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Your first trombone week

Trombone for beginners

As a trombone beginner, you spend week one putting the trombone together safely, finding your first slide positions and playing songs with just three notes. Before any of that comes your first song: within ten minutes, you blow one or two notes into a real song while a band plays.

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A smiling woman sits in her living room with her trombone

Your start at a glance

You need
Your trombone and tonestro close by on an iPhone, iPad or Android phone (iOS 15 or later; Android 8 or later with at least 4 GB of memory).
First positions
1st and 3rd: Bb2, Eb3 and F3.
First song
Ten minutes, and a band plays a real song with your one or two notes in it.
First goal
The easy House Of The Rising Sun, which needs only those two positions.

Your plan for the first week

  1. Day 1: put it together

    Keep the slide lock closed and hold the slide section by its braces, not by the outer tubes. Attach the bell section at roughly a right angle, tighten the connecting nut by hand and put the mouthpiece in with a gentle twist. Then play your first song.

  2. Days 2 and 3: a short buzz

    Let your lips buzz in the mouthpiece alone for a few seconds. Then play Bb2 in 1st position, slide closed, with firm mouth corners, a relaxed lip center and a long, calm breath. With a little faster air, the same position gives you F3.

  3. Days 4 and 5: 3rd position

    Hold the outer slide by its brace with your right hand, open the slide lock and move the slide out to 3rd position for Eb3. Together with Bb2 and F3 in 1st, you can now play the easy House Of The Rising Sun.

  4. Days 6 and 7: 4th position

    A little further out, 4th position gives you D3. With D3, Eb3 and F3, the easy Symphony No. 40 is yours; play it slowly with the band first. Stay with each step until its notes sound steady before you add the next position.

Beginner mistakes, and how to fix them

  1. Slamming the slide shut

    Letting the slide snap back into 1st position dents the tubes over time, and the jolt travels to the mouthpiece and your lips.

    What helps: Guide the slide back gently with your fingertips until it rests in 1st position.

  2. Forcing the low notes

    Low notes like Bb2 tempt beginners to blow harder or press the mouthpiece. The sound turns harsh, or the note jumps to a higher partial.

    What helps: Use plenty of slow, warm air, as if fogging up a window; keep the corners of your mouth firm and let the middle of your lips vibrate freely. tonestro tells you whether the note you wanted actually sounded.

  3. Puffed cheeks

    Air filling your cheeks costs control and tires your embouchure early.

    What helps: Let your cheeks lie flat against your teeth. A glance in the mirror shows whether they stay that way.

Easy songs for your first week

Songs with three notes come first, all from tonestro's 51 easy trombone songs:

See the 51 easy trombone songs Which position for which note: E2 to Bb4

Beginner questions

Why does my trombone slide feel sticky?

Wipe the inner slide clean, apply a thin layer of slide cream and mist it with water, or use slide oil. If it still sticks, a repair shop can check whether a tube is bent.

Can I play the trombone sitting down?

Yes. Sit upright near the front of the chair and turn slightly, so the slide has room to pass your knee in the far positions.

Where are the first trombone notes in bass clef?

Bb2 sits on the second line from the bottom, D3 on the middle line, Eb3 in the space above it and F3 on the fourth line, the one framed by the two dots of the bass clef.

Should a beginner play a small-bore or large-bore trombone?

Student tenor trombones usually have a smaller bore, which takes less air; that suits the start well. Which trombone fits you in general: Learn trombone as an adult.

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