HOW TO USE THIS PAGE AS INTENDED: If you want to use this page in the way it was intended, before proceeding download the two fingering charts to your hard drive. Then print them off. When you listen to the audio files, you can still refer to the fingering configurations. That way you can finger each note correctly as you listen to the audio reference files. Downloading the scale charts is easy. If you own a Mac, just drag the illustration out of the window and onto the desktop. If you own a PC, right click on an illustration, choose the download option at the dropdown menu, then have it save to your hard drive. Once on the desktop, double-click each illustration and the image will open in your resident graphic editor. Print them off, if possible. It's important you have the scale chart so you can play along with the audio scale.

WHAT THIS PAGE IS AND ISN'T: This page is an in depth look at specific flute scales and finding other fingering configurations that sound as close as possible to the audio scales you play from the links on this page. However, Native American flutes are quite accurately tuned, even though it's a handmade folk instrument rather than a manufactured close tolerance flute with metal keys. So the average NA flute player needn't worry about the fine points; pitch for each note should be okay. But for those of you who might have an extensive background in music, or for those who want to play their flutes as close as possible to the scale pitches, OR for those who are just plain picky, this page will be helpful.

A POWERFUL FOLK INSTRUMENT: The Native American flute is a folk instrument. It's not made to high tolerances like a metal flute with metal keys. Instead, it's a humble wooden or bamboo barrel, (also sometimes made from PVC), and has six holes drilled in it where the notes are made by opening and closing the holes using various fingering configurations to produce different pitches. In a perfect world all Native American flutes would have just one set of fingering configurations and all flutes would be in perfect tune with each other. But this is not a perfect world. Of course, you already knew that. :-). This page has 18 audio scales you can play online that you can match your flute and your fingering configurations to. And by now you're probably thinking, "Okay, Dick, slow down! What are you talking about?" The fingering diagrams below will show you what I mean --

WHAT THIS IS: The scale fingerings on the left are for all Native American flutes, regardless of key. The top line shows the most common fingering configurations, and the numbers on the flute holes, (picture a vertical flute barrel with the top number being closest to your mouth), are the numbers of each finger. We play the top three holes with fingers 1, 2, and 3 of the left hand, and the bottom three holes with fingers 1, 2, and 3 of the right hand. (Reverse if you are left handed.) Important: The bottom row shows alternate fingerings. As you listen to the scales below and match your flute to them, if a note sounds slightly out of pitch try one of the alternate fingerings below.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAGE: The purpose of this page is to allow you to listen to a perfectly tuned scale and then try to match the scale with your flute. Chances are great that all the fingerings in the first row will sound just fine. But if you run into a note or two that doesn't sound correct, try the alternate fingering in the second line to get closer to what the note should be. If the chromatic scale sounds fine without any alternate fingerings, you won’t need to use the suggested alternate fingerings. After playing only a few tunes you will quickly spot those notes that require the alternate and won’t have to constantly refer to the above chart. But taking just a bit of time at this point to fine tune the scale on your particular flute will deliver a solid and accurate sound in all the tunes you play. The above diagram is called the "chromatic scale", and you will find this same scale on the reference page in all the EarthFlute Series books.

HOW TO USE THE SCALES BELOW: The scales below are dead accurate. They were made with Garage Band on the Mac, and this guarantees notes as close to pitch perfect as technically possible. The scales are in all the common Native American flute keys this instrument might come in. (The most popular key with flute players is F#, but there are other keys as well.) Suppose you have a flute in the key of E. First try playing all the notes in the top row of the Chromatic scale chart above. Once you can play the scale reasonably well, choose the E scale on this page and click. Then try to play the scale on your flute as you listen to the audio playback. This will quickly tell you if the fingering you are using works well, pitch-wise. If not, try the alternate fingering in the second line of the chart. If that doesn't work, try noodling around until the note matches the audio scale playback note. You can modify fingerings by closing a neighboring hole of a particular note. This will often make sharper or make flatter the original configuration so it more closely matches the pitch in the playback. IMPORTANT: When you click a playback link, this page will disappear from view as the audio player in your browser plays back the scale file. So if you aren't comfortable with all those notes on the chromatic scale, (there are 15 playable notes on the typical Native American flute), print off this page so you can play off the chart. Also, the scale chart, as shown, is mostly chromatic. But there is no half step (musically speaking) above the lowest not. The interval between the first and second note on any Native American flute I've ever played is a whole step interval, which means the scale is totally chromatic. But the rest of the notes, all thirteen of them, are only a half step apart, and these notes are chromatic. The second note in the scale is obtained by partially closing the bottom hole. (All pro flute players use this half hole technique to expand the scale.)