Ocarina buttons on Nintendo Switch 2

In free play, the ocarina in the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time is a real little instrument: five buttons give five notes, and two controls bend them to reach every half step in between. This guide explains the layout used by all the tabs on this site.

The five natural notes

With the default controls, L, R, A, Y and X play five notes from lowest to highest. The game's own songs only use these five. Our tabs colour each button the same way everywhere, so you can read by colour as well as by letter.

1. LD
2. RF
3. AA
4. YB
5. XD

Half steps and whole steps

• Hold the +Control Pad up while pressing a note button to play it a half step higher, or down for a half step lower. This is the precise bend: it always lands exactly on the next note.
• Push the Left Stick fully up or down for a whole step. The stick is analogue, so push it all the way and keep it there for the whole note.
• The two can be combined for a step and a half. It works, but it needs both thumbs on the left side: our transposition engine avoids it whenever an easier fingering exists.
• Order matters. Hold the bend first, then press the note button, so the note starts in tune instead of sliding into place.

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 Left Stick.
3. The bar under each key shows how long to hold it. A wider step lasts longer.
4. A rest sign means silence: release everything.
5. Press Play to hear the excerpt, turn on Loop, and slow it down to 50 % while you learn.

Practice tips

• Start with a tab marked Easy: most of them use natural notes only.
• Put your phone next to the console and loop one bar at a time.
• If a bend sounds wrong, check that you are holding it before the button press.
• Switching console on a tab keeps your place: useful if you play on both systems.

Range and transposition

Bends extend the five notes to 19 pitches, about an octave and a half. A melody that goes higher or lower cannot be played as written, so each tab here is transposed to the key that needs the fewest bends. The tab tells you by how many half steps.

Complete note chart