I am new to trumpet, bought one recently and here's what I found:
The trumpet looks like Bb kind:
I googled Bb trumpet fingerings (e.g. this) and they all say that all open valves (and lowest note) should give me C note.
However, the lowest note on all open walves on my trumpet sound Bb, I checked it with the piano.
So the question is: what am I doing wrong? Is that the trumpet or my bad playing?
Don't worry, everything is as expected.
Trumpet is a transposing instrument. If you play the note that a trumpeter would call 'C', it's really a Bb. We say that a trumpet is written a major second higher than it sounds.
You're not the first person to be confused by this. If you search for terms like 'transposing instrument' and 'concert pitch', you'll find out a lot more information. There's various historical and practical reasons why this is the case.
Some very quick examples I found on this topic:
Could B♭ instruments be built in C? Why are they in B♭ in the first place?
Why do instruments have a key?
What is a transposing instrument?
Trumpet - Should I think in concert pitch or not?
Which tone names should I learn on a transposing instrument like a saxophone?
