C4 Saxophone Fingering
How to play C4 on the saxophone: Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · right pinky C key. This fingering is the same on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone — only the sounding pitch differs.
Filled keys in the diagram are the ones you press. The small key marked "Oct" is the octave key, worked by the left thumb; the three keys at the top right are the palm keys; the three small keys down the right side are the side keys; and the clusters at the bottom are the pinky keys.
Hear C4 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 C4 fingering, step by step
- Left hand: press keys 1, 2, 3.
- Right hand: press keys 1, 2, 3.
- Press the C key with your right pinky — one of the two keys at the bottom of the right-hand stack.
In short: left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · right pinky C key.
About C4 on the saxophone
The low register is the saxophone’s warm, full voice, played without the octave key. The six main fingers work down the stack in a ladder, and the lowest notes are finished off by the pinky keys — the left pinky choosing between the bell keys, the right pinky holding the low C key for the bottom four notes and the low E♭ key for E♭ itself.
C4 is the first note fingered with the low C key itself: full stack down, right pinky on low C, and the left pinky finally idle. It is the fingering the baritone’s low A is built from — low C plus the low A thumb key.
C4 is note 3 of the 32 in the full saxophone fingering chart, sitting between B3 below it and C♯4 above it. The same fingering serves the whole family — see it with each instrument’s own concert pitches on the alto sax, tenor sax, soprano sax and baritone sax chart pages. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against Yamaha’s official chart and the Woodwind Fingering Guide before publishing.
Practising C4
Low notes speak best with slow, warm air and a relaxed jaw. If this note gurgles or jumps the octave, check the pinky keys first — a half-pressed bell key is the usual cause — then check that every main finger is sealing its key completely.
Questions about C4
What is the fingering for C4 on saxophone?
Left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3 · right pinky C key. C4 is a low register note, fingered identically on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does C4 sound like on each saxophone?
Written C4 sounds as concert E♭3 on alto saxophone, concert B♭2 on tenor, concert B♭3 on soprano and concert E♭2 on baritone. The alto and baritone are E♭ instruments; the tenor and soprano are B♭ instruments — the fingering is the same on all four, only the sounding pitch changes.
Is there an alternate fingering for C4?
For C4, 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.