Hold Your Trombone Like You’re Serious About Playing

Holding the instrument correctly every single time sets you up to play at your best — it gives you good airflow, good posture, a solid mouthpiece placement, and, most importantly for trombonists, a slide that’s free to move.

Left hand

Your left hand takes the weight of the instrument, which frees up the right hand to move the slide without any tension. Shape your left hand like an “L,” or like a finger gun pointing upward, and hold the trombone in that shape. Your index finger rests on the lead pipe, your thumb sits on the bell-section crossbar, and the other three fingers curl around the slide-section crossbar.

Right hand

Grip the slide loosely between the tips of your thumb and your top two fingers, keeping your wrist relaxed so it can produce a smooth, agile slide motion. Let your other two fingers just hang below the slide. Don’t touch the bell while playing, don’t grip the slide tightly like a claw, and don’t let the slide motion travel up into your head — the movement should come from your wrist and fingers, not from rocking your whole body.

Tip: keep that right wrist loose. A loose wrist moves the slide faster and more smoothly than one driven mainly by the elbow. As you push the slide out, let your fingers catch it and let your thumb come off — if you keep your thumb glued to the slide the whole way, your fingers can’t extend fully, and you end up relying too much on your elbow.

A smooth slide action

A smooth, controlled slide is the hallmark of a good trombone player — jerky slide movement gives you a jerky sound. As you extend toward 7th position, let your thumb come off the slide entirely, controlling it with just your two fingers. If you’ve got shorter arms, extend your reach by pushing your right shoulder forward and turning your head slightly to the right while playing — this buys you extra centimetres of reach on the slide.

Slide positions

Get comfortable with your alternate positions — plenty of notes can be played in more than one slide position, and the higher you go, the more alternates you generally have available. These become genuinely useful when you need to play fast, high passages smoothly without big slide jumps. For a masterclass in using alternate positions, listen to Bill Watrous‘s legendary trombone solo.