How to Tune Your Trombone
- Warm up for a few minutes first. A cold trombone plays flat.
- Tap Start Tuning and play B♭3 in first position, with the hand slide all the way in. It is the B♭ in the space just above the bass clef staff, 233 Hz.
- If it says Tune down (you are sharp), pull the main tuning slide out a little. If it says Tune up (you are flat), push it in. Then play the note again.
- Check F3 in first position as well.
The trombone reads concert pitch in bass clef, so the note the tuner shows is the note in your music, and there is no written-pitch switch. (Trombone parts in treble clef, common in British-style brass bands, are written in B♭ a major ninth above the sound. For those, use the tenor saxophone setting on the saxophone tuner, which uses the same transposition.)
| Note | Slide | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| B♭3 | 1st position | 233.08 Hz |
| F3 | 1st position | 174.61 Hz |
Brass pitch rises as the instrument warms up, and depends on your lips and air as well as the slide. Tune on a warm instrument, then listen and adjust with the hand slide as you play.