B3 Oboe Fingering
How to play B3 on the oboe: Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · left pinky B key · right pinky C key.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover, and a half-filled first hole is the half-hole. The two keys at the top are the octave keys — the first worked by the left thumb on the back of the instrument, the second by the side of the left index finger — and the clusters at the bottom are the pinky keys, five for the left pinky and three for the right.
Hear B3 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 B3 fingering, step by step
- Cover hole 1 with your left index finger.
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your left ring finger.
- Cover hole 1 with your right index finger.
- Cover hole 2 with your right middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your right ring finger.
- Press the low B key with your left pinky.
- Press the low C key with your right pinky.
In short: left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · left pinky B key · right pinky C key.
About B3 on the oboe
The first octave is the oboe’s foundation: plain fingerings with no octave key and no half-hole, running from the full-length low B♭ up to the two-index-finger C5. Almost everything above is one of these fingerings plus a vent — an octave key or a rolled finger — so this register is worth learning exactly.
B3 is the lowest note on oboes that have no low B♭ key, and the second note of the instrument on those that do. Like B♭3 below it, it is fingered with the low C key down as well as the low B key — the two lowest pinky keys work as a linked set on most oboes, and both source charts print the fingering this way.
B3 is note 2 of the 32 in the full oboe fingering chart, sitting between B♭3 below it and C4 above it.
Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide's basic oboe charts and the NoteAtlas oboe chart before publishing.
Practising B3
Low oboe notes fail from the reed and the air before they fail from the fingers. If this note is stuffy or will not start, soak the reed properly, check the pinky keys are sealing, and blow a slow, supported stream — do not bite the pitch up.
Questions about B3
What is the fingering for B3 on oboe?
Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · left pinky B key · right pinky C key. B3 is a first octave note on the oboe. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does B3 sound like on an oboe?
Exactly B3 — the oboe is a non-transposing instrument in C, so written B3 sounds as concert B3. When your band director asks for a concert B3, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for B3?
For B3, 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.