Trumpet tuner

Trumpet tuning notes in Hz

B♭ trumpet: the written note and what it sounds

Band and orchestra tuning notes

At A4 = 440 Hz; the reference switch above moves them all. A C trumpet's C, G and C sound as written: 261.63, 392.00 and 523.25 Hz.

How to tune a trumpet with a tuner

Play for two or three minutes first: a cold trumpet reads flat. Pick B♭ trumpet or C trumpet on the switch, tap Start tuning and allow the microphone; nothing to install: it runs in the browser on an Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop. Play written C, middle C on the ledger line below the staff. Hold it mezzo forte, straight, without vibrato, and don't lip it toward the middle: you want to know where the horn sits, not where your lips can push it. The needle and the cents show how far off you are, and a line above the notes says which way to move the main tuning slide: sharp, pull it out; flat, push it in. At five cents or closer, held, it ticks and asks for G on the second line, then C in the third space.

The tuner names notes the way your part does and transposes itself: on the B♭ setting, written C sounds a concert B♭ at 233.08 Hz and the display says C. That is why a plain chromatic tuner shows B♭ when you play C. Tap a note with the microphone off and it plays at concert pitch, to match by ear. If the three notes disagree by a few cents, that is your horn, not the tuner: set the slide where C and G are both close, not where one of them is perfect.

B♭ trumpet, C trumpet and concert pitch

“Trumpet in B♭” means the open horn plays the harmonics of a B♭. With no valve down, its roughly 1.48 m of tubing gives written C4, G4, C5, E5, G5 and C6, each sounding a whole step lower, and the pedal C below them. Parts are written a whole step higher than they sound so that a written note keeps its fingering on every trumpet. The C trumpet is shorter, sounds what it reads, and is the usual orchestral trumpet in the United States.

From written to concert, go a whole step down; from concert to written, a whole step up.

Which note to tune to

A concert band tunes to concert B♭, often with concert F after it: written C and written G on a B♭ trumpet, the first two notes here. An orchestra tunes to the oboe's A, which is written B on a B♭ trumpet and A on a C trumpet. Some guides tell B♭ trumpets to play C for the orchestra's A; that C sounds B♭, a semitone off. Written B isn't on this page's switch: play it into the any-note tuner and centre a concert A. Many European orchestras tune above 440, to 442 or 443: set the reference switch to 442 before you tune with them.

The main tuning slide, in millimetres

The main tuning slide is the big crook at the end of the leadpipe, out in front of the valves. Pulling it out makes the tube longer and every note lower; pushing it in, higher. The slide has two legs, so each millimetre you pull adds two millimetres of tube. On about 1.48 m of tubing, 5 mm out adds 1 cm, roughly 10 to 12 cents lower. Move it a few millimetres, play the note again, read again. The first and third valve slides are for single notes, not for the overall pitch. Grease a slide that sticks; one that won't move at all is a job for a repair shop, not for pliers.

Clip-on, chromatic or online trumpet tuner

A clip-on trumpet tuner, such as Korg's AW-LT100T for trumpet and trombone, clamps to the bell and reads the vibration of the metal, so it hears your horn and not the section next to you. A phone's microphone, and this page, hear the whole room: tune alone or before the others start, the phone a metre or so in front of the bell. Either way the numbers mean the same thing, cents from the note, a hundred to a semitone.

A chromatic tuner names any note at concert pitch, so on a B♭ trumpet it shows B♭ when you play written C and F when you play written G. That is right, not a fault. A tuner with a B♭ or transpose setting, like this page's switch, shows what you read. What makes a good trumpet tuner is short: the transposition, a reference you can set to 440 or 442, and cents you can read while you play.

Why a trumpet goes sharp as you play

The pitch of a brass instrument is set by the speed of sound in the air inside it, and that rises with temperature: about 3 cents for every degree Celsius. A trumpet straight out of a cold case plays flat; your breath warms it within minutes and the pitch climbs. Tune after the warm-up, check again after a long rest, and expect to push the slide in when you play outside in winter. Most mutes push the pitch up a little too: before a long muted passage, check the note with the mute in. Water in the tubes makes notes gurgle and crack: empty it through the water key before you tune.

Notes that are out of tune on every trumpet

Each valve adds a length of tube made right for that valve alone. Pressed together they add too little, so low D (valves 1 and 3) and low C♯ (1, 2 and 3), and the G and F♯ below them, come out sharp, the C♯ by tens of cents: sharp, not flat, as one tuner's page has it. Players push the third valve slide out with the ring, or the first valve slide with the saddle, while they hold those notes. The E in the top space of the staff, played open, is the fifth harmonic, which sits 14 cents below its equal-tempered note, and on most trumpets it is a little flat. Check these notes once against the any-note tuner, which reads in concert pitch (a whole step below what you read), and you will know where to reach on your horn.

Cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo, and the other brass

A trombone tunes with the hand slide in first position, all the way in; its tuning slide is the bend on the bell section, behind your head. A band gives the trombones concert B♭, which is B♭3 (233.08 Hz) in first position, and often F3 (174.61 Hz) after it.

Trumpet range

The B♭ trumpet reads from the F♯ below middle C (written F♯3, all three valves) to high C above the staff (C6) for most players, sounding E3 to B♭5, 164.81 to 932.33 Hz. Lead players go up to double high C, an octave higher, and pedal tones sound below the bottom. This page checks the three tuning notes in the middle of that; the pitch detector reads any note you play, in concert pitch.

The notes you tuned go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat.