Piano Tips: Improving Piano Hand Coordination

Piano Tips for Improving Piano Hand Coordination

Today's post looks at piano tips for improving piano hand coordination, including how to practice scales, playing with each hand individually and then playing with both hands together.

Practicing Piano Scales

As a piano player, it is essential to be able to play both single notes and chords equally well with both hands. A good way of developing strength and independence in all the fingers is to practice scales with each hand and then with both hands together. Various ways of playing the G major scale are shown below. First is the scale in the bass staff, to be played by the left hand. The first note is a low G note. Notice the fingering written under the music - a crossover is necessary when moving between D and E.

Piano Scale Exercise: Left Hand

Next, play the scale with both hands together ( as shown in the image below) . Play slowly and listen carefully. Don't rush! The most important thing is to play each note with both hands at exactly the same time, and to be sure all notes are even in length and volume. The crossovers occur at different times for each hand, so take care not to lose your timing at these points. Practicing playing a scale with both hands regularly and consistently will help you build up long term piano hand coordination.

Piano Scale Exercise: Both Hands

Once you can play a scale smoothly and evenly with both hands together, the next step is to play it over more than one octave. The following example shows the G major scale played in eighth notes over two octaves. The first note of the second octave is played with the thumb (1). This necessitates thumb under and crossover techniques. Take them slowly at first and only increase the speed once it is totally comfortable.

Piano Scale Exercise: Both Hands Over Two Octaves

This final piece, 'Changing Lanes' will put your scale practice to good use. The melody is played first by the left hand and then the right, the hands reverse roles every four bars!

Changing Lanes