TROMBONE SLIDE POSITION AND NOTE CHART SERIES

If you sound thin, you will have a hard time blending in with the other instruments. I’ll leave you with a couple of videos I produced of my favorite place to play: outside! If you plan to play alto within the context of a band expecting you to sound close to a tenor, you’ll need to work on your sound. I have never cared to have a trigger on my alto. With a trigger, you can play all those notes directly above pedal Eb. The Low Brass Players Guide to Doubling, published by Mountain Peak Music. F (flat whole step fifth valve) F (major third fifth valve) Additional charts and related materials for these and other low brass instruments can be found in Dr. Of course, I am referring to an alto without a trigger. CC (flat whole step fifth valve) CC (major third fifth valve) E-Flat. Unlike the natural notes, the false tones are mostly dependent on your ear. The second reason is to strengthen your ear for hearing pitch on the alto. The first reason is so that you can play notes you might be expected to play from a tenor trombone part. I do recommend that you learn to play those false tones between E and Ab for two reasons. Pedal Eb is in first position and low A is the next natural tone on the horn.

In the above chart, I have identified the alternate positions after the “/”.īecause of the physics of the alto trombone, the lowest natural note just above the “false” tones is concert A.

TROMBONE SLIDE POSITION AND NOTE CHART SERIES

Especially if you are a tenor trombone player, you’ll want to learn the alto trombone using the same notation that you are used to.īelow is a comparison of the first position overtone series between alto and tenor. Unless you plan on being a symphonic player where those ancient parts for alto were written in alto clef, learn the instrument in bass clef. In fact, I think it is pretty silly to learn alto trombone in alto clef. Reading alto clef is NOT required for alto trombone. The second partial on a tenor is Bb at the bottom of the bass clef staff, and the corresponding partial for the alto is the Eb in the middle of the bass clef staff.īefore showing you the position chart, let me make one point. That tells you that the partials on the alto are a fourth higher than tenor. The fundamental of a tenor trombone is concert Bb and the fundamental for an alto trombone is concert Eb. In case you may not be aware, the slide positions for alto trombone are completely different from tenor trombone.

Trombone slide position and note chart