Practice playing simple tunes (scalar passages or arpeggios) entirely with the F attachment and entirely with the Gb attachment-until muscle-memory kicks in. When playing attachment tones, think of the instrument tuned in the respective 'key'-with respective (longer) 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

This gives a perfectly-in-tune D tuning for the double combination, with a very evenly distributed set of harmonics throughout the whole range. I personally prefer the G-natural tuning for the thumb-trigger attachment, with the finger-trigger attachment tuned to (a 20 cent sharp) E. And, as is fairly well known, the G-natural tuning gives a lot more handy attachment alternates (including the fifth harmonic). This is why some players prefer a G-natural tuning for the 'second' valve. Adjust (slightly) according to your personal preferences.Īs you can see, the F-attachment and Gb-attachment tones are quite close together. With the F and Gb attachments tuned precisely, the double combination D tuning is (theoretically) a few cents flat-as can be seen. You can see at a glance where the coloured zones touch, indicating no alternates for those tones. The 'wider' the unshaded portions, the more alternates. The unshaded portions between the coloured zones indicate where alternate positions are available. The blue-shaded zones are bordered by a chromatic scale with longest slide positions. The red-shaded zones are bordered by a chromatic scale with shortest slide positions. Higher attachment harmonics are mostly too close to slide-alone harmonics and not usually used except for 'special effects'. The following ETSP (Equitempered Tone/Slide Position) Chart shows relative Bb positions (black dots) F-attachment positions (open circles), first-through-third harmonics Gb-attachment positions (stars), first-through-fourth harmonics and D-double-attachment positions (stars-in-circles), first and second harmonics.

Trombone bb scale slide position chart