Brass Tactics

Brass Tactics will answer every question you have about owning and operating a brass instrument!

Author and jazz trumpeter Chase Sanborn combines real-world advice with a sense of humor, speaking directly to the reader with a friendly and accessible style that has created fans around the world. Whether you are a professional, student, hobbyist or comeback player, Brass Tactics will help you reach your goals.

You will learn what, when and how to practice, and will gain valuable insight into the world of the modern brass player. You will learn how to put together a comprehensive and efficient practice routine that addresses all aspects of playing a brass instrument. You will learn about equipment, gigs, teaching, lead playing and many other important yet rarely-discussed aspects of the brass player’s musical life.

There are limited quantities of Brass Tactics still available.

BRASS TACTICS CD AND DVD

For those who still have the technology to play them, Brass Tactics comes with a free DVD and CD that accompany the text. 

IS IT AVAILABLE IN PDF?

This question is asked often, especially by international customers for whom shipping represents a substantial cost.

From an author's viewpoint, eliminating the printing, stocking and shipping would save a lot of time and money while reducing costs for readers. Still, I have resisted publishing digitally, and here's why:

One-time reads, e.g., a novel,  magazine or newspaper, are very effective in digital format. I feel that reference books that may be used repeatedly for years are more effective in print form, that you'll reach for a printed copy of a book on your shelf more often than you will a digital file hidden on your hard drive, and that you're better able to grasp the overall expanse of a book by thumbing through it and opening to individual pages. I feel like I can make a connection with a reader better with a printed book (signed and shipped by the author, just sayin'...) than with a digital file transmitted anonymously.

 

For perspective: The price of a book, even with international shipping, is less than the cost of a one-hour private lesson. Perhaps making the investment to get the book into your hands will incline you to make full use of it. More use = greater value.

 

Finally, there are quite a few videos on YouTube which are of course free for everyone. Purchasing a book can be seen as a way to support the channel.

 

Not everyone will agree with my reasoning, but now you have it. 

Brass Tactics is the first really sensible and fun book for today’s trumpeters. The information is realistic, encouraging, and comprehensible.

Bobby Shew (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Brass Tactics gives students a complete approach to the basics and beyond, while providing a comprehensive guide to the other important and pertinent literature that they will be utilizing all of their musical life. It is an invaluable resource!

Marvin Stamm (New York, NY)

 

Chase Sanborn has a uniquely logical approach to playing the trumpet, with the musical part of this challenging endeavor always in mind. Brass Tactics is a must for every trumpet player’s library.

Ron Romm (Sarasota, FL)

 

Brass Tactics is an amazingly effective and comprehensive method book. Chase Sanborn is a GREAT trumpet player who knows EXACTLY what he’s talking about!

Jens Lindemann (UCLA)

 

Brass Tactics is the coolest trumpet/brass technique book I have ever seen. There’s some pretty funny stuff in there too! Brass Tactics rocks!

Adolfo Acosta (Tower of Power)

 

Brass Tactics is a first-class method that is clear and concise.

Jim Thompson (Eastman School of Music)

 

I am incredibly impressed by the clarity of thought, the attention to detail, and the very correct ideas that are presented in Brass Tactics. Chase Sanborn’s book is excellent for the beginner, but is also completely relevant to any professional. Absolutely fantastic!

Andrew McCandless (Toronto Symphony)

 

Brass Tactics provides a practical and all-encompassing guide to playing while plugging you into the real world as a brass player. Chase is the Marcella Hazan of brass playing!

Guido Basso (Boss Brass)

 

Brass Tactics shows you how to handle yourself in any professional or amateur situation. No trumpet player, at any stage, should be without this book.

Dennis Najoom (Milwaukee Symphony)

 

Brass Tactics offers a comprehensive wealth of information, written by a widely-experienced player who has the ability to pass on his experiences in a positive and encouraging way.

Eddie Severn (Birmingham, UK)

 

FINALLY, someone has written a brass book with the correct priorities!

Paul Navarro (Lyric Opera of Chicago)

 

Brass Tactics provides welcome insight into the world of the modern professional musician. For the advancing player who is serious about his art, or anyone considering a career as a professional trumpet player, this book is a must-read.

Review: International Trumpet Guild Journal

 

I have never seen so much valuable information, not only about playing the instrument, but about every other aspect of being a musician covered so completely.

