Trumpet guides

As a trumpet beginner, you learn in week one how to hold the trumpet, where the mouthpiece sits and which valves give you three notes at the bottom of the staff.

Yes, you can learn the trumpet as an adult, even if you have never played a note.

The trumpet is not hard to start, but it takes patience: the three valves are simple, while your lips usually need weeks for a steady sound and months for higher notes.

Yes, you can teach yourself the trumpet with a clear plan, short sessions on most days and feedback on the pitch and rhythm of every note.

As a rough guide, adults who practice on most days play simple melodies within the first weeks, a secure octave within the first year and written notes up to the top of the staff after one to two years.

There's no fixed number of trumpet types; the ones you'll meet differ in pitch, size, valves and sound, and most players start on the B♭ trumpet.

Wind instruments are the instruments you blow into or across, usually grouped into woodwinds and brass by how their sound starts, not by what they're made of.

From Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis to today's performers, meet 30 famous trumpet players and find a recording to start with.

Trumpets evolved over thousands of years from signaling instruments into melody instruments, with valves opening the way to the modern trumpet.

You can learn to read music in five steps: understand the staff and clef, find the natural notes, count note values, read sharps and flats, and play each note on your instrument right away.