TromboneChat

Hi All,

I've recently switched from tenor to bass and with switching to bass means improving my low register. However I find it quite hard to have strong controlled tone and air in the pedal register... Would anyone have any recommendations on exercises to improve on this?

Hugo Inglis
- Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School

You're not alone, nearly everybody has the same trouble when starting on bass.. It's largely a matter of simply spending time doing it, and not pushing too much to do things you can't. Give it time.
Don't neglect the upper middle and high range. A bass trombonist needs to play the whole horn.

Play the whole range, a lot. It'll come with time and a good sound concept.

A couple tips:

Match the air to the range. Slow air will take you far down low.

Don't think massively open at the face.

Doug and Aidan have both given you excellent advice.

One thing you shouldn't do is go for the quick fix of an excessively large mouthpiece. It might help your low register, but you're pay for it in almost every other aspect of your playing.

Your school's website says they have a bass trombonist (Mitchell Nissen) on faculty; is this something you're working with him on?

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the advice. Mr Nissen is my tutor, I have only been learning from him for a short amount of time seen as I switched tutors when I switched to bass trombone. As of recently Mr Nissen and I have been really trying to perfect my tone/sound, following his philosophy of tone/sound above all. It is only of our last couple lessons that we have started to explore my low register. I made this post with the intention to further educate myself and improve my playing.

Don’t be too concerned about dynamics as a beginner. They will come with practice.

I like what Aidan said. Part of my journey as a bass trombonist involved relearning the lower/lowest register without dropping my jaw or otherwise distorting my face in order to “make the notes happen.” A little jaw movement is okay, but too much movement turns into using different embouchures/mouthpiece placement for different registers, which works in the short term, but leads to trouble in the long term.

Ideally, the lower/lowest registers of the bass trombone (valve and pedal registers) should feel and sound like an extension of the middle register. It requires the same kind of slow, careful work that all trombonists do within and above the bass clef: long tones, slurs, flexibilities, scales, etudes, etc. Working into and out of the valve register and the pedal register need the same kind of attention.

Echoing Aidan, the biggest thing that held back my low playing for a long time was being too open. It should feel very similar to your middle register, don't do anything crazy when you move into the low range. Just focus on air flowing straight down the horn with energy and density

One thing I did wrong when I started to double on bass was I was far to relaxed in the emboushure. You need to work your emboushure on bass too, all the way down through the pedal register.

Another thing was I did not know what I wanted my sound to be. The sound needs a core to project well. That is more important than volume. My teacher played bass but even though I had heard his bass trombone in closeup all my lessons on tenor it took time to get that core into my own bass trombone sound. You do not want to sound like an out of tune Euphonium player when you play bass trombone. To have in mind a clear sound helps that. There are of course different sound concepts but all good sounds need a core or else they will not project well and will also be difficult to tune. I like my sound to be clear and not muddy. It's also the sound I prefer from the bass trombone player when I play lead. A muddy sound doesn't blend.

/Tom

I think the secret is first of all to create a good sound in the register you already have.

Leif

Some very good ideas here.
About "dropping the jaw" don´t think about it. The jaw does move a little, it is natural.
In the most usual range from high g to pedal g, try to not let the mpc move to a new place on the mouth.
There comes sometimes parts that call for lower (and higher) tones.
Go practise.

You have had some really great advice. Slow and steady wins the race. Buy tuba studies. Buy Pederson bass trombone etudes. Buy Nightingale bass studies.....undertones. Keep working at the upper register. Have fun !!!

Great advice so far. I'll add a couple of things.

As you work on the low register, don't neglect articulation. Sometimes we become so fixated on sustained and legato playing - which is tremendously important! - that we don't maintain clear articulation. A great way to keep this skill up is with the classic Kopprasch etudes, originally for French horn. There is a bass trombone-specific version transcribed by Benny Sluchin in a perfect range, available as a free download from Doug Yeo's website: https://www.yeodoug.com/kopprasch.html

When I switched to bass trombone at the beginning of college, I made the mistake of struggling with very low etudes too soon. Melodic studies like Rochut/Bordogni are marvelous as written, and a classic way to practice them on bass trombone is both as written and down an octave from the printed bass clef. That's good and necessary, but our real middle register is down about a fourth from the printed bass clef, which you can do by reading tenor clef down an octave (and of course changing the key signature to the appropriate key: add one sharp or subtract one flat).

If you don't know tenor clef yet, even better! This is your chance to learn. You don't need tenor clef often as an orchestral bass trombonist, but you need it often enough to stay familiar.

As an alternative to Bordogni, I like the Cimera Phrasing Studies. They are just as melodic but shorter, which makes them great for playing in different registers and different clefs.

GabrielRice wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2026 6:50 am Great advice so far. I'll add a couple of things.

As you work on the low register, don't neglect articulation. Sometimes we become so fixated on sustained and legato playing - which is tremendously important! - that we don't maintain clear articulation.

That is a great advice. Articulation is something I have not thought much of. In making music on our trombone thats maybe the greatest tool we have. From legato to staccatisimo, so many possibilities

Leif

I would also read all post from Chris (Blast). It helped me a lot and I even meet him. Great man and down to earth. I listen him play from symphonic music to jazz, fantastic!!

Leif