If you play piano and want to jam with a trumpet, clarinet, or saxophone, their written parts will look — and sound, if read literally — in the wrong key. That’s because those are transposing instruments: the note on their page is deliberately offset from the pitch it produces. The piano is the fixed reference, sounding exactly what’s written, so every conversion below is stated relative to concert (piano) pitch.
Master chart
| Instrument | Key | Written C sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Trumpet (B♭) | B♭ | concert B♭ (down a major second) |
| Cornet (B♭) | B♭ | concert B♭ (down a major second) |
| Clarinet (B♭) | B♭ | concert B♭ (down a major second) |
| Clarinet (A) | A | concert A (down a minor third) |
| Soprano Saxophone (B♭) | B♭ | concert B♭ (down a major second) |
| Tenor Saxophone (B♭) | B♭ | concert B♭ (down a major second) |
| Alto Saxophone (E♭) | E♭ | concert E♭ (down a major sixth) |
| Baritone Saxophone (E♭) | E♭ | concert E♭ (down a major sixth) |
| French Horn (F) | F | concert F (down a perfect fifth) |
| English Horn (F) | F | concert F (down a perfect fifth) |
| Alto Flute (G) | G | concert G (down a perfect fourth) |
| Piccolo (octave) | C | same pitch (sounds one octave higher than written) |
| Guitar (octave) | C | same pitch (sounds one octave lower than written) |
Concert pitch vs written pitch
Concert pitch is the real sounding pitch — the note a piano or a tuner names. Written pitch is what the transposing player reads. On a B♭ instrument the written note sits a major second above concert; on an E♭ instrument, a major sixth above; on an F instrument, a perfect fifth above. To write a piano part for a transposing player, shift each concert note up by that interval; to hear what their part sounds like on the piano, shift it back down.