Trombone? Is it too late?

[KatMaestro]

Is it too late to learn how to play trombone? I read that people who want to be good in any instrument must start playing at very young age. I'm nearly 29 and have the urge to learn this instruments. Been reading and listening to trombone-related music lately.

What's the requirement in order to be able to play trombone?

[Bspendlove]

At 10/18/13 03:58 PM, Elitistinen wrote: Is it too late to learn how to play trombone? I read that people who want to be good in any instrument must start playing at very young age. I'm nearly 29 and have the urge to learn this instruments. Been reading and listening to trombone-related music lately.

What's the requirement in order to be able to play trombone?

It is never too late to learn to do anything, seriously if you get a trombone, go on the Internet/Youtube, depending on how good you want to get (How much time you also put in learning it)... I would seriously say, go for it...

I don't play trombone, but I had a go of a friends for a couple of hours and I really enjoyed it, I just tried to make weird noises... haha

:)

[sorohanro]

At 10/18/13 03:58 PM, Elitistinen wrote: Is it too late to learn how to play trombone?

Is never too late to learn something

I read that people who want to be good in any instrument must start playing at very young age. I'm nearly 29 and have the urge to learn this instruments.

Early bird gets the worm, but that's not really about everything in life (and why a heck would you want a worm?)

Been reading and listening to trombone-related music lately.

That's a start...

What's the requirement in order to be able to play trombone?

Well, get a trombone and play.
Actually, try to learn a little bit of theory, get a teacher, get the breathing correctly, practice long notes (good for brass instruments, develops control on breathing, lip muscles resistance and good sound).
The first steps might be not very easy because trombone is a non-temperate instrument, practice with a chromatic tuner.
You may PM me if you have questions, I'm a trumpet player and I might be able to help with some stuff.

[samulis]

Trombone is what I started with. It's never too late to pick up an instrument, I just picked up recorder and learning so much. :)

Trombone is great for developing an ear for tuning (since every single note you play relies on you having that). It's just a really hard instrument to develop a good tone for. I was lucky in that I managed to naturally develop a decent tone, but I know lots of great technical players who struggle with tone (while I struggle with being decent technically). If you're serious about getting into trombone, I have lots of exercises I can recommend to help you from all my teachers and lessons. As said before, long tones are great, although they always bored me too much for me to concentrate too long. Lip slurs (going up and down the partials (the next note you can hit in the same position without moving the slide) without tonguing) are also great. There are youtube videos that explain how to do these, I believe. If not, many music stores where you can buy these things have tutors you can take lessons from, at least to get the basics of holding and playing the horn.

If you need one, almost any trombone will do as long as it has a slide and works. Many trombone "snobs" will argue that the older horns are better (honestly they do have a clearer sound, especially old Conn horns). You don't need an F-trigger or anything fancy; definitely keep it under 1,000, maybe even 500. Check out ebay for sure. If you do buy from online, make sure they give you a mouthpiece or you get one as well and you get some lubricant of some sort. Oil works fine for casual players. Also make sure the slide moves freely. Bad slide action is trouble (it can harm your wrist and make it hard to play smoothly) and can cost to get fixed. For that reason sometimes it's best to just go to a music store, haha.

But yeah dude, totally pick it up. It's an awesome instrument and lots of fun. I've never regretted picking it, aside from when I picked bass trombone and have since then started wishing I had picked piccolo, but that's a different story.

Good luck!

[camoshark]

At 10/19/13 05:41 PM, samulis wrote: If you need one, almost any trombone will do as long as it has a slide and works. Many trombone "snobs" will argue that the older horns are better (honestly they do have a clearer sound, especially old Conn horns). You don't need an F-trigger or anything fancy; definitely keep it under 1,000, maybe even 500. Check out ebay for sure.

You should consider buying a P-bone, a recent invention. It's a plastic trombone, but even though it may sound crazy, it's comparable in terms of tone and quality to a 1k$ horn for the measly price of 150$.

It's the perfect starter horn, and I know a lot of pros who use it for outdoor gigs.

[samulis]

At 10/19/13 06:03 PM, camoshark wrote: You should consider buying a P-bone, a recent invention. It's a plastic trombone, but even though it may sound crazy, it's comparable in terms of tone and quality to a 1k$ horn for the measly price of 150$.

It's the perfect starter horn, and I know a lot of pros who use it for outdoor gigs.

Damn that's right! I forgot about p-bones! I've talked to lots and lots of people who have them and love them. If you're thinking about starting off, yeah, p-bone is probably the most reasonable investment. Slide is a bit rougher than chromium slides on metal trombones at least in my experience when a friend let me play his, but it's still a shockingly good sounding instrument.

