Reading:
If you are already familiar with reading staff notation with the treble clef then feel free to skip this part. All versions of the trumpet read in treble clef (the G clef). Reading notation can be daunting for those who aren’t familiar.
For figuring out which notes are which, there are two common phrases to use that help with identifying the notes: (from bottom to top)
We use (Every. Good. Boy. Does. Fine) EGBDE for the lines
or (F.A.C.E) FACE for the spaces
The Fingerings.
As you may have noticed already, there are a whole bunch of notes and only 3 buttons to use. With these three buttons, we have a total of 8 different fingering combinations:
- Open (no valves): C G C E G C
- All three Valves: C-sharp F-sharp A- Sharp C-sharp F-sharp
- Valve’s 1 and 3: D G B D F
- Valve’s 2 and 3: D-sharp G-sharp C D-sharp F-sharp
- Valve’s 1 and 2: E G C-sharp E
- First Valve: F B-flat D F
- Second Valve: F-sharp B D-sharp F-sharp
- Third Valve: Same as 1 and 2
