Learn to play beautifully

Piano fingering is one of the most crucial aspects of learning the instrument, yet it is among the most overlooked. Here are seven of the most important rules for fingering, prefaced by an instruction to…

Rule #0: Finger it out for yourself!

No two hands are alike. What’s perfectly...

Question: Hello Albert,

Thank you for your reply mail regarding “the fingering” for playing descending chromatic minor 6ths. It is most helpful and is going to take me some time to practice these few octaves correctly, especially playing this section with both hands with the 2 thumbs...

Question: Hi Albert,

I am a retired female who has returned to the piano about three months ago. Haven’t found a teacher yet so don’t have access to answers to some of my difficulties so far. One of my chief concerns has to do with the smallness of my hands (I’m...

Question: Hello Albert,

Since I started playing the piano, I’ve mostly played Romantic-era music, where the left hand is just accompanying. In January I started with playing scales, 20 minutes every morning. And I realised that my left hand feels kind of uncomfortable. I’ve got a...

Question: Hello Albert, Thank you so much for the lessons.

I am practising the scales as you suggested, e.g., started with B major and want to ask you for a tip as the thumb will ‘look’ for the note it is supposed to play next and it invariably plays the wrong one. It swings too far...

Question: I am trying to learn how to move from octave to octave without looking at my hands. For example, I begin with both hands on the keyboard with the thumb #1 finger of both hands on middle C.

Looking at the sheet music, the right hand thumb is on the middle C, the number 5 finger on the...

Question: I’ve been having some tightness and tension in my wrists and forearms lately. I’m aware that you struggled through similar problems with discomfort. Do you have any exercises, stretches, or warmups you could recommend?

Thank you.

– Kevin

Albert’s reply: First...

Question: Do you know of Guy Maier? If so do you know the piano exercises he and Bradshaw co-authored, “Thinking Fingers?” The authors advocate practicing these patterns in “impulses” instead of a constant stream of playing. Maier was appalled at the thought of students...

Question: I am in my early 50’s, an amateur pianist of intermediate skill level (e.g. I can play Grieg’s Holberg suite; I doubt if I could play Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata).

Some argue that rather than do exercises, one should choose pieces with technical problems and learn to...

There is a rule of piano technique that is sure to do more to advance your piano playing than any other. All amateur pianists I have ever witnessed break this rule every time they play, and doing so costs them their progress and creates frustration and self-doubt.

How many times have we all heard...

Question: Can give us an idea how to go about the mastery of technique? Is practicing technique more important that practicing songs?

– Tejas

Albert’s reply: Practicing actual music should always be preferred to practicing technique. There’s a problem inherent in the very...

Question: How does a pianist learn to play the piano without always having to look at his hands as he plays as well as make those octave leaps on the piano without having to look at where his fingers are going?

I would appreciate any tips or suggestions.

– Antwane (Amherst, New York, USA)

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