B♭3 Bass Clarinet Fingering
How to play B♭3 on the bass clarinet: Thumb · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover. The thumb hole is on the back of the instrument, so it is drawn to the left; the clusters at the bottom are the pinky keys, and the wide key marked "Low E♭" is the bass clarinet's extension key, below the right-hand pinky keys.
Hear B♭3 and try the fingering
Pick an instrument and a note and the diagram updates instantly — filled keys are the ones you press. The same finder sits on every note page, pre-set to that note.
The B♭3 fingering, step by step
- Cover the thumb hole with your left thumb.
- Left hand: cover holes 1, 2, 3.
- Right hand: cover hole 1.
In short: thumb · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1.
About B♭3 on the bass clarinet
The chalumeau is the bass clarinet’s glory — the dark, woody low register the instrument exists for. These fingerings are the foundation of everything above them: add the register key to most of them and the same fingers produce the clarion register a twelfth higher. The register starts one note lower than the soprano’s, on the low E♭ extension key.
In this part of the low register the left hand stays completely down while the right-hand fingers lift away one at a time: A3 keeps right-hand fingers 1 and 2 down, B♭3 keeps only finger 1, and C4 lifts the whole right hand.
B♭3 is note 8 of the 34 in the full bass clarinet fingering chart, sitting between A3 below it and B3 above it.
Doubling from soprano clarinet? This is the same fingering as B♭3 on the clarinet — the Boehm fingerings are shared across the clarinet family, which is why the bass is the standard first double. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide's bass clarinet charts and Yamaha's official chart before publishing.
Practising B♭3
Low bass notes speak best with a great deal of slow, warm air. If this note cracks, gurgles or will not start, check first that the pinky keys are sealing their pads completely — the levers are long, and a half-pressed pinky key is the usual culprit down here.
Questions about B♭3
What is the fingering for B♭3 on bass clarinet?
Thumb · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1. B♭3 is a chalumeau register note on the bass clarinet. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does B♭3 sound like on a bass clarinet?
The bass clarinet is a transposing instrument in B♭ that sounds a major ninth below its written notes, so written B♭3 sounds as concert A♭2. When your band director asks for a concert A♭2, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for B♭3?
For B♭3, the fingering above is the one to learn. It is the basic fingering both reference charts give for this note, and the one teachers expect to see.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.