How to Do Finger Exercises for Piano

Practice looking away from the keyboard while doing finger exercises.

Many people want to play the piano but the keyboard seems too imposing. Use finger exercises to learn piano scales and prepare your fingers to play the instrument. Once your fingers are warmed up, your piano playing should be even better.

Instructions

1. Understand the structure and layout of the keyboard. To begin comprehension of the keyboard, look at the basics of scales. Notice the keyboard is made up of 88 keys in a repeating pattern. Note the alternating pattern of two black keys followed by three black keys. These keys give the best direction for finger exercises. Identify the middle of the keyboard. The white key to the immediate left of the black key grouping is the center of the keyboard. It is referred to as "middle C."

2. Learn the scale. The scale consists of the alphabet involving the first seven letters. It is best to start with middle C and learn the C scale. Simply move to the right, changing the letter as you go. The white key between the two black keys is a "D," the key to the right of the two black keys is an "E," and the first white key to left of the grouping of three black keys is an "F." Next is "G" and then the letters start all over. By the time you reach the next white key to the left of the double black grouping, you have returned to "C." This is the C scale and is the scale that prompts the finger exercise.

3. Make the hand into a tight ball and then relax it. The hand should have a bit of an open-ended curve to it. With the hand in this state, place it on the first five keys starting with your thumb on middle C. The pointer finger is on the D note between the black keys and so on. When finished, all five fingers should be stretched from C to G. One at a time, play these notes left to right and then right to left. Once you feel comfortable, try this. After reaching the E note, tuck the thumb under the palm to the F note and complete the entire scale with the final four fingers. The way it would function would be: thumb=C, pointer=D, middle=E, thumb tuck under palm to F, pointer=G, middle=A, ring finger=B, pinky=C.

4. Switch to the left hand. The left hand will play the same piano keys, but the fingering will be different. Start on middle C with the smallest finger. Then use the next four fingers for keys D, E, F and G. Again, go up and down the keyboard until you feel comfortable. Then, add the same type of additional fingering to make it through the entire scale. The fingerings would go like this: pinky=C, ring finger=D, middle finger=E, pointer=F, thumb=G. At that point, the middle finger is crossed over the top of the hand so that it plays the A key, and then the ring finger completes the B key with the thumb hitting the higher C.

5. Practice your new moves. There are three "sub-steps" to the recap. Use the five-note approach for sending the fingers up the keyboard to develop accuracy and speed. Practice the entire scale with the idea of strengthening the fingers, and practice looking away when playing. Once you begin to feel comfortable with the entire scale, drop your left hand to the next lower C and exercise your hands in unison. It will be very hard at first. Remember that to move ahead with learning the piano, this structural fingering practice must be done.

Tips & Warnings

• Start with five-note exercise, then move to eight-note scales.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Free Online Piano Lessons: Constructing Major and Minor Piano Scales