Editorial policy and sourcing

This page explains how the charts and guides on The Fingering Chart are made and checked.

Fingering charts

Each instrument has a single data table: one entry per note with the keys, valves or slide position, any alternate fingerings, and a short note where the fingering needs one. Every chart, scale, song, note page and printable on the site is generated from that table. Nothing is copied by hand from one page to another, so pages cannot drift out of step with each other.

Entries are checked against more than one published fingering chart for the instrument, including the manufacturer's chart where one is published. Where good sources disagree, the chart shows the fingering most widely taught in school bands as the main one and lists the others as alternates. Notes that only some players can reach, or that depend on extra keys not found on student instruments, are marked as advanced.

Sound

The play buttons generate each tone in your browser at the instrument's sounding pitch, tuned to A = 440 Hz. The frequencies shown on note pages are calculated the same way.

Guides

Guides are written to answer a specific question a student, parent or teacher has, with worked examples using real notes and numbers. Factual statements carry a numbered reference to a source listed at the end of the guide. We prefer manufacturers, universities, music education organizations and established reference works, and every listed source has been opened and read to confirm it supports the statement. Where sources disagree, the guide says so.

Independence

Advertisers and affiliate programs have no say in what is written. Product links are added after a page is written, only where an accessory is mentioned anyway, and they are always marked. See the affiliate disclosure.

Corrections and updates

Reports of errors are welcome through the contact page. When a fingering or a fact is wrong, the data or the article is corrected and the site is rebuilt, which updates every page that uses it. Guides show the date they were last reviewed.