D6 Oboe Fingering
How to play D6 on the oboe: Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 2 · 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 D6 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 D6 fingering, step by step
- Half-hole the first hole: keep your left index finger on its plate and roll it downwards just far enough to uncover the small vent in the middle of the plate. Roll the finger — never lift it off the plate.
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your left ring finger.
- Cover hole 2 with your right middle finger.
- Press the low C key with your right pinky.
In short: left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 2 · right pinky C key.
Alternate fingering for D6
Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right pinky C key.
The Woodwind Fingering Guide’s other basic fingering for D6. Try both on your own instrument — third-octave notes are where individual oboes start to have preferences.
About D6 on the oboe
The third octave is where the oboe stops repeating itself. The left index finger leaves its hole or half-holes it, trill keys get held down as ordinary keys, and the pinky clusters do work they do nowhere else. These are the standard basic fingerings; individual oboes have preferences up here, and above F6 the fingerings stop being standard at all.
D6 is a note the standard references themselves treat carefully: the Woodwind Fingering Guide lists more than one basic fingering for it. The main fingering above is the one the Guide endorses for intonation; the alternate below is its other basic listing. (One further listing on the Guide’s page repeats the C♯6 fingering word for word, which cannot be a separate basic fingering — identical fingers do not sound a semitone apart — so it is treated here as an error in that chart and is not published.) Try both real fingerings on your own instrument; third-octave notes are where individual oboes start to have preferences.
D6 is note 29 of the 32 in the full oboe fingering chart, sitting between C♯6 below it and E♭6 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 D6
Third-octave notes need firm, fast air and a still embouchure — biting makes them sharper, not surer. Check each one against a tuner and learn which of the standard fingerings your own oboe prefers.
Questions about D6
What is the fingering for D6 on oboe?
Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 2 · right pinky C key. D6 is a third 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 D6 sound like on an oboe?
Exactly D6 — the oboe is a non-transposing instrument in C, so written D6 sounds as concert D6. When your band director asks for a concert D6, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for D6?
Yes — Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right pinky C key. The Woodwind Fingering Guide’s other basic fingering for D6. Try both on your own instrument — third-octave notes are where individual oboes start to have preferences.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.