Brass Fingering Charts
Brass fingering charts for the whole family in one place — trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, french horn, trombone, tuba, euphonium and baritone horn. Brass fingering is simpler than woodwind fingering: three valves, seven slide positions, and one idea underneath all of it — anything that makes the tube longer makes the note lower.
One idea, two mechanisms
Pressing valve 2 drops the pitch a semitone, valve 1 a whole tone, valve 3 a tone and a half; combine them and you can reach every note in the chromatic scale. The trombone does the same job continuously, with seven slide positions that match the seven valve combinations.
What makes brass charts worth a page of their own is the second layer: the same written note exists on several harmonic partials, so the fingering that is "correct" can change as you climb (our trumpet data follows the published charts through exactly that change at the top of the staff), and combinations like 1+3 run sharp unless the third slide moves. Every chart here shows the fingering the published sources agree on, with alternates where they publish them.
Each chart page has the full table; each note has its own page with the fingering in words, its concert pitch, and a sound to check against. Beginners should start with First 5 Notes on Trumpet — the pattern it teaches (open, 1+3, 1+2, 1, open) is the pattern the whole family is built on.
Try a brass 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.
Every brass chart
Valves, in one minute
Valve 2 = semitone down. Valve 1 = whole tone. Valve 3 = tone and a half. Add them up and you get the seven combinations every valved brass instrument shares: open, 2, 1, 1+2 (or 3 alone), 2+3, 1+3, 1+2+3 — the same sequence as trombone positions 1 to 7. That is why a trumpet player can pick up a euphonium or a tuba and already know the fingerings: only the size of the instrument, the clef on the page, and the sound change.
Two warnings every chart on this site repeats. Combinations with valve 3 in them (1+3, 1+2+3) play sharp on most instruments — trumpet and cornet players extend the third slide; everyone else lipping and alternate fingerings help. And the fingering printed for a note assumes the standard partial: as you climb, the same valves give different notes, which is why our note pages always name the partial the fingering belongs to.
Paper — and the other family
Every brass chart is also a free printable PDF — the trumpet one is sized for classroom walls. Woodwind player instead? The woodwind fingering guide collects the key-and-hole side of the band.
Do all brass instruments use the same fingerings?
The valved ones share the same seven combinations — open, 2, 1, 1+2 (or 3 alone), 2+3, 1+3, 1+2+3 — and the trombone's seven slide positions follow the same sequence, which is why players can move between brass instruments so easily. The french horn adds one choice the others do not have: two sides, F and B♭, picked with the thumb trigger.
Why do the trumpet fingerings change at the top of the range?
Because the same three valves serve several harmonic partials. As you climb, a fingering that was right for a note on one partial stops being the published fingering for the same written note higher up — the trumpet chart follows the published charts through that change instead of pretending the low pattern simply repeats.
Why do 1+3 and 1+2+3 play sharp?
Valve tubing is a compromise: each added length is right for its own valve, slightly short in combination. Trumpet and cornet players ease the third slide out for those combinations; everyone else adjusts with the alternate fingerings and fine tuning the note pages flag.