B6 Recorder Fingering
How to play B6 on the soprano recorder: Thumb half-holed (pinched) · holes 1-2-4-5 covered.
Filled holes in the diagram are the ones you cover; a half-filled hole is half-covered. The thumb hole is on the back of the recorder, so it is drawn to the left. Holes 6 and 7 (the bottom two) are double holes — two small holes under one finger — and a half-filled double hole means covering only its lower small hole.
Hear B6 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 B6 fingering, step by step
- Half-hole the thumb: slide your left thumb so it covers only about half of the thumb hole, leaving a small crescent open at the top — this is the "pinched" thumb that speaks the upper registers. Roll the thumb rather than lifting it.
- Cover hole 1 with your left index finger
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger
- Cover hole 4 with your right index finger
- Cover hole 5 with your right middle finger
- Blow gently and steadily — the recorder needs far less air than most beginners give it, and overblowing is what makes low notes jump the octave and high notes shriek.
In short: thumb half-holed (pinched) · holes 1-2-4-5 covered.
Alternate fingering for B6
Thumb covered · holes 2-3 covered.
The Woodwind Fingering Guide lists this version for use in combination with C6 — with the thumb fully covered it sits closer to the notes around the top of the staff. Learn the pinched-thumb main fingering first.
About B6 on the recorder
The second octave is the same instrument played on its next harmonic, and the thumb is the switch. Three notes at its foot (C♯6, D6, E♭6) take the thumb off entirely; C6 keeps it sealed; and from E6 upward the thumb half-holes — the famous pinch. The finger patterns mostly echo the first octave (E6 copies E5, G6 copies G5), so your fingers already know this register better than you think; it is the thumb and a slightly firmer, faster air stream that are new.
B6 has the chart’s only published alternate: the Woodwind Fingering Guide also lists thumb fully covered + holes 2 and 3 for this note, marked for use in combination with C6. The main fingering above (pinched thumb) is the one to learn; the alternate earns its place in passages that sit around the top of the staff.
B6 is note 24 of the 25 in the full recorder fingering chart, sitting between B♭6 below it and C7 above it. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide and the NoteAtlas recorder chart before publishing.
Practising B6
Set the thumb first, then the fingers, then blow. If this note drops back to its first-octave partner, the thumb vent is too small; if it squawks, the vent is too big or the air too hard. Tiny thumb movements, calm air.
Questions about B6
What is the fingering for B6 on recorder?
Thumb half-holed (pinched) · holes 1-2-4-5 covered. B6 is a second-octave note on the soprano recorder in Baroque (English) fingering. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
Does B6 sound as written on the recorder?
On this site, yes: the soprano recorder notes are named at the pitch students learn them by, so written B6 sounds as concert B6. (In traditional notation the soprano's part is printed an octave lower than the sound — one honest complication this site deliberately keeps off a beginner's page.)
Is there an alternate fingering for B6?
Yes — Thumb covered · holes 2-3 covered. The Woodwind Fingering Guide lists this version for use in combination with C6 — with the thumb fully covered it sits closer to the notes around the top of the staff. Learn the pinched-thumb main fingering first.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.