The trumpet is a favorite amongst orchestras and jazz groups for a reason. Its confident and versatile tones have great musical impact, effortlessly swaying from gentle and soft tones to more boisterous and fun blasting.
The first step to becoming a master of any instrument is learning how to play the notes. This can be particularly challenging for beginner brass players as the instruments only have three or four keys to press – how can you learn and remember them all?
This is where having access to a fingering chart is handy. This guide will take you through how to use a fingering chart to quickly learn how to play trumpet notes and take you one step closer to becoming the next Louis Armstrong.
What is a Trumpet Fingering Chart?
A fingering chart is a useful tool to have available to you when you are learning to play the trumpet as it tells you how to play the notes. These charts allow you to learn lots of new notes, allowing you to play more music pieces and help you practice ones you already know.
A trumpet player finds a note by blowing through the mouthpiece and by pressing down a combination of keys, known as valves. A fingering chart tells you which valves to press.
Trumpet Basics
It is easier to understand fingering charts and how to make the correct sounds with a trumpet if you understand a little bit of how they work.
Generally, the trumpeter will hold the trumpet by the bottom of the valve casing with the left hand, using any available finger supports on the slides for comfort. The right hand then rests on the top of the valves ready for the fingers to press the valves. The valves are generally pressed with the index, middle, and ring fingers.
Valves
When playing the trumpet, you blow down the mouthpiece. This forces air through all the tubes and pipes and out of the bell, hopefully producing a pleasant sound. The valves add more tubing to the air’s journey through the instrument which alters the pitch of the note being played.
The length of tube that the air flows through when playing a trumpet gets longer when the valves are pressed in the following pattern:
No valves
Valve two
Valve one
Valves one AND two
Valves two AND three
Valves one AND three
Valves one AND two AND three.
The pitch of the sound will be lowered by one semitone for each step down the above pattern you go. You can work out this pattern by looking at your instrument and comparing the lengths of pipes that come off and loop back into the valves.
If you were to measure the lengths of these tubes, you would find that the pipes of valves one and two are just a little shorter than valve three when combined. This is what allows for alternate fingering combinations, a system that will help ensure your playing is always in tune.
If, for example, you find that playing a note with valves one and two pressed is a little sharp or too high, you can play the same note with just the third valve. The additional tubing is often enough to flatten or lower the note enough to bring it back into tune.
Your trumpet may have slides on the pipes that exit the valves, usually on valves one and two. This is also for tuning purposes. For a beginner, do not worry too much about finding the perfect pitch for all of your notes. This will come with practice.
Fingering Charts & How to Use Them?
Now you understand trumpet basics, you can move on to using fingering charts.
There are two types of charts available. One type of chart uses circles, the other uses numbers.
If you are playing with a fingering chart that uses circles, you simply press down the valves that are shaded on the diagram. A middle C, for example, is played with open valves.
This means none are pressed and this type of finger chart would show this by shading in no circles. If you were playing a D, a note that is one tone above a middle C, you need to press down the first and third valves. This would be shown by one shaded circle, one unshaded circle, and a final shaded circle.
If you are reading a fingering chart that uses numbers, the principle is very similar. The numbers correspond to the valve that needs to be pressed. If you need to play a B of any octave, you need to press the middle valve. This will be communicated to you by the small number two somewhere near the staff (or stave). If you wanted to play a middle C there will either be a zero or no numbers at all. This means that you do not press down any valves to play the note.
Multiple Fingering Options
If you notice that there are two diagrams or sets of numbers, this is a note that has an alternate fingering combination. This means you can play the note with either combination, depending on the tuning of your instrument.
While every instrument is unique and will have different tuning quirks, a good rule to adopt while you are a beginner is to play the combination that uses the fewest valves. Alternate combinations are important to remember as you progress, especially when you move onto ensemble work, so keep the other note possibilities in your mind.
Valve Tube Slides
Many trumpets are made with slides along the valve tubes for valves one and three. These slides, much like alternate finger combinations, aid tuning. If you find that your notes sound sharp, sliding out the tubes will give enough length to make the note sound flatter and bring your playing back into tune.
Again, this is not so important as a beginner but practicing early will make it easier to develop as you progress as a trumpet player.
Other Things to Think About
Learning finger patterns is an excellent way to begin learning how to play the trumpet, but is certainly not the thing to think about when playing. Tuning, as already mentioned, is important for group work and is a discipline to think about as you find you can move away from finger charts.
Because some notes share valve combinations, the most obvious example of this being a C note at any octave which is always played without any valves, the note you will play is dictated by the air pressure you blow down the mouthpiece and the firmness of your mouth against the instrument.
For notes that are higher, you need to tense your mouth to tighten your embouchure – the name given to the firmness of your mouth muscles and lips.
This tension changes the vibration of your lips and, along with increased air pressure as you blow, makes the note that comes out of the trumpet sound higher. For notes that are lower, you need to do the opposite and relax your mouth to loosen your embouchure.
When you are playing, if you do not make your mouth firm enough and do not increase air pressure sufficiently you will find that you are playing a lower note that uses the same valve combination. For example, trying to play a G# (valves two and three) with incorrect mouth tightness and air pressure will mean you will actually play a D# if your embouchure is loose or a G# the octave above if your embouchure is far too tight.
If you find that your notes are all too high you are too tense around the mouth and need to relax – playing the trumpet is supposed to be fun! Playing with too much tension will also result in an uncomfortable playing posture which will put you off this wonderful instrument.
If you are finding it difficult to get high enough to play the right note you need to work on controlling your lip muscles. A good practice move here would be to try and ‘play’ different notes using just your mouth.
Blow raspberries with a tense face, then relax to loosen your embouchure and try again. You are aiming to get as much difference in pitch as possible. ONce you have mastered this and can get different pitched raspberries, try again with your trumpet and you should find playing the right notes easier.
Airflow or air pressure are also key factors that dictate the tune of a note. A fast airflow will help you get higher notes but this does not mean that you need more breath, just that the air is moving with more force.
This should be controlled by your abdomen so make sure you experiment to get used to the sensation.
Embouchure and airflow can also be controlled to help to tune. As each instrument is different, it is a good idea to experiment as you develop as a player.
Knowing when to adjust your playing for a tighter embouchure or when to slide out your tuning slides at the valves is a very impressive feat when done correctly.
Hi, my name is David Williams, and I play the french horn. However, I can also play the piano, violin, and the majority of wind instruments. I have been reading music and playing musical instruments from a young age, and I love regularly playing instruments as part of an orchestra. There is something so fantastic about hearing the instruments all come together to perform an impressive piece of music, especially when it is a classical piece.
I recently decided to share my love for music and instrument playing online, in the hopes that it would encourage others to try something new. Playing an instrument is both fantastic and rewarding. Through this blog, I hope that you will gain a clearer understanding of both music and musical instruments.
