Trumpet playing is a wonderful instrument, and has been practiced and performed with for centuries. Becoming a great trumpet player is certainly not an easy journey, but by practicing and following these simple tips, you will be on your way to becoming a skilled player.
1) Find a Playable Trumpet
Before you begin to practice the trumpet, you are going to want to find a solid, playable instrument. In order to locate one, I recommend visiting you local music store, and renting or purchasing an instrument. As you may or may not know, there are many different trumpets on the market today; however, as a beginner who is just trying out the trumpet, I strongly suggest renting a low end trumpet. If you know you will be playing for a long time, and know you will remain dedicated to regular practicing, I would purchase, not rent, a high-end professional trumpet, such as a Bach Stradivarius. In any event, choosing a solid trumpet is the first step before you can learn to play the instrument, so it is essential that you choose a nice instrument.
2) Learn to Buzz on the Trumpet Mouthpiece
Even though you may be tempted to put the mouthpiece in the trumpet and play as soon as you get the instrument, you should first learn to properly buzz on the mouthpiece. The trumpet is solely an amplifier for the mouthpiece, so once you learn to buzz on the mouthpiece properly, you will sound much better when you first play the trumpet itself. The first step to learning how to buzz on the trumpet mouthpiece is to first hold the mouthpiece by the shank (the bottom length of the mouthpiece) with your thumb, index finger, and middle finger, then press it against you lips. Notes, that is it crucial that you do not hold the mouthpiece by the cup. By doing this, you will exert too much pressure when you play, which will result in bad habits later on. Once you have correctly pressed the mouthpiece against your lips, holding it in the proper position, you now must tighten to corner of your lips, and make a buzzing sound into your mouthpiece. The first time you do this, it most likely will not sound as good as you were planning it too, but with proper practice by holding the mouthpiece properly, tightening your corners, and buzzing, you will soon be buzzing clearly into the mouthpiece, For beginning players, I strongly recommend playing on the mouthpiece alone for a good week in order to strengthen beginner fundamentals.
3) Playing Your First Notes on the Trumpet
You have now been playing on just the mouthpiece for approximately one week, and you are probably very excited to play your first notes on the trumpet. In order to play better in the future, I highly recommend playing long tones first in order to open your throat. Long tones are lower ranged notes on the instrument that are held for about 5-8 seconds, and over time they will “open your throat.Opening your throat is simply the process of getting you lungs and breathing passages used to blowing large quantities of air throughout your trumpet. After you have practiced for a couple weeks, your body will get used to this feeling, and your throat will open up, hence improving your tone quality. Once your throat is open, you’re tone on the instrument will sound much clearer after a couple weeks, which will soon make you a much better player. I strongly recommend playing primarily long tones during your practice sessions for a couple weeks in order to increase your tone quality, and improve the strength of your lips for more advanced trumpet techniques in the future.
4) Learning to Play Your First Scale
A scale is series of notes in the same key, that once put together, can create a song. The next step to learning the trumpet is to learn your basic scales. In order to learn these properly, and to be able to play them efficiently, I recommend looking online for a fingering chart and scale sheets in order to play. Once you have retrieved these items, play the notes with slow, long tones, just like you practiced in step 3. By doing this, you will naturally learn how to play and remember notes, and your tone will continually improve over time.
5) Playing Your First Song
You have been practicing for close to a couple months now, and you are most likely very eager to being to play your first song on the trumpet. In order to play a song on a trumpet, you first must choose the song you wish to play. Once you have chosen a song, look at your time and key signature which are located right before the first note of the song starts. If you are not sure on how to locate these, I urge you to visit your local music store and purchase a musical theory book, which will teach you the basics of learning music. Your time signature will tell you how much beats are in each measure, and your key signature will illustrate which notes in the song will be flat or sharp. Once you have identified these two things, it is time to play the song. While learning or performing a new song, always remember to play with accuracy not speed, and take you time in order for it to sound its best. Over time, you will sound better and better while your tone quality improves, and learning new songs will be much more pleasant. Congratulations! All of that hard practicing and waiting has paid off, and you have now successfully performed your first song on the trumpet!
What Should I Do In Order to Become a More Advanced Player?
As you may know, this guide is solely for beginning trumpet players, you should not follow this guide for a very long time. It is intended for players that are new to the instrument, and are wishing to just learn the very basics. Once you have been playing for a month or two, you will probably want to become a much better player, and there a few steps I recommend doing in order to do so. First, buy a good trumpet. In this guide, I recommend buying an inexpensive trumpet because you are just learning, but once you are certain that you wish to keep playing, I strongly urge you to invest in a top of the line model, such as a Bach Stradivarius. Second, buy theory books, solo books, and CD’s in order to become better. Learn music theory yourself, or you can pay an instructor to teach you as well. Solo books are great in order to become a well-rounded individual player, and CD’s are a great way to get better as well. If you want to learn to be a great trumpet player, you have to listen to trumpet player to know how you want to sound. Third, I strongly recommend taking a look at my more advanced trumpet playing guides. These guides include The Best Trumpet WarmUp Routine, How to Improve Your Tone on the Trumpet, How to Increase Your Range on the Trumpet, and Tonguing Techniques for the Trumpet. These guides will make you a much better player, an you I guarantee you will improve over time by following these articles.
I wish you the best of luck with your trumpet playing experiences, and if you have any questions about trumpet playing in general, please feel free to send me a message.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2189071/the_best_trumpet_warmup_routine.html
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2216131/how_to_improve_your_tone_on_the_trumpet.html
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2168613/how_to_increase_your_range_on_the_trumpet.html
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2213755/tonguing_techniques_for_the_trumpet.html
