B♭6 Flute Fingering
How to play B♭6 on the flute: Thumb key · right hand 1 · D trill key.
Filled keys in the diagram are the ones you press. The two levers at the top left are the thumb keys; the three keys along the bottom are the foot-joint keys, worked by the right pinky — the same pinky that holds the E♭ key on most notes. Piccolo players: this fingering is identical on piccolo and sounds an octave higher.
Hear B♭6 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 B♭6 fingering, step by step
- Put your left thumb on the thumb key (the B lever is its home position).
- Right hand: press key 1.
- Press the D trill key — one of the two small keys between the right-hand finger keys, worked by the right-hand fingers.
- Keep your right pinky off the E♭ key for this note — it is one of the few notes played with the pinky lifted.
In short: thumb key · right hand 1 · D trill key.
About B♭6 on the flute
The high register has its own fingering logic: forked shapes, thumb-less notes, trill keys doing real work, and the E♭ key coming off for the top three notes. These fingerings come straight from the standard charts — third-octave fingerings are the ones players most often misremember, so check rather than guess.
B♭6 is not fingered with the B♭ fingerings from the lower octaves at all — it is played with the right index finger plus the D trill key, and the E♭ key stays off. This is the note that makes students check the chart twice; the chart is right.
B♭6 is note 35 of the 37 in the full flute fingering chart, sitting between A6 below it and B6 above it. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against Yamaha’s official chart and the Woodwind Fingering Guide before publishing.
Practising B♭6
Third-octave notes need fast, focused air and a firm — not tight — embouchure. Practise this note in short bursts from the note below it, and stop before your embouchure tires; tired practice teaches the wrong shape.
Questions about B♭6
What is the fingering for B♭6 on flute?
Thumb key · right hand 1 · D trill key. B♭6 is a high register note. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does B♭6 sound like on a flute?
Exactly as written: B♭6. The flute is not a transposing instrument, so the note you finger is the note that sounds. On piccolo, the same fingering sounds one octave higher, as B♭7.
Is there an alternate fingering for B♭6?
For B♭6, 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.