You can also access all the content in the member’s section with a free trial. You will find this exercise and many others in the book Flexibility for Trombone – 38 pages in print-friendly pdf format. Airflow is more important than a steady tempo in these exercises. If you work on the pedal tone range daily for a period, you will improve fast and be able to play more of the exercises and get all the way down.Īnd unless you have elephant-sized lounges, you won’t be able to play many notes in one breath, so just fill up whenever you need to. I find these exercises very rewarding for my trombone playing in general and it really helps me get that full-fat sound I want, also in the high range.ĭepending on the size of your trombone, and your chops in general, you might not be able to play the exercises all the way down to pedal E on 7th position. I have previously written about the value of working with pedal tones, but there is still more to it! In these exercises, the focus lies on including pedal tones when you work on flexibility on the trombone (or other brass instruments), and being able to access them effortless and without changing the embouchure too much compared to the normal range. When you are familiar with the sound of the scale on top of an altered chord, try moving on to some other chords that the scale is suited for.Trombone lesson: Flexibility with pedal tones Dig in to each note in the scale, and get familiar with its specific sound and character. If you have access to a keyboard (or piano) I recommend that you hit an altered chord with the sustain pedal while you play the scale in order to get the sound of it in a context. And as you go along you will probably discover that the scale fits the trombone quite well, also in some of the keys that usually aren’t that comfortable on the trombone.
One subscription across all of your devices. Download and Print scores from a huge community collection ( 1,904,349 scores ) Advanced tools to level up your playing skills. View Official Scores licensed from print music publishers. The exercises below are simple and straight ahead, just get started and play and you’ll eventually “get it into your slide arm”. Play the music you love without limits for just 9.99 3.33/month. Try improvising with the C altered scale over these chords ( bold means an especially good match): The altered scale is actually very close to a standard major scale put a flat in front of the C, and you get a Cb major scale.
Note that the altered scale in C (or altered dominant scale, or Super Locrian scale) consists of the same notes as a jazz minor scale in Db. Ask Thad (Jones) if this sounds good orchestrated for big band! As a matter of fact, you can play all the notes in the scale in one big fat chord, creating a C7 b9 b5 b13. These are all notes you use in an altered dominant chord. It consists of the root, b9, #9, major third, #11, b6, and the b7. It has more edge and tensions than any mode of the major scale and is a god match for a large variety of chords. I use the altered scale a lot when I improvise. Thanks for a great tip, I tried it out as written and 8va, it really opens up the sound and lets you play more easily. Trombone lesson: Altered scale in all keysĭid you read my previous article on trombone scale exercises? Then let’s move on with the same concept using the altered scale! Trombone slide chart alternate positions I was wrong about how to lip buzz for many years Trombone embouchure trade secret S.E.