I’m confused on the differences between a 4 keyed and a 6 keyed flute. According to http://www.woodenflute.com/playing/fingerchart they all play chromatically, except the 8 keyed flute can play the low c and c# while the other 2 can’t. Does one have better tuning than the other or something? Thanks for the help.
A four key flute usually has these keys: Bb, G#, short Fnat and Eb.
A six key flute usually has in addition to the four key a Cnat and a long Fnat key.
An eight key flute has in addition the two foot keys for C# and C.
The difference is pretty big if, like me, you hold the flute with your fingers very flat and low. (Usually called a piper’s grip). In this case, those long keys can get in the way. I’ve played six-keyed flutes, but much prefer four. I don’t think this is the norm by any means, but I’m sure some others feel the same. So for me, four is more–plus four-keyed flutes are quite a bit cheaper with keys costing as much as $400 or more each. OTOH, I’ve heard people say they use those long keys quite a lot for quick passages. I wouldn’t know.
about $900.
A four key flute usually has these keys: Bb, G#, short Fnat and Eb.
A six key flute usually has in addition to the four key a Cnat and a long Fnat key.
Elforce1-
In case you’re still wondering how the four key flute can be fully chromatic, C natural can be played on any simple-system flute without using keys. The five- or six-key flute adds a Cnat key to allow one to play the note with a stronger sound. The Cnat key can also provide a way to improve the intonation of C#. The long Fnat key provides an alternative way to play Fnat; the transitions between Fnat and some other notes, like D, and be very difficult to do smoothly with the short Fnat key. On my five-key flute (which has the Cnat key, but only the short Fnat key), I often have to tongue Fnat notes to create a small break in the sound while I shift my finger over to the Fnat key. This is a problem when I play baroque music, though it might not matter in Irish music.
-Top
In Irish music, none of the keys matter. 
This is so untrue…
Thanks for the replies guys, really appreciate it.
[quote="Othannen
In Irish music, none of the keys matter. [/quote]
This is so untrue…[/quote]
I was (mostly) joking, hence the poke emoticon, 'cause I know there are folks like you who feel otherwise, and need the occasional poke. Many threads of late imply the necessity for keys. Ten or so years ago, when I joined this forum, the opposite seemed to be the consensus, regarding ITM. Apparently, the tradition has evolved enormously in the past decade.
Now, I have nothing against keys, mind you, other than not being able to afford them, so I stay keyless, save for my cumbersome and iffy-tuning German flute, which has 11 keys I rarely if ever use. Sadly, on my keyless, I can only play about 98% of ITM.
I feel horrible…
This may be of interest on Terry McGee’s site.
Irish Flutes - Of Holes and Keys
Scroll down to “Common Groupings of Keys”
The debate still goes on, but it doesn’t exactly rage. Now, I like my keys, but then I’m also a bit of a gadget-head, simple as that. I always give a nod to the keyless camp by asserting that in ITM the primary usefulness of keys is in how they keep your flute from rolling off of the table.
It’s a ‘horses for courses’ kind of thing.
I too, can play about 98% of the ITM repertoire on my keyless. On my keyed German flute, (which I sold yesterday), I could play pretty much anything. The landing place for me, hopefully, will be a fully keyed flute by a superior modern maker.
He knows who he is.
Sure, you can play most of the tunes, but not being able to play a particular tune that you like because it has an F nat or G# is really irritating at least for me. Also given that I tend to particularly like this kind of tunes, so in my repertoire they are more than a mere 2%… 
And we won’t even mention the desirability of key-venting certain notes to get them in tune/improve their strength and timbre… which you cain’t do if you hain’t got the keys. I have yet to meet a keyless “Irish flute” which would not have been improved by addition and proper use of an Eb key. If I had my way, I’d ban totally keyless flutes… rant, rant, rant.
What’s the difference between a 4 keyed and 6 keyed flute?
2 keys.
C’mon, I’m so disappointed in you guys …
An F natural key, an Eb key, and a G sharp key are worth having, I think it’s reasonable to state,
though not essential. I can actually half-hole those notes but the keys are a good
deal better. As I’ve mentioned in another thread, the C natural thumb-hole (at 25 dollars)
is more agile than a C-natural key, IMO. I can half-hole the Bb well enough.
what? I was tryin’ fer restraint there, eh!
Well, if you’d like to subsidize us keyless flute players, I’ll certainly join your ranks.
Meantime, if you really want to deal with tuning issues and venting, there was this fellow called Boehm… Yes, I’m having fun with this poke emoticon…
I’ll happily sell you a very decent 8-key nach Meyer for £375, less than many modern makers’ keyless prices, and I’ve sold good but non-big-name restored C19th English 8-keyers for under £1k (and have more such awaiting renovation) - not much more than the top names charge for a keyless and way less than their 6+ keyed flutes start from. That argument does not hold water. And if all the keyless makers refused to make such and automatically fitted the Eb key (in a base metal) like what they dinner-oughter, they would not need significantly to increase the prices of starter flutes as 1-keyers rather than keyless. You can also pick up perfectly good (as in fit for modern use) antique 1-6 keyers of various descriptions for relatively modest prices. This expense-of-keys argument is a fallacy unless you refuse to contemplate non-new-made flutes. (In which case squared.)
Your idea of modest price and mine are not quite the same; that’s where the dam (in the unheld hot water) has burst. Yes, when I have $1K or more on hand (US, not UK), not allocated to silly things like food, home and hearth, I’ll probably get myself a decent used antique. Even if I had $375 UK for your “decent” German flute - what’s that? Around $500 US? For a German flute? Many, many better sounding keyless flutes about for that money.
That said, I already have a decent German flute I sometimes play when alone - my first flute - and I played it exclusively before my unkeyed came along. Cool, old sound. However, my unkeyed Hamilton blows it out of the water, tonally and tunally (no venting needed on this beast, thank you - one advantage most moderns have over antiques). Unlike the German, I don’t need to do a million embouchure tricks to bring up the F# and open the E, etc. Besides, like Brad, I actually like the veiled sound produced when notes are unvented. I am playing ITM, after all. Slight tuning anomalies are just fine.
So, to switch over to the German keyed flute at a gig, session or even in public, rather than play a keyless, because the German has an E flat(!?) key I can vent makes little sense to me. Better to sound good and be limited, than unlimited and sub-par
And I wasn’t completely kidding about the Boehm - once I start to over-examine my need for chromatic play, unveiled notes and as-precise-as-a-flute-gets internal tuning, well, a Boehm has the conicals beat anyway. Just has a different sound, and - IMO - we play wooden conicals almost entirely for their sound. Since I’m not likely to own a quality Rudall or Boosey any time soon, or even an anonymous English flutey in the $1K range, I think it’s rather absurd to insist that folks not buy quality keyless flutes in favor of spending more, or the same, for less.