Cello Notes

How to use the cello notes chart

On the cello, first position covers the cello notes from the open C string (C2) to D4, played with finger 4 on the A string, and this cello note chart shows each of them with its finger and extensions on the bass clef staff and a piano, so it doubles as a cello fingering chart you can hear. The board shows the nut on the left and the C string at the bottom. Each circle is a note: the name is in the circle and the finger number in the small tag (0 is the open string). Tap any note to hear it on a bowed-string sound, see it on the bass clef staff and on the piano. You can also tap a staff note or a piano key. On a computer, the left and right arrow keys step through the notes and Space plays the note again.

The Show menu picks a major key (the chart chooses the hand shape for each string), one hand shape on every string (closed, backward extension or forward extension), or every note in first position. Finger tape lines marks where fingers 1 to 4 fall in the closed hand. Quiz asks you to name a marked note or find a note. Print this chart prints the current view.

The cello strings

The cello is tuned in fifths: C2, G2, D3 and A3, the same notes as the viola one octave lower. Tune with the cello tuner first. Left-hand fingers are numbered 1 (index) to 4 (little finger) and 0 is an open string, as on the violin, but the hand spacing is different, as the next section shows.

First position and the closed hand

In the closed (normal) hand, the four fingers sit a half step apart, so finger 1 to finger 4 spans a minor third. In first position finger 1 is a whole step above the open string. On the C string that gives D (1), E♭ (2), E (3) and F (4), and G is the next open string.

Which fingers you use depends on the key. In C major the C string plays D with 1, E with 3 and F with 4; in B♭ major it plays D with 1, E♭ with 2 and F with 4. Choose the key in the chart to see it on every string.

Extensions

A cellist reaches notes outside the closed hand with extensions. In a backward extension, finger 1 moves back a half step while the other fingers stay. In a forward extension, finger 1 stays and fingers 2, 3 and 4 move up a half step, so 1 to 4 spans a major third. Pick G major in the chart: the C string needs F♯, so it switches to the forward extension (D with 1, E with 2, F♯ with 4).

This table shows every first position note, with the extended fingerings at the ends. It is generated from the same data as the chart.

Clefs and higher positions

Cello music is written mostly in the bass clef. For higher passages it switches to the tenor clef and, higher still, the treble clef. The open C string is C2, on the second ledger line below the bass staff; the open A string is A3, on the top line.

Above the first positions the hand moves up the neck through the neck positions, and for the highest notes into thumb position, where the side of the thumb lies across the strings and plays notes too. Thumb position is usually introduced at the halfway point of the string, the harmonic A on the A string. In cello music the thumb is marked with a small circle with a short line, a sign that goes back to the cellist Bernhard Romberg. This chart covers first position with its extensions, the positions a beginner learns first.

Practice tips

Play the notes of one string slowly and tap the same notes here to compare. Check finger 4 against the next open string: they should match. Hold each note for a few clicks of the metronome and use the quiz to learn the note names without looking.

More for cello: Cello Tuner · Bass Clef Notes

Questions

More tools

• Cello Tuner
• Bass Clef Notes
• Viola Notes
• Violin Notes
• Metronome