Finger Numbering

Lesson 1-4: Finger Numbering

In video 4 of lesson 1 of the piano for beginners course we are going to continue expanding our knowledge of the keys of the instrument.

An interesting trick that we saw earlier is to use some small sticky notes on which we will write the name of the notes in order to locate them more quickly.

We will do this at the beginning but little by little we will have to eliminate this help. It is better not to use paper that is difficult to remove, the ideal is to use a post-it that we will have cut out.

And above all I never wrote on the keys since this is not erased and we will have damaged our instrument, which is a shame, whether it is our Yamaha PSR-E453 or any other keyboard we have.

In the previous tutorial of the piano course we have done an exercise in which we played the first 5 notes of the scale, that is, the notes C, D, E, F, and G. We will locate the different C notes on the keyboard, and we will put our labels on these keys and we will practice the exercise with the left hand and with the right hand separately. Logically we will use the left hand in the octaves that are to our left and the right hand in the octaves that are on the right side, the octaves that are in the center we can do with both hands successively.

It is important that the sound of the notes does not mix, that is, that two notes do not sound at the same time, for this we have to lift the finger of the note that we have just played before playing the next note. It is also necessary to remember that the hand must have the fingers slightly curved and relaxed. Avoid playing with very straight fingers or with your wrist bent down. In this piano course we will insist a lot on placing the hands correctly, in order to avoid problems, stops and difficulties when playing scales, melodies and chords.

To easily recognize the fingers that we have to use for each note we are going to put a number on them. They are going to be the same numbers for the left hand and for the right hand, and they are like this: the thumb has the number one, the index has the number 2, the middle finger has the number 3, the ring finger has the number 4 and finally the little finger wear number 5.

That way whenever we play a melody, a scale or a chord we will know which finger we have to use, we will call this the fingering. In this piano course we will also talk a lot about fingering and its possible variations, which are very important when it comes to facilitating how to play the keyboard.

We can do the exercise that we did in the previous tutorial of the piano course in ascending and descending order, that is, we will play from C to G and then inversely from G to C.

We have to memorize the names of the notes as we play them, for that it makes it much easier to say the name of each note as we play them, and even better if we do it by singing the sound we hear, although this for some people is not too easy. But if you have the facility to do it, it is good that you start doing it from this moment. In this piano course we will practice this technique throughout the different lessons.

We have to note that if we do this exercise with the left hand or with the right hand, the fingers that we are going to use for each note are going to be different. In the left hand to play the notes do re mi fa sol we will use the fingers 5 4 3 2 and 1. Conversely in the right hand to play the same notes do re mi fa sol we will use the fingers 1 2 3 4 and 5. This logically it is because the hands are symmetrical, but the scale is not.

You already know that at the School of Music we recommend the Yamaha PSR-E453 keyboard since it is an instrument that we are going to be able to take great advantage of due to its characteristics, but we can also use any other keyboard.

In any case, I recommend that if you don’t know the keyboard, you watch our tutorial for the Yamaha PSR-E453 available on this website and also that you go to a music store where they have it so they can do a demonstration for you.