E4 Bassoon Fingering
How to play E4 on the bassoon: Left hand 1-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2-3.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover, and a part-filled first hole is partly covered — a quarter, a half or three quarters, exactly as the fingering states. The column down the left is the left thumb’s nine keys: the whisper key at the top, then the C♯ key, the three flick keys and the four low keys; a dashed flick key is touched only as the note starts, then released. Below them sit the left pinky’s E♭ and C♯ keys — drawn as two keys, because on the instrument they are two. The columns on the right are the right thumb’s four keys and the right pinky’s three, and the narrow key between the right hand’s second and third holes is the sliver B♭ key.
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 hole 1 with your left index finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your left ring finger. The third left-hand hole is closed by a ring key rather than a plain hole — your finger presses the ring and the pad seals the hole.
- Press the E♭ key with your left pinky — the upper of the two separate pinky keys on the long joint. (Some charts draw the E♭ and C♯ pinky keys as one merged shape; on the instrument they are two keys, and this note uses E♭.)
- Cover hole 1 with your right index finger.
- Cover hole 2 with your right middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your right ring finger.
In short: left hand 1-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2-3.
About E4 on the bassoon
The second octave is where the bassoon’s special techniques arrive together. It opens with the three partial-hole notes, where the left index finger covers a quarter, a half and three quarters of its hole; continues through the flick notes, where a thumb key is tapped at the attack and released; and closes with plainer fingerings in which the whisper key quietly retires and the thumb keys take over the work.
E4 is note 31 of the 37 in the full bassoon fingering chart, sitting between E♭4 below it and F4 above it.
Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against Yamaha’s Musical Instrument Guide bassoon chart, the Woodwind Fingering Guide’s bassoon charts and the First 5 Notes bassoon chart before publishing.
Practising E4
Practise the flick as a separate tap: finger A3 silently, tap the A flick key with the thumb, then play the note and flick at the same instant — the thumb should already be hovering over the cluster. For the partial-hole notes, work against a tuner and learn the fractions by feel; your finger cannot watch itself in a fast passage.
Questions about E4
What is the fingering for E4 on bassoon?
Left hand 1-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2-3. E4 is a second octave note on the bassoon. 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 bassoon?
Exactly E4 — the bassoon is a non-transposing instrument that reads at concert pitch in the bass clef, so written E4 sounds as concert E4. When your conductor asks for a concert E4, 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 the reference charts agree on 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.