Hi, high school bass trombone player here. Do you guys have any exercises that you like to use on notes below the staff to get them to start quick and be tounged easier? Thanks.

Make sure the chops start together. Keep the air speed a bit slower as you go lower- lots of air, but not too fast.

Alan Raph had a great exercise that helps the trigger register.

Start on E (T2). Set a metronome at q-80 (or whatever tempo is comfortable). Play 4 whole notes (breathe in between). Play 8 half notes (breathe every other). Play 16 quarter notes (breathe every 4). Play 32 eighth notes (breathe every 8). Play 48 triplet eighths. Play 64 sixteenths. Concentrate on clean starts for each note. Now move down 1/2 step to Eb (T3). Repeat the whole thing. Same for D, Db, and C (and into lower notes if you have two valves). You will probably find that your articulations start to get really bad somewhere around D or Db. If you are having trouble, stop for the day and try again tomorrow.

Note that this exercise won't fix your problems in a few hours or even a few days. It takes a LOT of work. But if you put it in, you will be rewarded.

Believe in Raph! When I was adding bass bone to my tenor, my teacher recommended Raph exercises. Two weeks later we were working through Boris Grigoriev's Fifty Etudes, and he asked "how did you get your pedals working so well?" "Doing what you recommended" was my answer.

Here he is demonstrating the exercise

<YOUTUBE id="ikuXR_MU3KI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikuXR_MU3KI</YOUTUBE>

[quote="BGuttman"]Alan Raph had a great exercise that helps the trigger register.

Start on E (T2). Set a metronome at q-80 (or whatever tempo is comfortable). Play 4 whole notes (breathe in between). Play 8 half notes (breathe every other). Play 16 quarter notes (breathe every 4). Play 32 eighth notes (breathe every 8). Play 48 triplet eighths. Play 64 sixteenths. Concentrate on clean starts for each note. Now move down 1/2 step to Eb (T3). Repeat the whole thing. Same for D, Db, and C (and into lower notes if you have two valves). You will probably find that your articulations start to get really bad somewhere around D or Db. If you are having trouble, stop for the day and try again tomorrow.

Note that this exercise won't fix your problems in a few hours or even a few days. It takes a LOT of work. But if you put it in, you will be rewarded.[/quote]

Thanks for this! Definitely going to add in my routine.

Try playing low Bb with a small mouth volume. Then open up for the pedal. Some set, bigger mouth volume. Go back and forth.