Although many kids have nightmares about them, scales are an important part of developing your instrumental skills. In this lesson we will learn how to play the Db major scale on trombone.
*T = Trigger/Valve/F-attachment TT = Both F and Gb valves (bass trombone)
Tips
Because of the way a trombone works, there are less positions available with the valve depressed than on the open horn. For reasons of simplicity, I’ve notated the slide positions all in relation to the normal Bb trombone with no valve in use. For example, ‘T3.5’ means the slide will be somewhere between where the 3rd and 4th positions usually are – experiment and be sure to use a tuner and most importantly your ears when finding these notes!
On bass trombone, the first 4 notes are a great exercise on valve use. Blow through the differing resistances and try to match the tones on every note regardless of whether you’re using 2, 1 or 0 valves.
