Free Piano Lesson - Fingering

Many beginning and intermediate piano students struggles with piano fingering. I often
seen students use awkward fingering when playing piano. Though everybody has
different finger's length, we all have thumbs that are shorter than other fingers. As a
rule, thumb is the strongest finger of all. Thumb, index finger (2nd), and long finger (3rd)
are the most used fingers for piano playing. The fourth finger is the weakest and least
used.

1. Never use thumb to play black key. The only exception is when you are playing a
piece that have all black notes. Thumb are not meant to be used for black key because
of its length. The most used fingers for black notes are the 2nd and the 3rd fingers.

2. When playing melody with right hand, if there are keys that are out of reach, you may
move the hand to play the note. If the key are only a couple steps down from the thumb,
you may use the thumb as an anchor and cross the second finger over to reach the
note on the left side of the thumb. You do not need to move the hand. Only move the
second finger over. Once the second finger play the key, the thumb will soon follow to
cross over to play other note left of the key. Suggestion: practice the scale well to know
what finger to follow (go to the scale drill lesson)

3. Same rule applies to left hand.

4. Watch other experienced pianists whenever possible, look at their fingering and
imitate their movements.

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