[KatMaestro]

At 10/19/13 01:27 PM, sorohanro wrote: Actually, try to learn a little bit of theory, get a teacher, get the breathing correctly, practice long notes (good for brass instruments, develops control on breathing, lip muscles resistance and good sound).

Borrowed one a friend to try out. Breathed so hard, and on later attempts I nearly choked while trying to sound good. Shame on me.

The first steps might be not very easy because trombone is a non-temperate instrument, practice with a chromatic tuner.
You may PM me if you have questions, I'm a trumpet player and I might be able to help with some stuff.

How do you know the exact note when playing? There is no indication on the slider (is it the correct word?), so I guess beginner should learn to guess the notes and scale right?

At 10/19/13 06:35 PM, samulis wrote:

At 10/19/13 06:03 PM, camoshark wrote: You should consider buying a P-bone, a recent invention. It's a plastic trombone, but even though it may sound crazy, it's comparable in terms of tone and quality to a 1k$ horn for the measly price of 150$.

It's the perfect starter horn, and I know a lot of pros who use it for outdoor gigs.

Damn that's right! I forgot about p-bones! I've talked to lots and lots of people who have them and love them. If you're thinking about starting off, yeah, p-bone is probably the most reasonable investment. Slide is a bit rougher than chromium slides on metal trombones at least in my experience when a friend let me play his, but it's still a shockingly good sounding instrument.

Aaah, so the red trombone I saw in music store yesterday was plastic. I was wondering what kind of person would paint the trombone that color... silly me. To be honest, I don't mind playing any type of trombone because I will sound bad on either.

Another question, guys! How do you control breathing? Playing trombone is heavier than playing a flute.

At 10/19/13 12:50 PM, Bspendlove wrote: I don't play trombone, but I had a go of a friends for a couple of hours and I really enjoyed it, I just tried to make weird noises... haha

)

I was already making weird noises while sweating hard. Maybe I tried too much...

[samulis]

Ok.

Breathing- Relax your jaw and lips. Breathe in fully as possible, let your diaphragm/stomach area fill up. With the trombone still sitting down, blow that air out... now slowly move your lips together so they vibrate loosely. That's the idea of what you want to do, vibrate your lips. Use your tongue to control the partial (sets of notes on the slide)- move it up towards to roof of the mouth and blow harder "faster" air to play higher notes and down. Think of singing when you do this- lower notes are like an "dahhhh" and higher notes are more like "teeee".

Using the slide- the slide has seven standard positions. I will try to describe them, but it's rather hard to do that effectively. A great way to figure it out is to play the first five notes of the Bb concert scale, which will cover most of the positions.

The first position is with the slide all the way in (it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the easiest way to learn it), second position is with about 1-2" of slide showing, 3rd position is right before the bell- your knuckle roughly even with the bell, 4th position is slightly beyond the bell, your thumb about even with the bell. 5th position is the Bermuda Triangle of trombones, no one really knows where it is. 6th position is with your arm pretty much fully extended for most people (you can tell where it is by playing an F in that position and comparing it to F in first position). 7th position generally requires you to turn your body slightly. You will see notches in the slide at the far end- be careful not to go more than 1" or so after these or your slide may fall off.

Also make sure you are holding the instrument correctly. The left hand kinda looks like the shape of a finger gun (you know, when you pretend to shoot someone with your hand and make silly "pow" noises) with the pointer finger going up and resting next to the mouthpiece, and the thumb and other fingers wrapped around the rest of the lower pipe (if that makes any sense). The right hand- make a vulcan hello sign (split between ring finger and middle finger) and rest the pads of your fingertips over the bar that holds the two tubes of the slide together on the lower part. Put the thumb underneath and gently apply pressure- not too much. Let your wrist relax- don't keep it tight and straight, but let it be loose. There are all sorts of other methods, but I find this one works best and is very effective although it may take time to master. Maybe I'll post pictures later if I have time. :)

Hold the instrument up so it is just under parallel to the floor. Relax your arms and your right wrist. Now, with the instrument still away from your face, take a deep breath in. Fill up your diaphragm. When you're ready, push the air out and bring your lips together. Now repeat, this time with the mouthpiece against your lips. Although many people say you shouldn't puff out your cheeks, it's actually ok to do, especially with low notes. You will probably waver around quite a bit, but keep trying until you can hit that Bb (the lowest note in first position most people can play) straight on. Remember to use your tongue slightly to start the note with a "tooo" or "dooo" sound. Tonguing will become more natural as you play more.

Once you have a Bb fairly well down, start a Bb and try lifting your tongue up a bit. This part will take a while to get down. If all goes well, you will end up playing a higher note! That's an F. Do not tighten your lips if possible. Instead rely on your air supply and tongue to change the note.

