Chart showing notes, ranges of multiple instruments

[Jess L.]

(Reposting from mandola thread) This printer-friendly, 1-page PDF chart shows the ranges and C-scale notes of common instruments including mandolin, guitar, bass, ukulele, tenor banjos and tenor guitars in 2 different tunings, 5-string banjos, as well as more mando-specific instruments such as mandola, mandocello, and mandobass. Each instrument's staff uses whichever clef(s) are appropriate for that instrument (whether treble clef, octave-treble clef, alto clef, bass clef, or octave bass clef). There is tab too.



The chart shows where each instrument's notes are in relation to a standard piano staff, which then determines where each instrument's notes are in relation to all the other instruments (as far as range and which octaves are used). The notes on the piano staff are labeled with the note names, and I put a circle around the "C" which is "middle C" on the piano. More info is in post #47 of the "Mandola and standard notation reading" thread.

I'm reposting the chart here in its own thread to make it (theoretically) easier to find, under the assumption that charts of this type have wider application than just 'dolas and CBOMs etc.

FWIW, I am hereby releasing this chart into the Public Domain so you can use it however you wish, repost it wherever you want, etc. I made the chart initially for myself, to help me understand where all those notes belonged, but thought other people might benefit from it as well. If it saves someone else the frustration of tuning an instrument wrong (like how I did before I made the chart, where I broke guitar strings because I was trying to tune to the wrong octave), then it will be serving a useful purpose.

[40bpm]

Nice work and an interesting exercise. Here's another view of instruments and their ranges and overlaps -

I was surprised to see that the piano has the greatest range of all instruments.

[Jess L.]

Nice work ...

Thanks!

... Here's another view of instruments and their ranges and overlaps -

Excellent! Thanks for posting that - I saved a copy of it to my computer so I can study it in more detail. I especially like that they put the drawing of the piano keyboard there, that's a good idea, it makes it easier to visualize the notes. And the frequencies too - awesome! Also useful to see the human vocal ranges defined (I had a vague idea just from looking at 4-part-harmony hymnals but wasn't quite sure), and great to have the wind instruments there too.

... I was surprised to see that the piano has the greatest range of all instruments.

Looks like the harp is second, followed by accordion... I didn't realize accordions covered that much range, that's cool.

[foldedpath]

Here's one I found years ago, with color coding that helps distinguish between different instruments:

http://www.bwmusic.com/goodies/range0.html#

Use the password shown on the page to download the full-size PDF file, by clicking on the Adobe PDF icon.

[David L]

I was surprised to see that the piano has the greatest range of all instruments.

The Bosendorfer "Imperial" piano has another 9 bass notes (down to the next C). Pipe organs also use that lowest C. Synthesizers have an even wider range.

[Jess L.]

Here's one I found years ago, with color coding that helps distinguish between different instruments ...

The color is good, I like that.

You're giving me ideas here... I might eventually look into making some sort of colorized version of my chart, although I don't know how well a colorized version would print on b/w laser printers. The little goal I set for myself, is to keep my own chart compatible with people who don't have their own inkjet printers and who perhaps have to rely on public-library b/w laser printers or school printers or something. So in order to test such a new version, I guess I'd have to take a trip to a printshop or a library. (Used to have my own big ol' HP color laser printer which I suppose could have been used in greyscale mode to simulate black-and-white printing.)

The Bosendorfer "Imperial" piano has another 9 bass notes (down to the next C). Pipe organs also use that lowest C. ...

Cool!

I guess the thing about range, in general, is that I knew the piano had a lot, but I was surprised when I made my chart that so many of the other instruments had such a small range. (Small in comparison to piano, anyway). Never really gave it much thought until seeing all those instruments' notes laid out on the chart. Ukulele especially, with the re-entrant tuning, not a wide range of notes available.

I need to someday make an addenda to my chart to show "Low D whistle" lol, I intend to buy one of those eventually. Haven't decided which brand or which retailer, but it needs to be "tunable" - years ago I had a non-tunable wooden low "F" end-blown flute (aka "whistle" I guess) which was not quite at proper standard pitch (did not match A440 notes) and thus couldn't be played with fixed-pitch instruments such as pianos or concertinas - not much practical use for that, so now I want a "tunable" one. For purposes of working up my own arrangements of tunes, I want to see where the low whistle's note-range is in relation to the other instruments we have around here in the house. (Yeah, I'm already accustomed to the required "piper's grip", no problem there.)

My chart might eventually become a 2-page affair, as I don't want to start removing features (e.g. tab, which some people find useful) ^[1] just to make space for additional instruments... I already compromised considerably by removing the standard notation for guitar and banjo, just to save space, to fit everything on one printed page.

Anyway! I welcome any and all further additions to this page, if anyone else has any other charts they'd like to post, that would be great! We can start a collection of 'em here. I also like the nice chart posted by JeffD in the mandola thread, if Jeff would like to re-post it here as well so that we have all the charts in one thread (as a kind of 'future-proofing' thing to make stuff easier to find), that would be cool!

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Footnote:
1. Heck, even I find tab useful for mandocello and bass, as I'm not yet up-to-speed on reading bass clef on non-piano instruments (working on it). I can read bass clef ok for piano, that's almost automatic, but I don't have much experience yet with applying bass clef to fretted instruments. In this instance, I regard tab as a learning tool to be used in conjunction with standard notation, to help become familiar with where the notes are.

[foldedpath]

I need to someday make an addenda to my chart to show "Low D whistle" lol, I intend to buy one of those eventually. Haven't decided which brand or which retailer, but it needs to be "tunable" - years ago I had a non-tunable wooden low "F" end-blown flute (aka "whistle" I guess) which was not quite at proper standard pitch (did not match A440 notes) and thus couldn't be played with fixed-pitch instruments such as pianos or concertinas - not much practical use for that, so now I want a "tunable" one. For purposes of working up my own arrangements of tunes, I want to see where the low whistle's note-range is in relation to the other instruments we have around here in the house. (Yeah, I'm already accustomed to the required "piper's grip", no problem there.)

You may already know this, but a low D whistle has basically a two octave range -- D4 to D6 -- although those last few high notes might be pretty rough, depending on the whistle. They're designed to sound best in the typical range in Irish/Scottish trad of D4 to B5, maybe C6 for the odd tune that goes up there.

And yeah, I'd suggest one with a tuning slide. They can drift a bit with changes in air temperature and the effects of condensation, especially the ones with metal bodies. I had a Reviol low F whistle for a while, and was glad it included a tuning slide.