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Clarinet Fingering Chart: Notes from Low E to High C
Clarinet fingering chart for the B♭ clarinet, written low E to high C. See the holes and keys for every note, hear it, and print the full chart.
Pick a written note. Use the arrow keys to move to the next note.
Written note
Fingering options
Keys and holes
Where these fingerings come from
About the Clarinet Fingering Chart
This clarinet fingering chart shows which keys and holes to press for each written note on a Boehm-system B♭ clarinet, from E3 to C6. It runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install. Pick a note and the page draws a fingering diagram with the pressed keys filled in, names those keys in plain words, and shows the note on a treble staff with its concert-pitch sound. The chart covers the chalumeau, throat tone and clarion registers, and lists an alternate fingering wherever one is commonly used. You can use it to learn the notes, check a tricky fingering, or print a reference sheet for the whole range.
How to use the clarinet fingering chart
- Find the group labelled “Octave 3” (or the octave you need) and click a note button. Black-key notes show two spellings, such as C♯4 and D♭4.
- Read the fingering diagram and the “Keys and holes” list below it. The list names each key in words.
- Check the treble staff for the written note, and the “Sounds” line for the concert pitch.
- If a “Fingering options” row appears, click an alternate to switch the diagram and key list.
- Click “Play the sounding pitch” to hear the concert pitch. Tick “Play the note when I pick it” if you want each note to sound as you choose it.
- Move to the next note with “Higher note” or “Lower note”, or use the arrow keys. Right and Up go higher, Left and Down go lower, and Home and End jump to the ends of the range.
“Print the full chart” opens your browser’s print dialog and prints the whole range as small diagrams on one page. The address in your browser updates as you click, using a note value and an alternate value. For example, adding note=C#5 to the address opens C♯5 directly. You can bookmark that address or send it to someone. An unknown value is ignored, and the default note C4 is shown instead.
What are the clarinet notes for beginners?#
The chart covers 33 written notes, from E3 to C6, on a B♭ clarinet. The range is divided into three registers. The chalumeau register runs from E3 to F♯4, the throat tones run from G4 to B♭4, and the clarion register runs from B4 to C6. The thumb hole, which is worked by the left thumb, is covered for E3 to F4 and for the whole clarion register. It is open for the throat tones. The register key, also under the left thumb, is pressed from B♭4 upward.
Written notes are not the notes you hear. A B♭ clarinet sounds a major second lower than written. Written C4 sounds B♭3, and written E3 sounds D3. Read the written note on the page, and the instrument will sound it a whole tone lower in pitch.
How to read a clarinet fingering chart?#
Each diagram is a picture of the instrument’s keys and holes. Filled shapes are pressed, and empty shapes are open. Holes are grouped by hand. Left hand 1, 2 and 3 are the three holes for the left hand’s index, middle and ring fingers, and Right hand 1, 2 and 3 are the matching holes for the right hand. The side keys, the little finger keys and the sliver keys are named after their position. The “Keys and holes” list gives the same information in words, so you can check the picture against it.
The treble staff shows the written pitch, not the sounding pitch. The chart shows one standard fingering for each note. When a second fingering is useful, for example for a trill or a passage, it appears under “Fingering options”.
What is the break on the clarinet?#
The break is the step from the throat tones to the clarion register, for example from written B♭4 to B4. B♭4 uses only the A key and the register key, while B4 needs the thumb hole, all six finger holes, a little-finger key and the register key. Step through B♭4, B4 and C5 on the chart to see how many fingers move at once.