I hope it is OK to ask this 
I recently bought a wonderful Tony Dixon low D. Should I use a fingering chart specifically for low D? I have another 6-hole whistle, and learned its fingering chart (all holes closed - C, etc.) Of course, it is possible to use the same fingering for a low DâŚ
How other (more experienced players) do it? Do you learn fingering charts for each key, or do you play your instrument using âstandardâ fingering for C?
Itâs the same.
Thatâs all going to depend on in what key the music youâre using is written. Whistles all work the same⌠xxxxxx is the bell note and you play the scale with the same fingering pattern as you would on a D whistle.
The main reason for changing keys is to play along with others. For example, if you have a singer who wants to sing a song in F, youâre going to need a whistle that can play in F (an F whistle or a C whistle). If you have to learn a piece, you can go two ways: you can learn new note/fingering associations which some do, although I believe most do not. Or you can transpose the music into the keys of D or G and play them on any whistle just as you would on a D whistle.
In other words, if you have a piece of music written in D and you want to play it in B, all you need to do is pick up a B whistle and use the same finger patterns as you would on the D whistle.
I hope that sheds some light.
Moderators⌠this question seems to come up a lot and itâs pretty confusing for new whistlers. If someone wrote it up clearly, could it be a sticky or is there someplace it could be kept and easily found and linked to?
So does this mean you learned your fingering based on a C whistle? I think thatâs actually considered non-standard.
It seems like itâs much more common for whistlers to learn on a D whistle first, and then use the D fingering on all other keys of whistle. So, itâs probably worth it for you to study a fingering chart in D.
Generally it seems like if you want to change keys, you change whistles. So if you learn a tune on your C whistle, you will play it just the same on a D whistle. It will be in a different key, but the fingering will be the same. Itâs always good to know what the notes are so looking at a fingering chart is always a good idea, but donât try to play a tune in the key of C on a D whistle.
I still canât wrap my head around this one. If I play a tune in G on my G whistle and play as if my whistle is a D then I am playing the entire tune 4 notes higher than what is written. But, if I play it using the âcorrectâ G fingerings than my lowest note is a G and I lose the notes F#,E,D on the lower octave unless I play octave up. I donât see the transposing part in this anywhere.
Ok - here goes - wish me luckâŚ
Imaging you are playing a tune (perhaps in the key of G major) that starts with the notes G, A, B. You could pick up a D whistle and use the following fingerings:
xxxooo, xxoooo, xooooo where x = hole closed, o=hole open, reading the holes left-right equates to playing the holes from top-bottom.
You could also pick up your G whistle (although probably not at the same time, unless you have an unusually large mouth and an extra limb) and play the tune using these fingerings:
xxxxxx, xxxxxo, xxxxoo
If your G whistle is smaller than your D whistle (i.e. an alto G compared to a low D) then youâll hear the same notes.
Now, here comes the clever part⌠If you pick up your G whistle and play with the following fingerings: xxxooo, xxoooo, xooooo, youâll hear the notes C,D,E. As if by magic, youâve transposed the tune into C major! This may delight or infuriate your audience - if they want you to play the notes G, A, B, then theyâll be disappointed, whereas if they were hoping to sing or play along and they wanted the tune to be in C major, then youâllâve made a friend for life.
Does that help?
Here we go again.
At risk of adding confusion, rather than dispelling someâŚ
When you say âDâ in this context it can mean a lot of different things.
(1) The note D written on the music stave
(2) The note D that comes out of your whistle
(3) The key of the whistle
(4) The fingering pattern that you are using.
So to continue Mikes example.
If you see a âGâ written in the music, then pick up a âGâ whistle, and use âall fingers downâ fingering, then the note that comes out is âGâ.
Where this gets a little confusing is that the D whistle is used as a standard, and the fingerings are usually named as if you are playing a D whistle. So let us translate the sentence above:
If you see a âDâ written in the music, then pick up a âDâ whistle, and use âall fingers downâ fingering, then the note that comes out is âDâ.
Whistlers tend to call that âall fingers downâ fingering âD fingeringâ, because they think first about the D whistle. So we could say:
If you see a âDâ written in the music, then pick up a âDâ whistle, and use D fingering, then the note that comes out is âDâ.
But if we go back to our first example, then all fingers down is still called D fingering:
If you see a âGâ written in the music, then pick up a âGâ whistle, and use D fingering, then the note that comes out is âGâ.
We do this because it makes our life simple in some ways. We pretend that all tunes are in D (or another whistle friendly key, but ignore that), and pick up whatever whistle puts the tune into the correct key. Perhaps we want to play a tune in C. We transpose the written music up two semitones so that it is in D. And then we use the fingerings that we would use for a D whistle. If we actually used a D whistle, then the tune would come out in D. But if we pick up a C whistle, then the tune would come out in C. If we picked up a Bb whistle the tune would come out in Bb, and so on.
With this strategy, we only need to read music in D (or one of the other whistle friendly keys that we are ignoring), and we change the key by choosing a different whistle. Another advantage of this strategy is that it justifies collecting a(t least one) whistle in every key made. Just in case, you see.
