Trombone

Does anyone play one? My dad used to play one, and at the moment it's somewhere in the attic, and I was considering having a go on it. Is it hard to pick up the basics?

yes...i play 1 in my band. heres what u need 2 know to start, first the positions and air. if u havnt played a brass or wind intrament, ull need 2 know this, 1 the trombone in the attic is dusty and prob outta tune, im sure u gotta tuner so tune it properly. if ur serious about playing tormbone then id get it checked to see if it still works. anyway with the mouthpiece, wash it plz lol. u need to blow rather hard and produce a rather good amount of air. breathe from ur gut not ur sholders, ull be able to hold a note longer and itll sound better. try not to puff ur cheeks. also losen ur lips to play a low note and tighten them to play a higher note. this may sound stupid but put ur lips inside the mouthpiece not outside lol. if u can get a sound outta just the mouthpiece (w/o it attached to the trombone) it should sound almost like a duck. if u can get it then attach it to the trombone, heres the posions:
1st position, the slid is all the way in (b flat, in standard keys)
2nd position, the slide is 1 inch from being in 1st (a standard)
3rd position, about 1-2 inches from the bell(e flat standard)
4th, is equal distance as bell (bell it the end of the instrument, where the air leaves)(d standard)
5th, about 2-3 in away from bell (should be a d sharp or f or somthing u dont use it a lot so u dont need 2 know)
6th, there shoudl be a crease on the part under the sliding thing, just before the slide falls off, its about 1-2inches from tht(c standard)
7th is at the crease(u wont use it, at least i never have in band because its so low theirs no point)

any questions feel free 2 ask, ive been playing 4 about 5 years and am 2nd chair in my band. also its in base cleft not treble. gl
the positions are not exact, nor do they need to be when u start off.

if u somhow like this horrible instrument then have fun(btw u gotta give it time and ur posture has a lot to do, sit up and hold the horn up, also the reason i play it is 4 art credits, we dont have guitar in band.)

Ok. I'm at university now but I might check it out when I go home for Easter next weekend. I'm living in a house with some ska fans next year, and I thought it'll be pretty cool if I gave the trombone a go, seeing as it's in the attic not doing anything. The last time it came out was when I did this show with the scouts, and we had to dress up like the blues brothers!

lol well good luck with it, but still it has a very low sound, and if it sounds like sputtery empty the slide valve (at the bottom of the slide) also blow harder, its all about air, the more air u put in is how loud and how the sound will sound. also when playing softer, dont breathe less, just blow smaller

Well, believe it or not I played trombone for 8 years. I never got beyond grade 5 bcos I lost my motivation after about 4 years, but I still learnt quite a lot about. I would recommend getting the book for trombone or brass band instruments by 'Team Brass', if it's still in print. It's a bit of a cheesy book but it was really good in teaching you the basics and giving you some 'popular' tunes (Blowin' In The Wind?) to help you master the various techniques. Like EMB said, the actual technique for blowing into it is quite hard to master, it's not simply a case of blowing air down the mouthpiece, but I'll leave that to you to find out!

Hope that helps,

Afro

try buyn the alfreds book, eventually they get really good for trombone

i played the trombone in jr and highschool. first suggestion is to wash the whole thing. inside most important since you dont wanna breathe in any dust or mold. after that you can tune it with the slide closed then use the tuner to find the correct places for 2-7 positions. Helpfull hint if you wanna better sound make sure you center your lips in the mouth peice. when you try to achieve higher notes you might try put your bottom lip closer to the bottom as a crutch but if you do this you will never sound as good. i found this out after playing for years but couldnt correct it since i could longer play the higher notes. so dont make they same mistake i did.

emb and afro covered the rest. and like emb said the music for it is written in bass clef so if you read music instead tabs for the guitar its gonna mess with your mind.

also for higher notes tighten ur lips, eventually u can do octaves, b flat, f, b flat (high), err i belive d then c come next, anyway its all in first position and u just tighten ur lips to get to the next book. that excersize is called lip slurs. its very VERY helpful and i do them all the time b4 i play

thanks for all your help guys. i've played the piano for years so im fine with reading the bass and treble clefs. One question, I'm left handed, although I play the guitar right handed-ly. It's Dad's trombone and he's right handed, so I was wondering if it's at all possible to turn the trombone over, Jimi Hendrix style, so that I can operate the slide with my left hand? If not then it won't be the end of the world, it'll just be harder to get the slide positions right at first.

not sure i am remebering this right but i think you should be able to flip the slide or bottom part to the other side. that is assuming it has a nut that tightens the two halfs together. might be way off on this one though. EMB and Afro prob answer that one. been how many years ,lets see 33 - 17 oh hell i am way to fuggin old lol.

btw the trombone comes standard with a built in whammy bar or wah-wah pedal :)

ive always wondered wut the trombone would sound hooked up to an amp with distortion.

and yes btw i would flip it around instead of having it rest on ur right shoulder, with the bell to the left, its the opposite.(my dad also played the trombone in ms, hs and left handed. hes a concert pianist now.

btw if u got any questions bout it feel free to ask, ive just elected myself the ranking trombone player by years playing active lol.

o ye how old is ur dads trombone, because after giving it a shower and all, which i would, id have it checked out to see if its even playable. i dont mean to sound like a grandmother, but if its been in ther a while i wouldnt play it, the germs and mold prob dug ther way in by now, and ud have to spend $$ to restore it properly. (lol heres a random story tht may explain tht: when i was about 7 i went up in my grandmothers attic (shes 100 years old now, god bless her) and found this bugle from the civil war (lol it was very very old) and i played it w/o cleaning and was sick for the longest time. i then ran water through it and it never worked again. lol

Yeah, it probably hasn't been played for a good 30+ years, but knowing my Dad, he would have made sure it was perfectly clean before putting it away. I know it wouldn't completely stop decay though. I'll have to see what it's like when I go back home on the weekend. I don't know, he may have even got rid of it. I hope not though.

if he did get rid of it then id consider renting one. trombones are VERY expensive more than guitar by far. also if he does have it, id get a new mouthpiece

Yeah that's the cool thing with a trombone. It comes in two pieces - the bell and the slide which you have to screw together. So all you do is screw the slide on so it is to the left of the bell and you rest the bell side on your right shoulder (with RH players it's the opposite)!

Afro