C4 Clarinet Fingering
How to play C4 on the clarinet: Thumb · left hand 1-2-3.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover. The thumb hole is on the back of the clarinet, so it is drawn to the left; the small cluster at the bottom is the pinky keys.
Hear C4 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 C4 fingering, step by step
- Cover the thumb hole with your left thumb.
- Left hand: cover holes 1, 2, 3.
In short: thumb · left hand 1-2-3.
About C4 on the 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.
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.
C4 is note 9 of the 42 in the full clarinet fingering chart, sitting between B3 below it and C♯4 above it. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against Yamaha’s official chart and the Woodwind Fingering Guide before publishing.
Practising C4
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.
Questions about C4
What is the fingering for C4 on clarinet?
Thumb · left hand 1-2-3. C4 is a middle register note. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does C4 sound like on a clarinet?
The clarinet is a transposing instrument in B♭, so written C4 sounds one whole step lower, as concert B♭3. When your band director asks for a concert B♭3, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for C4?
For C4, 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.