Trombone Doodle Tonguing - Part 1-4 DigitalTrombone

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Trombone lesson: Doodle Tonguing – Part 1 INTRODUCTION TO DOODLE TONGUING If you are a trombone player with some interest in jazz, chances are great that you heard about doodle tonguing. It is a technique that enables you to play fast lines much smoother than with double tongue (this is NOT double tongue for brass players!). Playing fast lines on the trombone is actually more a question about articulation than being able to move slide fast enough. Since trombones don´t have keys or valves, we have to articulate different than other wind players, tonguing all the notes, possibly combined with natural legato where possible. Where double tongue is well suited for fast marcato and staccato playing, doodle tongue is perfect for fast legato playing. If you are a jazz player, you probably know that double tongue just doesn´t sound right when you play a fast line of swing eight´s. It is hard to get the swing phrasing right, and the notes get too short. With doodle tonguing, there is kind of a built in swing phrasing that makes it perfect for jazz! Some players have a really fast single tongue, and hardly ever uses double or doodle tongue, but if you (like me) are not one of them, you will probably find doodle tonguing very helpful. I use doodle tonguing a lot, combined with natural legato, and I would not be able to play much of what I do without this technique. It was a real life changing (ok, trombone changing,) experience when I first learned it, and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities on the horn!

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So what is it? The difference between the three main tonguing techniques; single tongue, double tongue and doodle tongue, is in practice this: Single tongue tu-tu-tu-tu or du-du-du-du Double tongue tu-ku-tu-ku or du-gu-du-gu Doodle tongue doo-dle doo-dle doo-dle doo-dle (or do-ul do-ul) If you are just starting to learn doodle tonguing, I strongly suggest that you take a few lessons in person with a good teacher who is familiar with the technique to make sure that you get it right from start. To get started right away, here are some basic exercises you can use to get a irst feel of doodle tongue. 1. Say it out loud in different tempos “doodle doodle doodle doodle doodle doodle,” 2. Now do it with only air (without the instrument) as if you where blowing in the horn. Start real slow and make sure that the air flow is pretty much the same both on the doo and the dle attack. Try holding your hand in front of your mouth and feel the air flow. Compare the feel of the air on your hand with a normal tu-tu tongue and doodle tongue. If there is a big difference, try to make the doodle-air stream feel as smooth as the single tongue air stream. 3. Try it on the horn! Just pick a mid range note and try it real slow. In the beginning, you will probably experience that the second half of the (the -dle part) tends to disappear or be more slurry than the first part. Just keep the tempo very slow until you get a decent attack an both sounds. 4. Wait for my Doodle Tonguing – Part 2!

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5. Find a teacher to help you hands on. Send me an e-mail if you are interested in lessons in the Copenhagen area or the south of Sweden! HERE ARE SOME GREAT EXAMPLES OF DOODLE PLAYING: Frank Rosolino – the doodle master

Bill Watrous in action

Carl Fontana – check out the part where he play on his own, it´s so smooth and elegant!

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Conrad Herwig and Peter Dahlgren, two doodle masters (trombone solos start at 3:55)

Elliot Mason in What Is This Thing Called Love

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As I mentioned, I use this technique a lot as well, you can hear samples of me using doodle tonguing here and here.

Blocked address 5 THOUGHTS ON “TROMBONE LESSON: DOODLE TONGUING – PART 1”

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Ingemar Lindgren on September 22, 2011 at 10:49 said:

Hello! I miss at least one important name here: Bob McChesney, who has written a study for doodle tonguing called “Doodle studies and etudes” which in very small steps teach doodle tonguing. Check it out at his website. As an old hobby player I came across this just a couple of years ago and I have come halfway. It has helped me a lot. I actually think You should learn doodle tonguing from the very beginning as it helps a lot when playing melody lines and keep up a steady airflow on the trombone and of course also to play more relaxed (and faster)

king2b on December 9, 2011 at 14:53 said:

Ingemar, I totally agree that doodle should be something you learn at an early stage, it is a very useful technique in many occasions!

John R Simmonds on July 3, 2012 at 03:24 said:

Inspirational!

