Trombone for beginners

Choosing your first trombone

pBone (plastic, about £100): light, nearly indestructible, and a real instrument despite the looks. My usual recommendation for children and cautious adults.

Student tenor trombone (£150 to £300 second hand): the standard route. Buy from a music shop or with a teacher's help; eBay bargains often hide dented slides, and a damaged slide makes the instrument unplayable.

Hire (£15 to £25 a month): sensible if you want a brass instrument sound from day one without committing. Many shops credit hire fees against later purchase.

Do not buy anything before your first lesson. Instrument advice is part of what a teacher is for, and I have saved students from plenty of false bargains.

What the first lessons cover

1. Breathing and mouthpiece buzzing
2. First sounds on the instrument and posture
3. Positions one, three and four
4. First tunes and simple reading

Three beginner mistakes

• Gripping the slide. Thumb and two fingers, lightly. Tension in the right arm becomes tension in the sound.
• Puffing cheeks. Air goes through the lips, not into them. Firm corners from the start.
• Practising rarely but long. The embouchure is muscle. Fifteen minutes daily builds it; weekend marathons just bruise it.