Trumpet Fingering Chart

How To Use A Fingering Chart

It can be helpful to have a fingering chart when you are beginning a new instrument. The trumpet is like most brass instruments in that you use valves to change pitch. I've always found it helpful to start to learn fingering through scales. This will help you get comfortable with fingerings in a given key.

Once you have the basics, go to real music and try to play through a passage. When you encounter a note you don't know look at your fingering chart. Take a pencil and write the fingering under the note. Practice the passage slowly so your fingers can get a feel for the passage. Once you feel comfortable (usually after three times through the passage), erase the written fingering. Play through the passage a few more times slowly and see if you remember the fingering. If you forget, write the fingering back in.

How To Hold The Trumpet

Left-hand placement

Start with the ring finger of your left hand and place it inside the slide ring of the third valve. Then take your middle and index finger and wrap them around the third valve casing. These two fingers will support the trumpet's weight. Finally, take your thumb and place it in the ring of the first-valve slide. Your pinky should be relaxed and rest on the valve casing under the third valve slide.

Your left hand will need to be firm to support the trumpet's weight, but be mindful not to let it become tense. Try to maintain as relaxed a posture as possible and avoid tension creeping up your left arm.

Right-hand placement

Form a backward letter "C" with your right hand. Place the index finger on the first valve, your middle finger on the second, and your ring finger on the third. Try to keep your fingerprint on the valve. This will help keep the hand relaxed. The pinky finger should rest in the pinky hood and the thumb should wrap around the first valve casing.

A note on the pinky: Be careful that you don't use this to create pressure on your lips.

Using The Thumb And Third Finger Slides

The first valve and third valve on the trumpet have rings attached to them. This is so you can easily move them when playing certain fingering combinations, like 1 & 3. If you don't "kick out" the slide when playing, the note will be sharp. A sharp note is as bad as a wrong note. It will sound equally as bad to the audience, so consider adjusting the slides as part of the "fingering."

To practice getting these notes in tune, play through a passage and stop and hold on the note that uses a fingering combination that requires you "kick out" the slide. Look at a tuner and see how much you need to adjust the slide position to get the note in tune. Take a mental note of where your slide needs to be. Repeat the passage, try to quickly snap to the slide position, and freeze on the note again. Repeat this process until you can get the note in tune right away.

Keeping the slides well-greased will ensure that you can easily move the slides.