Frank McLeod on November 27, 2012 at 16:50 said:

Ingemar, I am one of those trombone players who began at 12 y/o

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with instruction from a violinist, I developed bad techniques, breathing, embouchure and all. It was worsened during college marching band days. At 55, I joined my church orchestra and began to work on some problems. I am now 69 and just got my breathing going properly and have just learned legato tonguing with a dah method. I am working on it and am beginning to hear and see a difference in my legato technique. I am wanting to try to expand it a little more to doodle tonguing. I know I will never reach the level the way you show it on your site, but, man, what great demonstrations of what can be accomplished. Thanks for the site and the lessons on doodle tonguing. I printed off the basic exercises and can’t wait to really begin daily putting them to good use. Again, thanks for your help. Maybe this old dog can learn a few new tricks!!

king2b on December 4, 2012 at 08:54 said:

Hi Frank! Go for it with the doodle tounge! Just make sure to start really slow so you get a nice, smooth and equal attack on all tones. Let me know how it works out for you! Anders

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Trombone lesson: Doodle Tonguing – Part 2 DOODLE TONGUING – BASIC EXERCISES This is the second part of a series of articles about doodle tonguing, and this time I want to share a few basic exercises to improve both speed and precision when using doodle tongue. I recommend that you take a few lessons with a doodling trombone player if you are new in this field to ensure that you get it right from the beginning. As usual, it is a lot easier to learn something the right way right away, rather than changing bad habits later! The main use of doodle tongue is when you play fast legato lines, but to get there you should make sure that you can play it slow as well. The following exercises are all basic, and are designed to allow you to focus on getting the attacks perfect. I already explained the use of doodle tongue playing eight notes. Now it is time to try play doodle triplets! Once you get used to them, I believe you will find them very usefull. Regular doodle tongue: do-dle do-dle Triplet doodle tongue: do-dle-do do-dle-do You don´t have to aim for playing all of the exercises at once, or play all patterns in all keys. Focus on quality rather than quantity when you practice doodle tonguing (and everything else for that matter3).

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In part 3, I will show some great exercises that will help you build up speed and strength – you can look forward to the sensation of lactic acid in your tongue. There are only a small handful of Websites in the world offering this service!

PS. Remember to sign up for the newsletter and get a free Jazz Etude! Find the sign up form at in the right column of the top of the page. If you are new to doodle tonguing, I suggest that you take a look here first: Introduction to doodle tonguing

Blocked address 8 THOUGHTS ON “TROMBONE LESSON: DOODLE TONGUING – PART 2”

Jens Holmegaard on December 23, 2010 at 15:47 said:

Thank you very much for introducing your site on the web, Anders. Just what I´ve been looking for for years. As a selfmade trombonist, I hope – with your help – to correct myself and my bad habits.

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Anders on December 23, 2010 at 22:42 said:

Thanks Jens, I´m glad you can use the stuff I post here, that is, of course, kind of the idea with the site!

Peter on February 22, 2011 at 14:01 said:

Thanks a lot Anders! You can’t imagine how difficult it is to learn doodle tonguing in Poland, where most trombonists don’t even know about it. I’ve been struggling with it for about a year now and thanks to You and a few other people, who publish their insights on the internet, I’m finally getting more and more proficient!

king2b on February 22, 2011 at 14:13 said:

Peter, your kind of comments is what makes me keep posting stuff on digitaltrombone.com, thanks for letting me know that you find it useful! Cheers, Anders

Bob wetherall on April 10, 2011 at 03:43 said:

Nice, useful stuff!

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king2b on May 11, 2011 at 09:57 said:

Thanks Bob! Please let me know if there are other topics you want to read about! Anders

charles ward on July 27, 2011 at 06:59 said:

I think you are outstanding in your presentation and it’s very helpful for trombone players like myself.Iwill like to know a few things about you where can i find the book or dvd that demonstrate how to doodle tongue and what book you study arrangaing from, in a few weeks i’ll be buying your book 10 etudes for trombone.

Anders on July 27, 2011 at 22:43 said:

Hi Charles Thanks for the very kind words. The doodle studies (and all other exercises) here are based on my own experiences, and they are currently only available here at digitaltrombone.com, but I am sure that there are good books and DVD´s out there on the subject. Cheers, Anders

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Trombone lesson: Doodle Tonguing – Part 3 BUILDING UP ON SPEED AND STRENGTH Doodle tonguing is the perfect weapon for jazz trombone players who want to play fast and smooth melody lines. It is a technique for legato playing with built in swing phrasing! Once you have the basics in place, and feel comfortable playing with doodle tongue, it is time to work on speed and strength. I use these exercises a lot, both to improving and maintaining my doodle skills. They are very useful, regardless if you just have begun mastering doodle tongue, or if you have been using the technique for centuries. Use a metronome, and pick a tempo where you can play the exercises with great control and precision, and increase the tempo as you improve. Don´t to set the tempo too high! That might make you feel cool in the practice room, but you will sound bad on stage1 Playing these exercises is actually quite hard, and you will strengthen muscles in and around the tongue. And in the same way your legs can feel numb and stiff after a long run, your tongue might feel a bit big and clumsy after a hard doodle work out. So don´t run all the exercises through half an hour before you go on stage to play a concert! Been there, done that, bad idea1 I have written the patterns up to a medium high or high range. Find your own limits, and make sure it fits you, either by expanding the range even more, or by not playing the full range of the exercises. In exercise 1, is it

