F♯4 Bassoon Fingering
How to play F♯4 on the bassoon: Left hand 2-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2 · right pinky F key.
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 F♯4 and try the fingering
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The F♯4 fingering, step by step
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle 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.
- Press the F key with your right pinky.
In short: left hand 2-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2 · right pinky F key.
Alternate fingering for F♯4
Left hand 2-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right thumb B♭ key · right hand 1-2.
This version reaches F♯4 with the right thumb’s B♭ key added instead of the right pinky’s F key — the two standard routes to this note in the references, one favouring each end of the right hand.
About F♯4 on the bassoon
The third octave is the bassoon’s top register in the basic charts — five notes, each assembled individually. The left index finger leaves its hole or half-covers it, the left pinky’s E♭ key anchors almost every fingering, the whisper key survives only on G4, and at the top the flick key returns in its second job, held down as part of the fingering. Above B♭4, fingerings stop being standard at all.
F♯4 opens the third octave, and the left index finger’s job changes again: after two octaves of covering and part-covering its hole, it now leaves the hole completely. The pinky keys do the work instead — the left pinky’s E♭ key is down in every note of this register in the chart, a pattern worth noticing because it anchors the hand.
F♯4 is note 33 of the 37 in the full bassoon fingering chart, sitting between F4 below it and G4 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 F♯4
Third-octave notes need firm, fast air and a still embouchure — biting makes them sharper, not surer. Check each one against a tuner, learn whether your own bassoon prefers the published alternate where one exists, and keep the left pinky’s E♭ key relaxed: it is down for most of this register and a tense pinky slows everything else.
Questions about F♯4
What is the fingering for F♯4 on bassoon?
Left hand 2-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right hand 1-2 · right pinky F key. F♯4 is a third 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 F♯4 sound like on a bassoon?
Exactly F♯4 — the bassoon is a non-transposing instrument that reads at concert pitch in the bass clef, so written F♯4 sounds as concert F♯4. When your conductor asks for a concert F♯4, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for F♯4?
Yes — Left hand 2-3 · left pinky E♭ key · right thumb B♭ key · right hand 1-2. This version reaches F♯4 with the right thumb’s B♭ key added instead of the right pinky’s F key — the two standard routes to this note in the references, one favouring each end of the right hand.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.