D5 Saxophone Fingering
How to play D5 on the saxophone: Octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3. 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 D5 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 D5 fingering, step by step
- Press the octave key with your left thumb — it stays down for the whole middle and high registers.
- Left hand: press keys 1, 2, 3.
- Right hand: press keys 1, 2, 3.
In short: octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3.
About D5 on the saxophone
The middle register repeats the low register’s fingerings with the left thumb on the octave key and a faster air stream. Learn it as "the low fingering plus the thumb" and only a handful of notes — the palm-key approach at the top — are genuinely new shapes.
D5 is where the octave key joins in. The fingering is D4’s fingering plus the left thumb on the octave key — the pattern the whole middle register follows: same fingers, thumb added, faster air.
D5 is note 17 of the 32 in the full saxophone fingering chart, sitting between C♯5 below it and E♭5 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 D5
If this note drops to its low-register partner, the octave key is the first thing to check: the thumb must be pressing it cleanly, and the neck’s octave pad must be opening. Then think air speed, not force.
Questions about D5
What is the fingering for D5 on saxophone?
Octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3. D5 is a middle 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 D5 sound like on each saxophone?
Written D5 sounds as concert F4 on alto saxophone, concert C4 on tenor, concert C5 on soprano and concert F3 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 D5?
For D5, 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.