Now, once you have that, use the slide to get the notes in between. A C is in 6th position. Play an F in first position, then try to play an F in 6th. Move the slide around 6th position until that F matches the one in first. That's 6th position. Now relax and lower your tongue a bit and you will find a C (or if you go too much, maybe another F down an octave, which isn't what you want). Now try going back and forth between Bb and C until you can really hear that whole step. Now try going from C to D, another whole step. D is in 4th position. After D comes Eb, in 3rd position (slightly in from the bell). That's only a half step. Now go up to your F. Keep going up and down these five notes and try jumping around (like Bb-D-C-Eb-F-D-Bb-C-Eb-F-C-Bb). Take your time with every single note you play to get used to where your slide is and try to get every note as in-tune, well tongued, and clean as possible. As recommended earlier by someone else, having an in-tune piano nearby (step on the sustain (3rd) pedal) or a tuner nearby is helpful if you have trouble hearing the intervals or just need something to check yourself against.

If you can get that down, try doing chromatic from Bb to F (hint: that's every position- 1, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).

:)

[sorohanro]

At 10/19/13 09:22 PM, Elitistinen wrote: Another question, guys! How do you control breathing? Playing trombone is heavier than playing a flute.

Exercise 1
Lay on your back, relax, put a hand on your chest and one on your belly. Breath normal, relaxed and try to see which of the hands move. If you are relaxed enough, then the hand on your belly would move. That means that when we are relaxed, our body use naturally the diaphragmatic breathing.

On that position start to control what you do. Breath in 2 seconds - breath out 2 seconds, make that several times, breath in 4 seconds - breath out 4 seconds, make that several times, breath in 4 seconds - breath out 6 or 8 seconds, make that several times.
Make this relaxed, without any tension or stress.
For exercise 2 I need more time to try to translate what I have in mind.

[Omegeist]

It's too late

[Omegeist]

At 10/20/13 08:45 PM, Omegeist wrote: It's too late

I'm just joking, you can learn to play anything if you have the time.

[eatmeatleet]

why are you intersted in it particulary?

[PeterSatera]

Pick something smaller, like the triangle. :P

I used to play trombone. For like 7 years or something. Thing was a bi**h to take on the bus when I had to go to school. Be aware that trombone is a bass instrument, so if you plan to have something which helps you read music say for the piano or something, well thats all in treble. On a serious note, you're never too old to play an instrument, sometimes though when it comes to brass you could be better suited to another mouth piece which is smaller or bigger, eg. Trumpet, tuba etc.

[KatMaestro]

@sorohanro @samulis those are amazing guides. I have less trouble after follow them exactly. I spend 2-3 hours a day for practicing the trombone. I also bought a plastic one for like €70. Right now it sounds like seagull's calls with much lower tone, but hopefully I'll get better by next month.

Any suggestion music piece for practices? Like the totally basic one? Right I just copying stuff from Youtube.

At 10/21/13 09:17 AM, PeterSatera wrote: Pick something smaller, like the triangle. :P

Ha ha. I'm sure everyone can play the triangle without learning it.

I used to play trombone. For like 7 years or something. Thing was a bi**h to take on the bus when I had to go to school. Be aware that trombone is a bass instrument, so if you plan to have something which helps you read music say for the piano or something, well thats all in treble. On a serious note, you're never too old to play an instrument, sometimes though when it comes to brass you could be better suited to another mouth piece which is smaller or bigger, eg. Trumpet, tuba etc.

I considered on learning tuba and even french horn, but then these are for someone with a pair of huge lungs, which I do not fit. Also I start to like trombone thanked from listening to a few amazing Dixieland jazz masterpieces.

[samulis]

At 10/21/13 05:24 PM, Elitistinen wrote: I considered on learning tuba and even french horn, but then these are for someone with a pair of huge lungs, which I do not fit. Also I start to like trombone thanked from listening to a few amazing Dixieland jazz masterpieces.

Bass Trombone is actually about even with Tuba believe it or not. ;)

As for music, play what you like. If you can, find people to play with. Piano is great if it is in tune, it will help you hear things in tune. If you're into dixie, maybe there's a band around that does it. However, reading dixieland is not easy- lots of anticipations and syncopation. Maybe get one of those starter books they sell in music stores and just plow through that so you can get used to READING for trombone and in bass clef, even if the music is boring. Once you get through one of those, you should be fine to start reading actual pieces. Those books are great for when you're starting out... "standard of excellence" or something.

After that, I'd start figuring out what kind of music you want to play and go on dover publications website and see if they have any collections of music for that or on Hal Leonard or other music publishing places. Normally there's tons. ;)

If you do find a dixie band, they'll probably have music for you.

You should look up Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks Orchestra- they play hot jazz (the stuff that came right after dixie/ragtime). You might like them and they have good trombones. :)