E4 Oboe Fingering
How to play E4 on the oboe: Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2.
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 E4 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 E4 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.
In short: left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2.
About E4 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.
E4 is note 7 of the 32 in the full oboe fingering chart, sitting between E♭4 below it and F4 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 E4
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 E4
What is the fingering for E4 on oboe?
Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2. E4 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 E4 sound like on an oboe?
Exactly E4 — the oboe is a non-transposing instrument in C, so written E4 sounds as concert E4. When your band director asks for a concert E4, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for E4?
For E4, 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.