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important that you play it chromatically all the way down again. So find out how high you can go, and still have chops left to complete the exercise down to the low E. If you use these exercises daily for a period of time, I promise that you will improve, both rapidly and a lot! As with all physical training, you have to do this kind of exercises regularly to stay in shape, but the good thing is that you don´t have to spend hours on it. 10-15 minutes a day should enough to keep your doodling skills at a high level once you got it down and use it as an integrated part of your trombone playing.

Previous articles in this series: Trombone Doodle Tonguing – Part 1 Trombone Doodle Tonguing – Part 2 PS. Remember to sign up for the newsletter and get a free Jazz Etude! Find the sign up form at in the right column of the top of the page.

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Trombone lesson: Doodle Tonguing – Part 4 DOODLE TONGUING IN A JAZZ CONTEXT In the previous articles in this series, I have talked about the fundamental of doodle tonguing, basic and advanced exercises. Doodle tongue is the perfect solution for all jazz trombone players who want to be able to play fast and precise legato lines. This time I want to share some patterns and exercises that I have found to be very useful. This is stuff that I use a lot when I play improvised jazz solos. Let´s get started! MIXING TONGUING TECHNIQUES Doodling is great, but in real life, you probably end up mixing both doodle tongue, single tongue and natural legato with great results. In this bebop example, I have noted it the way I probably would play it. That doesn´t mean that there is only one solution, try it out and find out what is most comfortable for you. Basically, it is all about comfort, and making things as easy as possible to play for you.

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PENTATONIC SCALES Pentatonic scales are very useful in a improvised jazz solo. They are very playable on the trombone in most keys, and they sound great over many chords. Try playing a E minor pentatonic scale over a Fmajor7 chord. Here you get the major 7, 9th, 3rd, #11 and 6th of the Fmajor7 chord, served ias a well known pentatonic scale. Or try the E minor pentatonic scale over a Db7#9 chord (or a Db7altered chord). This time, the same pattern consists of the #9, #11, b13, 7th and b9. That is a lot of juicy notes to get out of a simple pentatonic scale! I suggest that you work on all the twelve pentatonic scales, playing them in different patterns. This is a real good doodle tongue workout at the same time! Try hitting different chords on the piano with the sustain pedal, and play a suitable pentatonic scale on the horn on top of it. Example: Gbmajor7, Dbmajor7 or D7alt on the piano – Fm pentatonic scale on the horn Bbmajor7, Fmajor7 or Gb7alt on the piano – Am pentatonic scale on the horn and so on> You can find some useful pentatonic patterns here. MAJOR SCALES You need to be very familiar with all the major scales on the instrument. Using them to work on doodle tonguing is a good idea. The major scale is extremely useful when you are a jazz improviser. There are 4 trillion chords where it is an obviuos choice in one of its modes: major, major7, 13, minor7, minor6, minor9 etc.

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This pattern is one I use a lot, both for doodling and to make sure all the scales in all the modes are up to date. Full version here ALTERED SCALES The mahjor scales are fundamental for a lot of improvised jazz solos, but they are also a bit plain, and without spicing things up a bit, it can be a bit boring with too much major scales. The altered scale has this little edge to it, that can help you put some colour to your solo. The same altered scale can be used in many different chords with great result. Here are some examples, based on a C altered scale: C7alt Gb13#11 Dd- major7 Db-7, -9 (it works great, even if there are some “wrong” notes” Bb-7b5 To turn the altered scales into a killer doodle exercise, I suggest that you try this pattern. This way you will play all twelve keys, starting on every note in the scale in all keys.

The complete exercise is here Previous articles in this series: Trombone Doodle Tonguing – Part 1 Trombone Doodle Tonguing – Part 2 Trombone Doodle Tonguing – Part 3 PS. Remember to sign up for the newsletter and get a free Jazz Etude! Find the sign up form at in the right column of the top of the page.

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Trombone Doodle Tonguing - Part 1-4 DigitalTrombone

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