If that helps, good. If not donât worry about it. It will click after a while. Maybe buy a whistle in another key and see what happens. It makes more sense in real life than it does written.
Innocent Bystander Wraps Low D pennywhistle around cutterpupâs head and lo! cutterpup is enlightened!
Thatâs the way it works in the Zen stories anyway. Hoopy Mike is likely to have more luck.
Cutterpup: Try it and see! 
We really should put our heads together and get this written out correctly in language easy to understand so we donât go through this as often as we do.
Thank you all for your kind explanations! I understand it better now.
Have it âStickiedâ when you do?
Okay. One final attempt at understanding. D fingering refers to all fingers down giving you the bell note for the key whistle you are playing. And, if I use my G whistle in a tune that is in G. I read the notes on the staff as written and play as if I am playing a D whistle and the sounds that emerge will fit in correctly withe the tune?
Depends what you mean by âplay as if I am playing a D whistleâ!
All fingers down on a D in the written music although it will actually be the note G. Ot
Yes. Correct.
Most learn the fingerings based on the D whistle. Then, to play in other keys, replace the D with the correspondingly-keyed whistle. Very simple.
day late and a dollar short, but iâll give it a runâŚ
suppose you are looking at a piece of sheet music, and the key signature has one sharp, indicating the song is in the key of G. Letâs say that the first note is a quarter note written on the second line from the bottom of the staff ( a G.)
So⌠you grab your trusty High D whistle, finger it thusly⌠xxx ooo⌠in preparation for that first note. You blow and a note is produced. That note will be a G. Then you play the rest of the tune and have a grand old time. The tune you just played on your D whistle is in the key of G.
Later, you decide you would like a deeper sounding tone when you play that song. So, you jump online, navigate to your favorite whistle dispensary, drop a few ducats and wait for a brand new G whistle to arrive. It arrives, you take it out and warm it up with a few scales and then you are ready to attack that tune with your new whistle. If you play the tune using the EXACT SAME FINGERING AS YOU USED ON YOUR D WHISTLE⌠the tune will sound just like before, but lower⌠the fingering that produces G on your D whistle will produce a C on your G whistle. If you play the tune all the way through on your G whistle, you will be playing it in the key of C. (according to the notes produced and heard.)
Herein lies one of the confusing parts⌠on your G whistle, most folks around here will refer to the fingering of xxx ooo as G⌠EVEN THOUGH THE NOTE PRODUCED IS NOT A G, IT IS A C if you use a tuner to tell you what note you are playing. We all know itâs not a G that is produced, but thatâs what we call it. And to make it even more complicated to the newer players, we will call it a G when using a Bb whistle, an Eb whistle, a C whistle, we just donât care!
if you start there and just accept that this is kinda how it works⌠eventually, the rest of the knowlege behind that norm will make itself known to you⌠but, early on⌠try not to hurt your brain too much⌠just go with this⌠the fingerings have names and the notes produced have names. the ONLY time the fingering and note names will be the same is when you are using a D whistle. all the rest of the time, the fingering names WILL NOT be the same as the name of the actual note produced⌠hey, itâs transposing.
be well,
jim
Yes, âD fingeringâ would be all the holes covered. We also refer to âG fingeringâ as the scale beginning with the low G note on a D whistle (xxxooo). For the vast majority of whistle players, these are the first scales learned because just about every beginnerâs lesson book starts you in the key of D âŚand moves on to G next.
Many tunes in the key of G are meant to be played on a D whistle. Take a look at the music and if you have any notes that fall below the G on the second line, youâre going to need a D whistle so you can go down and get them.
If all the notes stay above the G on the second line (and hereâs where it gets confusing) youâd either have to learn a new fingering/note association where you recognize the G note as xxxxxx (some do it, but as there are 12 major keys, at some point it has to become confusing to the majority of us) or youâll have to transpose it into D and play it on the G whistle using D fingering (and that way youâre playing in the key of G).
If you play a tune written in G the same way youâd play in G on a D whistle, youâll actually be playing the tune in the key of C since xxxooo on a G whistle is a C note.
Thereâs a handy chart on this page that shows you what whistles play in what keys (1st major, 2nd major, and minor). Scroll down just past the halfway point
The exception is if you plan on working with other musicians. When my friend, who plays harp, says, âCâ, he always means C, not C# and not whatever note comes out when I play C fingering on a D whistle, but C. So I need to know the notes for every whistle I might play with him.
Iâm in the process of working up an arrangement of a tune for low-g whistle and fiddle. The fiddle will have a separate part. I need to do the arrangement with the notes on the page reflecting the notes as they sound.
One perverse thing that can come up when youâre using the D fingering for all whistles is that, say, if you find a tune thatâs written in Bb, and you want to play it on a Bb whistle, you first need to transpose the sheet music to D, and then play it on your Bb whistle, which youâre now pretending is a D whistle.
Still, for most people, this is much easier than learning a new fingering for each different key of whistle. And it has the added benefit that you can now pick up any whistle in any key and play the tune with the exact same fingering: D.