Brass Instrument Fingering Chart

On the previous page where I discussed some of the science, I promised a fingering chart, so if you're learning, or you've found an old tuba in the loft and fancy a blow, this may help. In the diagram, the left-hand valve is the valve nearest you on a cornet or trumpet, or the valve on your left if a horn, euphonium or bass (or similar). Either way, it's the valve under your index finger (left-handed playing not generally allowed). This is called the First Valve.

Note that, for instance, C and G have the same fingering (and D and G alternative if it comes to that). This means that they're different harmonics, and the only way to get the note is to get the instrument vibrating at a higher frequency. I said there was some skill involved!

Alternative Fingering

Looking at the fingering chart below, you can see that I've included 'alternative' fingerings. How do these work? Easy really. If you recall on the science page, I talked about how each valve drops the pitch of the instrument by a fixed amount. Take the Third Valve for instance. This drops the pitch by three semitones. Coincidentally (yeah, really), that's the same amount you get by presing down the first and second valves together. So, in my chart below, wherever you see first and second valves in conjunction, you could substiture third valve. There's another category of alternatives that results from the alignment of harmonics and tube lengths. That's where, for instance, B on either second, or first and third valves comes from. The one on first and third is from a much lower harmonic than the one on second.

Why use 'em? It helps to know where all the alternatives are because, if you're like me, you need all the help you can getting the notes in! Also, it can help a lot with tuning issues.

Other (cough) instruments

If you're looking for help with a trombone, I apologise. I don't do trombones. My only playing skills are with valved brass instruments (in which category I don't include French Horns!) and violins (which are something of a scourge to hardened brass players!!).

Putting it all together

I've written a little Flash animation so you can see how all this lot works when you put it together. It needs the Flash6 player from Macromedia's web site. The animation covers just over an octave, but is chromatic. Used in conjunction with the fingering charts, it should give you a start. I'd just like to say at this point that the animation is my first 'production' Flash animation. It may not be much, but I'm proud of it

You thought you were getting the hang of it?

Just when you thought you'd got it sussed, something else comes along to complicate the issue....

If you've tried playing along with a piano, recorder, flute etc, you may have already noticed that when you play a C, your colleague isn't playing a C.

Cornets (and trumpets), baritones, euphoniums, tenor trombones and Bb basses are (and there's a clue in there), pitched in Bb. Soprano (Eb) cornets, tenor horns and Eb basses (two clues!) are in Eb. What does that mean?

Well, when I blow a C on my cornet, it actually sounds as a concert Bb. If I blew a C on a tenor horn, it would sound as a concert Eb. Why? Haven't a clue. I can explain the Eb / Bb bit. It provides for overlapping ranges and a greater depth of tone colour. It also makes sop cornet players feel important because they can get higher notes than anyone else. Let's face it, they have to have something to make them feel useful.

Coming soon

I'll get our principal trom play to (try and) explain how all the 'position' nonsense works on those sludgepumps they play.

Note name	Valves		Alternative	Comments
C				Typically called "bottom C". It's written as the C on the first leger line below the stave. To get it, relax and blow. When you're about as low as you can comfortably get, this is probably the note you're playing!
C# / Db
D
D# / Eb
E
F
F# / Gb
G
G# / Ab
A
A# / Bb
B
C				Tuning may be poor
C# / Db
D
D# / Eb
E
F
F# / Gb
G
G# / Ab
A
A# / Bb
B
C