Phyllis Stork (Stork Custom Mouthpieces)

 

Brass Tactics is a very important text for all trumpet players!

David Baldwin (University of Minnesota)

 

Chase Sanborn’s books feature a humorous style that makes them a joy to read.

Ole Utnes (Tonsberg, Norway)

 

Brass Tactics is written from a successful working trumpet player’s perspective and covers topics that I have never seen in a method book.

Larry Larson (London, ON)

 

Brass Tactics covers every detail; there is nothing one could add.

Rainer Schmidt (Toronto, ON)

 

Brass Tactics should be in the hands of every trumpet player.

Jack Long (Long & McQuade Music)

 

Brass Tactics is clearly written and humorous, and gives the player a bona fide real view of the professional trumpeter.

Daniel Parker (North Carolina)

 

Those of us in the trenches have needed this book for some time!

Merle McCoy (Portage, MI)

 

Brass Tactics shows that you are never too to learn or be inspired!

Albert Benton (Broken Arrow, OK)

 

Brass Tactics offers authoritative instruction, acknowledges alternative schools of thought, points out areas of unresolved controversy, and manages to balance it all with sage and homely advice.

John McBurney

 

Chase Sanborn has done an incredibly thorough job of compiling and organizing a vast amount of knowledge, hints, tips, and techniques that few trumpet players have the opportunity to learn.

Steve Eckart (Chico, CA)

 

I have spent nearly $80,000 in tuition to learn a fraction of what I’ve learned reading Brass Tactics in only a few days!

Jason Harrelson (Northfield, MN)

 

Just the first 25 pages are worth the price of the book!

Dennis Hill (Laguna Hills, CA)

 

Brass Tactics has made returning to playing enjoyable and easier than I had expected, and taught me many things that I wish I had learned the first time around.

Tony Miller (Auburn, Maine)

 

One thing I have learned: do not take Brass Tactics to bed! Once you start, there is no putting it down!

Jeff Gibbons (Robe, South Australia)

 

The Brass Tactics CD is very helpful; it’s one thing to read about a concept, but quite another to actually hear what it should sound like. It gives the reader a target to shoot for.

Marty Markiewicz (Rochester Hills, MI)

 

On the Brass Tactics CD, Chase Sanborn shows that he can play everything he writes about, at times sounding like he has four lungs! What a lovely player!

Mike Gibbs (New Zealand)

 

Brass Tactics covers all the basics and more in great detail, yet maintains a very conversational tone.

Gary Maki (Ypsilanti, MI)

 

Brass Tactics is like a road map for the world of trumpet playing.

Rick Head (Memphis, TN)

 

I’ve spent over $4000 in private lessons and only learned half as much as I did in the two days I borrowed Brass Tactics from one of my colleagues.

Richard W. Muellerleile

 

Brass Tactics is an incredible collection of comments and ideas. I’ve never seen a book that has it all like this one does.

Chuck Vavra (Arco Technology)

 

Brass Tactics is absolutely the best book I have in my collection. I read it completely about once a month just to keep on track.

Gabe Hill (Tahlequah, OK)

 

Brass Tactics is the most complete work on trumpet playing that I have ever seen!

Rune Aleksandersen (Norway)

 

The writing is refreshing and no avenue remains unexplored.

Tony Farrell (Nottingham, England)

 

Brass Tactics is as thorough and clear as any book I have ever seen and I’ve seen most of them!

Scott Apelgren (Melbourne, FL)

 

The accompanying CD alone is worth every penny!

Lawrence Killian (West Yorkshire, UK)

 

Brass Tactics is very thorough and clear, and the information is conveyed in a friendly, funny manner.

Donovan Bankhead

 

Chase Sanborn has distilled the best of the best.

Bob List (Baltimore, MD)

 

Brass Tactics is precisely the kind of book I’ve been looking for-it’s helped organize my practice routine and has cleared a lot of things up. The sharp writing is an added bonus!

Kyle Sarofeen (Cambridge, MA)

 

Chase Sanborn’s books are incredible. The content is fantastic, and I LOVE the conversational tone of the text.

Rich Hartsuiker

 

Never before has any trumpet manual hit me with so much pure truth. At last I understand!

Elizabeth Wilson (Riyadh , Saudi Arabia)