How the chops work: A picture guide

This book contains 69 pictures and diagrams showing how all of the major embouchures make compression.

It shows how curl works, how and why compression fights the air so much easier than tension, what the chops should look like playing different trumpet embouchures in different registers.

Embouchures covered are:

• Buzzing embouchure
• Farkas
• Lip Overlap
• Maggio Pucker
• Stevens Lip Curl
• Super Chops
• Tongue controlled embouchure (TCE)
• Types of tongue arches

Trumpet Embouchure Guide – Chops Picture Method

For trumpet players, learning how the embouchure — or what musicians call the “chops” — really works can create a huge difference in both tone and endurance. I know many musicians who have been practicing for years and still don’t understand how lips, air and mouthpiece interact. Making this a simpler way of picturing it—and relatable because, who doesn’t know what going downhills feels like— is the Chops Picture Method which makes understanding the mechanics as visual as possible.

Seeing how this embouchure works will allow players to make better adjustments while practicing.