likefoxes

right i have improved on my embouchure a bit, so i can basically get a steady tone. However, if i don't press any of the valves down i should be playing a C or at least a G. When i tried playing with open valves to a tuner it kept giving me E or if i lowered the pitch Bflat!! whats going on there? iv'e tried moving the main tuning slide but that doesn't make much difference... Is it all down to my embouchure?

VetPsychWars

Your tuner is showing you "concert pitch". The trumpet is a Bb instrument, which means that a C on the trumpet is a Bb on a piano.

Tom

jazz9

Man, I wish I could play an open low E! That would be some control. :) Anyway, yea, it is with your tuner. Whatever your tuner says you are playing, lower it a whole step, and that's what note you are playing on trumpet.

By the way, welcome to TM!

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Bach Strad 37

likefoxes

aaaah got it. so what i'm going for is a nice steady Bb. coolios

jazz9

Yea, and most tuners have those lights that go to different sides to tell you if you are sharp or flat. If the lights go to the left, you are flat, to the right and you are sharp.

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Bach Strad 37

rowuk

It would be great if the tuners really showed you if you were in tune though! Cheap keyboards would satisfy any tuner.

Real, live professionals (and practiced amateurs) have better intonation than ANY machine.

Why? A tuner is set to a well tempered scale. This is not what sounds in tune to our ear though. It is only an approximation to allow instruments with fixed intonation (like a keyboard or piano) to play in all keys equally. To accomplish this, several musical comprimises must be made. With only a little training, our ears can be far superior to any tuning device. Professional piano players have the instruments tuned to maximize the experience for the pieces on the concert program - as little "well-tempered" as possible!!!!!!

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

jdostie

When the piano tech. comes and tunes our piano he does not use a tuner except as a starting point - he actually adjusts each set of strings slightly differently than what the tuner would want. Although there may be some initial notes that match (I am guessing, but possibly middle C). It's been a long time since I talked to him, I was only home the first time he tuned the piano, but if memory serves, basically he said what you're saying about other instruments.