Trombone playing hurts!

[Gary]

I'm a trumpet player learning trombone. I hold the trombone exactly (I think) just like standard photos I see. But it hurts to hold the horn. I also feel weight on my right hand and, for freedom of the slide right hand, shouldn't I feel no weight on my right hand?

Reference: I play a "Urbie Green" lightweight horn.

Any tips, or is this just something I have to grow into? Thanks.

[BGuttman]

We need to see what you are really doing. It shouldn't hurt.

And you shouldn't be seeing the problem many F-attachment players experience because the Martin Urbit is a straight horn.

You have to be doing something wrong, and it should be easy to fix.

[Doug Elliott]

Well... I invite anybody who thinks it shouldn't hurt your left hand to play left handed and see what that feels like on your right hand.

Yes, it hurts and you have to get used to the holding position.

[brassmedic]

You should be able to hold it up with the left hand alone. You are correct that the right hand should not feel the weight of the instrument. Post a picture of yourself holding the trombone; I bet someone here can figure out what's going on.

[baileyman]

No one designed the thing to be held.

[harrisonreed]

Not by humans anyway. Note that the oldest depictions of the trombone show them being played by angels and space aliens. When the last trombone sounds, they'll be the ones playing it.

[Doubler]

@ baileyman & harrisonreed... Amen.

[Gary]

Thanks, folks.

[AuntieAmanda]

Does your trombone have a counterweight? It sounds like maybe it doesn’t, so it’s front-heavy, throwing lots of weight on the side of your middle finger or ring finger, and onto the slide - right?

Some think it’s fashionable, or maybe macho, to remove counterweights. Or that it improves the sound. But it does make trombones very front-heavy. You can add a counterweight, and it may help.

Even with a counterweight, though, my experience was that, for the first ten years or so, prolonged playing really hurt the side of my left-hand middle finger. Then a callus developed and it stopped hurting.