Free online tool
Flute Fingering Chart: Every Note from C4 to C7
Flute fingering chart with a diagram for every note from low C to high C. Pick a note to see the keys, hear it, see it on the staff and print the 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 Flute Fingering Chart
This flute fingering chart shows which keys to press for any note on a Boehm C flute, from C4 (middle C) to C7 (high C). Pick a written note and the chart draws the fingering diagram, names the keys in plain words, and can play the sounding pitch. It runs in your web browser, is free, and needs no sign-up. Nothing you enter is uploaded.
Use it as a beginner flute fingering chart for learning single notes, a flute notes chart for looking up one note at a time, or a printable flute finger chart for the whole range. B3 appears only on flutes with a B foot. The chart shows one standard fingering for each note, plus any listed alternates. It does not listen to your playing or check your pitch.
How to use the Flute fingering chart
- Find the note you want under its octave group, such as “Octave 4” or “Octave 5”. The octave number is the octave of the written note.
- Read the big note name at the top. Black-key notes show their usual spelling, with “= enharmonic” and the other spelling underneath. The small treble staff shows the written note.
- Look at the diagram. Pressed keys and holes are filled in; open ones are empty.
- Read the “Keys and holes” list for the same fingering in words, such as “B thumb lever, Left hand 1, Left hand 2, E♭ key (right little finger)” for A4. Read any note-specific sentence below it.
- If “Fingering options” appears, click an alternate to switch the diagram and the key list. Click “Standard” to go back.
- Check the “Sounds” line for the concert pitch. Click “Play the sounding pitch” to hear it for 1.3 seconds.
- To hear each note as you pick it, tick “Play the note when I pick it.” The browser remembers this setting.
- Move to other notes with “Lower note” and “Higher note,” or with the arrow keys. Right and Up go higher, Left and Down go lower, and Home and End jump to the ends of the range.
The page address updates as you click (for example note=C#5), so you can bookmark or share that link. “Print the full chart” prints the whole range in black ink on white paper, as a grid of small diagrams on about one page.
What is a flute fingering guide?#
A flute fingering guide lists the keys and holes you press for each note. This chart uses the Boehm C flute, a non-transposing instrument, so the sounding pitch matches the written pitch. Each note has one standard fingering, and a few have alternates that help with tone or tuning.
How to read a flute fingering chart?#
Each diagram shows the keys you press as filled shapes and the open keys as empty ones. The left hand’s first three fingers (index, middle, ring) cover the top holes, and the G♯ key sits under the left little finger. The right hand’s first three fingers do the same job on the lower holes. The right little finger works the E♭ key, and the thumb works the B lever. Lower keys include low C♯, low C and low B. Trill keys D and D♯ are used only for a few high notes.
Why does the E♭ key stay down for most high notes?#
From E4 upward, the E♭ key (right little finger) is held for most notes, because it vents the flute and balances it. It is up for low C, C♯ and D, for D5, and in this chart for B♭6, B6 and C7; B♭6 and B6 use a trill key instead.
Why do the octaves look different from each other?#
The second octave, from E5 to C♯6, repeats the keys of E4 to C♯5. The flute produces the higher octave by overblowing the same pattern. D5 is different from D4: it uses the thumb, left 2 and 3, and all of the right hand, without left 1. The third octave, from D6 to C7, has its own vent fingerings, so it cannot be worked out from the lower octaves.
What do the two names on a black key mean?#
Black-key notes have two names for the same pitch. C♯4 and D♭4 are the same note and the same fingering on the flute, so the chart shows both spellings. The usual spelling is shown on top, and the other is smaller underneath. Both names sound at the same concert pitch.
What do “Fingering options” mean?#
Some notes have a second fingering that works in certain situations. Only B♭4 and B♭5 have one in this chart. Their alternate uses the B♭ thumb lever with left 1 and the E♭ key, in place of the standard thumb and right 1. The page notes when to choose an alternate.
Where do the fingerings come from?#
The chart draws on the source pages listed under “Where these fingerings come from.” Where the sources disagree on a note, the chart follows one source. For B♭6, the chart follows the Woodwind Fingering Guide, which uses a trill key with the E♭ key up. For B6, it uses the D♯ trill key.