And remember, if you have to reset or change your embouchure to play notes in different ranges, that is to say moving your lips into a different positions for high, low, etc., your embouchure setting is probably not very good. You should be able to play notes throughout the whole range without shifting your lips with the sole exception of lead-trumpet Maynard-style screaming F's and dubba high C's (or DHC's, I've heard them called. :happy: ) So keep that in mind as your range expands upwards and beyond. Static embouchure.