E4 Bass Clarinet Fingering
How to play E4 on the bass clarinet: Thumb · left 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 E4 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 E4 fingering, step by step
- Cover the thumb hole with your left thumb.
- Left hand: cover hole 1.
In short: thumb · left hand 1.
About E4 on the bass clarinet
These notes bridge the low register and the throat tones. Most of them keep the left hand fully down while the right hand opens up, which makes them a good test of whether your left-hand position is staying put on the larger keywork.
E4 is note 14 of the 34 in the full bass clarinet fingering chart, sitting between E♭4 below it and F4 above it.
Doubling from soprano clarinet? This is the same fingering as E4 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 E4
Keep the left hand down and lift only the fingers this fingering asks for. Extra lifted fingers make the pitch wander and the tone thin out — more noticeable on the bass than on the soprano.
Questions about E4
What is the fingering for E4 on bass clarinet?
Thumb · left hand 1. E4 is a middle 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 E4 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 E4 sounds as concert D3. When your band director asks for a concert D3, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for E4?
For E4, 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.