Tin Whistle fingering chart

Fingering chart for a tin whistle in D. ● means to cover the hole. ○ means to uncover the hole. ◐ means to half-hole. ◍ means that fingering this hole is optional. The first fingering is the most common fingering, followed by alternate fingerings. You can read more about alternate/optional fingerings down below.

There is no fingering chart that works for every instrument and every player, as every instrument and every player is different. The same fingerings may sound sharper or flatter on different instruments. You must figure out which fingerings work best for each note. Combine different fingerings with adjusting your breath when you’re playing to correct the intonation as needed.

D ●●● ●●● D#, Eb ●●● ●●◐ E ●●● ●●○ F ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ●○● F#, Gb ●●● ●○○ ●●● ○●● G ●●● ○○◍ G#, Ab ●●◐ ○○○ ●●○ ●●○ ●●○ ●●● A ●●○ ○◍◍ A#, Bb ●◐○ ○○○ ●○● ●●○ ●○● ●●● B ●○○ ◍◍◍ ●○● ○◍◍ ○●● ●●○ C'' ○●◍ ○○○ ○●◍ ○◍◍ ○●○ ●●◍ ○○● ●●● ◐○○ ○○○ C#'' ○○○ ◍◍◍ ○○◍ ◍◍○ D'' ◍●● ●●● D#'', Eb'' ●●● ●●◐ E'' ●●● ●●○ F'' ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ○●● F#'' ●●● ●○◍ G'' ●●● ○○◍ G#'', Ab'' ●●◐ ○○○ ●●○ ●○○ ●●○ ●○● A'' ●●○ ○○◍ A#'', Bb'' ●◐○ ○○○ ●○● ○○○ B'' ●○○ ◍◍◍ ●○● ●◍● C''' ○●○ ◍●● ◐○○ ○○○ C#''' ○○○ ◍◍◍ ○●○ ●●○ D''' ◍●● ●●● ○●● ○○○ D#''', Eb''' ○●● ○●● E''' ●●○ ●○● F''' ●●○ ○○○

Trills

D - D#, Eb ●●● ●●● ●●● ●●◐ D - E ●●● ●●● ●●● ●●○ D#, Eb - E ●●● ●●◐ ●●● ●●○ D#, Eb - F ●●● ●●◐ ●●● ●◐◐ E - F ●●● ●●○ ●●● ●◐○ E - F# ●●● ●●○ ●●● ●○○ F - F# ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ●○○ F - G ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ○◐○ F# - G ●●● ●○○ ●●● ○○○ F# - G#, Ab ●●● ●○◍ ●●◐ ●○◍ G - G#, Ab ●●◐ ●●● ●●○ ●●● G - A ●●● ○○○ ●●○ ○○○ G#, Ab - A ●●○ ●●● ●●○ ○◍● G#, Ab - A#, Bb ●●○ ●●● ●○● ●●● A - A#, Bb ●●○ ○○○ ●◐○ ○○○ A#, Bb - B ●○● ●●● ●○○ ●●● A#, Bb - C'' ●○● ●●● ○○● ●●● B - C'' ○●● ●●○ ○●● ○◍○ B - C#'' ●○○ ○○○ ○○○ ○○○ C'' - C#'' ○●● ○○○ ○○○ ○○○ C'' - D'' ○●● ○●● ○●● ●●● C#'' - D'' ○○○ ●●● ○●● ●●● C#'' - D#'', Eb'' ○○○ ●●◐ ○●● ●●● D'' - D#'', Eb'' ●●● ●●● ●●● ●●◐ D'' - E'' ●●● ●●● ●●● ●●○ D#'', Eb'' - E'' ●●● ●●◐ ●●● ●●○ D#'', Eb'' - F'' ●●● ●●◐ ●●● ●◐◐ E'' - F'' ●●● ●●○ ●●● ●◐○ E'' - F#'' ●●● ●●○ ●●● ●○○ F'' - F#'' ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ●○○ F'' - G'' ●●● ●◐○ ●●● ○◐○ F#'' - G'' ●●● ●○○ ●●● ○○○ F#'' - G#'', Ab'' ●●● ●○◍ ●●◐ ●○◍ G'' - G#'', Ab'' ●●◐ ●●● ●●○ ●●● G'' - A'' ●●● ○○○ ●●○ ○○○ G#'', Ab'' - A'' ●●○ ●○● ●●○ ○○● G#'', Ab'' - A#'', Bb'' ●●○ ●○● ●◐○ ○○● A'' - A#'', Bb'' ●●○ ○○○ ●◐○ ○○○ A#'', Bb'' - B'' ●◐○ ○○○ ●○○ ○○○ A#'', Bb'' - C''' ●○● ●●● ○○● ●●● B'' - C''' ●○● ●●● ●○● ●○● B'' - C#''' ●○○ ○○○ ○○○ ○○○ C''' - C#''' ○●○ ●●● ○○○ ●●●

To do the G# to A# trill (or Ab to Bb), I’d suggest holding the whistle as 121 234 instead of 123 123. That is, use the index finger from your right hand to trill. Holding it normally would require alternating between the middle and ring finger to trill. I couldn’t find fingerings that worked well for C''' - D''' and beyond.

For optional fingerings, you can cover them in any combination possible. They were added to avoid having a huge list for some of the notes. On some instruments covering them may give you better intonation, on others you’ll barely hear a difference.

For example, C natural’s ○●◍ ○◍◍ can be played as ○●○ ○○○, ○●● ○○○, ○●● ○●○ or ○●● ○●● or any other combination. ○●○ ○○○ and ○●● ○○○ are the most common fingerings for C, which is why I put ○●◍ ○○○ as a separate fingering instead of lumping them together with ○●◍ ○◍◍.

So, why have all those fingerings? Different fingerings will produce sharper or flatter notes. This is useful to adjust the intonation of your instrument. If you’re playing slow music where intonation is important, or you’re' playing in a different temperament where flats and sharps should sound different, alternate fingerings are a must. They also make certain sequences of notes easier to play, or add stability to your right hand when playing.

Let’s go through a more concrete example. Let’s take an excerpt from Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E major (RV 269) arranged for the baroque flute by Rousseau. It’s from the second movement, 6th measure. You can find the score on IMSLP.

If you play this with basic fingerings, you’re going to play the D as ○●● ●●●, C# as ○○○ ○○○ and B as ●○○ ○○○. The mordent on the C# is played as ○○○ ○○○ → ○●● ●●● → ○○○ ○○○. The whole sequence is: ○●● ●●● → ○○○ ○○○ → ○●● ●●● → ○○○ ○○○ → ●○○ ○○○.

Here’s another way to play the same thing: ○●● ●●● → ○○○ ●●● → ○●● ●●● → ○○○ ●●● → ●○○ ●●●. No need to move five fingers up, down, and then up again to do the mordent. This makes a huge difference when you’re playing fast music. If you’re aware of the different fingerings you can do, you have the freedom to choose which one to use depending on the situation.

On top of changing the fingering, you might also need to adjust your breath when playing certain notes to play them in tune. F on the first octave (fingered ●●● ●○●) must be played with very low breath pressure, otherwise it’ll sound like an F#. It’s usually safer to play this note as ●●● ●◐○ instead. You can also do low C or C#, Db by using the pinky finger to cover the bell (●●● ●●● ◐) and by adjusting your breath. The bell being the hole at the end of the tube.

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