Ocarina buttons on Nintendo 3DS

Ocarina of Time 3D lets you play the ocarina freely with five buttons and two controls that bend the pitch. Any tab on this site can be switched to its 3DS version: same melody, different buttons.

The five natural notes

With the default controls, L, R, Y, X and A play five notes from lowest to highest. The notes are the same as on other versions of the game; only the buttons that trigger them change.

1. LD
2. RF
3. YA
4. XB
5. AD

Sharps, flats and whole steps

• Hold the +Control Pad up while pressing a note button to make it sharp (a half step higher), or down to make it flat (a half step lower).
• Push the Circle Pad fully up or down for a whole step. It is analogue: push it all the way and hold it for the whole note.
• Both can be combined for a step and a half. The site only proposes this fingering when nothing simpler exists.
• Hold the bend first, then press the note button, so the note starts on pitch.

How to read a button tab

1. Read left to right, bar by bar. Each coloured key is one press.
2. A small dark badge above a key means “hold this bend”: an arrow in a square is the +Control Pad, and a dot pushed up or down inside a circle is the Circle Pad.
3. The bar under each key shows how long to hold it.
4. A rest sign means silence: release everything.
5. Use Play, Loop and the speed slider to learn at your own pace.

Practice tips

• L and R sit under your index fingers and play the two lowest notes: keep them there.
• Loop one bar until the bends land, then add the next bar.
• Easy tabs avoid bends almost entirely: start there.
• The first buttons of every song are shown on its card for the console you selected.

Range and transposition

With bends, the five buttons reach 19 pitches. Each excerpt is transposed for the 3DS independently, so the 3DS version of a tab may sit in a different key from the Switch 2 version if that makes it easier to play.

Complete note chart