{"id":1671,"date":"2023-03-23T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/?p=1671"},"modified":"2023-03-23T11:52:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T16:52:45","slug":"whats-the-lowest-note-you-can-play-on-the-trumpet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/whats-the-lowest-note-you-can-play-on-the-trumpet\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the Lowest Note You Can Play On the Trumpet?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The trumpet is not chosen for pieces because of its low register but because of its exceptionally strong mid and high register. You can never listen to a song and not be able to find the trumpets. So if you’re a trumpet player or someone writing music, you might be wondering, how long can a trumpet reasonably play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lowest part of the standard range of the trumpet is G3 flat (concert E3), however, utilizing pedal tones the trumpet can go all the way down to G1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn’t mean you should throw in a G1 into your musical piece–that’s just rude for any trumpet players involved. As a note, this post is about Bb trumpets.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"sheet <\/picture>
G3b on trumpet. All 3 keys pressed down<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lowest Note For Trumpet With Standard Fingerings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’re learning the trumpet or reading a standard manual for trumpet playing, the note that you’ll see at the bottom of the trumpet register is G3b\/F3# (Concert E3).<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the trumpet can play much lower. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the standard limit means is that the trumpet is designed to play notes down to this register. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do I mean by that? <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"trumpet <\/picture><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Slotting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you pick up a piece of PVC at the hardware store and try to buzz into it… which is only something you’d ever see a brass player do because they are all kind of crazy, you’ll notice that you can only play a few notes and the notes have pretty big gaps in between them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how a bugle works. A bugle is a fixed length and is only meant to resonate at a few frequencies. If you have a trumpet with no keys pressed down, you get a bugle. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trumpet is essentially a long tube that can be changed in length by pressing combinations of the valve keys.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once your lips match a supported frequency, then the trumpet resonates. You can really feel this if you press down valves 1,2 and then try and bend the notes up to the highest note. You’ll notice that the trumpet sound gets weaker the more you bend the note away from the slotted note<\/strong>, and you’ll find the pitch will jump up to the next note. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The valves of the trumpet help the player slot into different frequencies and it’s at these frequencies the trumpet sounds best.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what about notes outside this range? Does this mean G3b is the absolute limit for how low the trumpet can go? Well, no! Let’s learn about pedal tones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trumpet and Pedal Tones <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pedal tones aren’t slotted<\/strong> notes, meaning you can play pedal tones with a variety of valve combinations. The pedal tones start at F3 for <\/strong>a trumpet and can go all the way down to G1<\/strong>, but this is a very extreme range for a player with fantastic pedal tone capability. Getting down to C2 is an achievement at this extreme part of the register. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowest Pedal Note You Can Play With Trumpet<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
C2 and G1 respectively<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This is a great video about pedal tones and also a demonstration of the G1 pedal tone with exceptional clarity. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>
HOW TO PLAY LOW NOTES (AND HIGH NOTES) Brass Tactics 6\/60 Episode 6<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>