Before you start learning how to play an instrument, you need to know how to hold it otherwise you won’t be getting very far. Now, we know what you’re thinking, how complicated can it be?
It isn’t really, but the instruments in the brass section have differences in their grips when you’re playing or if your hands are smaller than average, so there’s more to learn when compared to simpler instruments.
We’ll go through these grips by first starting with the standard grip before explaining where your left-hand digits need to be, and what your right hand needs to be doing in the meantime.
The Standard Grip
Every instrument has a standard or resting grip that you should start at when holding it. The trumpet’s standard grip is generous because it stays the same no matter if you’re right-handed or left-handed.
In both cases, you hold the frame of the trumpet with your left hand and press the keys down with your right.
This may sound intimidating to left-handed people since applying pressure with your non-dominant hand can be difficult, but with trumpets, it’s very easy to adapt.
You also have a slight advantage since your stronger left hand is more suited to holding the trumpet up for long periods, something right-handed beginners often feel discomfort doing when they first start.
And no, you can’t hold the trumpet with your right hand.
This doesn’t produce the sounds that you want a trumpet to produce and it’s much easier for a left-handed person to learn the standard trumpet grip than it is for that same person to reinvent trumpet playing by holding it in their right hand.
When holding the trumpet with your left head, you want to have a firm grip that keeps the trumpet steady but not too stiff, you want some mobility for where your right hand will be playing the instrument.
Also, stop the palm of your left hand from coming to rest at the valve casing. It’s tempting to do this for beginners but it’ll only muffle the sound of the trumpet. Since your left hand is the rigid support hand, your right should be agile and loose.
Left Hand – Ring Finger Placement
Look at the construction of your trumpet. If it’s standard, you should see that there’s a little ring by the third valve casing.
Part of the standard grip is to slide your left ring finger through that ring. The ring is there for tuning purposes, adjusting the third valve slide to create different sounds.
Now, here’s where there’ll be a difference depending on how large your hands are. If your hands are larger than average, you’ll probably find it easier to have your left ring finger around that ring instead of through it.
It’s common sense that you wouldn’t want to stick your finger in there if you might need to get a stick of butter to get it out. If you have smaller hands, however, then you can put your finger through the ring without worry.
Left Hand – Index And Middle Finger Placement
As for your index and middle fingers on your left hand, these should be resting next to the left ring finger around the other valve casings.
Once you’ve done that, all three of these fingers will be fully supporting the weight of your trumpet without obscuring any important parts that your right hand needs to access.
Left Hand – Thumb Placement
When you were looking for that first valve slide ring for your ring finger, odds are that you noticed there’s two on your trumpet. One is by the third valve casing, which is for your ring finger, but there’s another by the first valve casing too.
This isn’t anywhere near as important as the third valve slide ring since you only use it for the sharper notes, which you won’t be touching very much when you’re a beginner, but you can probably guess where your left thumb goes for now.
Place your left thumb in the first valve slide ring. Again, if your thumb is too big you can get away with resting it against the ring, but the point is that all useful fingers on your left hand are now engaged in holding and supporting the weight of your instrument.
Right Hand Placement
Now that we’ve covered what you’re doing with your left hand, we’ve essentially told you how to hold the trumpet. That said, we’re not pedants, so we’re going to explain what your right hand should be doing too since this is the hand you’ll actually use to play.
It's simpler than the left hand, hence how we could condense every finger’s position down into one section.
Let’s start at the thumb this time. This will be situated between the first and second valve casings on your trumpet. If you look for the piping that’s directly attached to the trumpet’s mouthpiece, you’ll want your thumb to tuck under there while being between the valve casings.
This is the optimal position for maintaining balance while the rest of your right-handed fingers do the work. You may be tempted to bend your thumb but don’t, as this can block your fingers from having their full range of movement.
Just like with your left hand, it’s the index, middle, and ring fingers that’ll be doing most of the work here. You have three usable fingers and three valve keys, so guess where those fingers are going to go.
Each finger is used to press and release these valve keys in order to modify the airflow passing through the trumpet, creating an array of notes.
Remember that your right hand should be loose. When you’re not actively playing, those fingertips should be ever so softly resting on the keys without pressing down on them properly.
Your pinky fingers aren’t doing anything when you’re playing but that doesn’t mean you should forget about them. It’s a common habit for beginners to rest their right pinky finger on the finger hook behind the third valve.
Like with the temptation to bend your thumb, resting this finger can limit your other fingers’ movement and sabotage your trumpet-playing abilities, so try not to do this.
