Have you started playing piano recently but are struggling to recreate your favorite musical piece or movie soundtrack seamlessly?
According to research, almost 50% of music students quit their journey incomplete, as they feel they are stuck and not progressing. However, there are a few basic exercises that musical amateurs and veterans can use to polish their piano-playing skills and take their musical journey to the next level.
Therefore, this comprehensive guide is going to provide you with five easy exercises that you should practice in order to improve your piano playing skills.
1. Five Finger Exercise
This straightforward five-finger practice incorporates the first five notes of a major scale. You are going to utilize five fingers on each hand.
Begin with your thumb on the right hand and your little finger on the left. You will perform this workout in ascending and descending sequence. For example, in the key of C, you would play C D E F G F E D C.
Repeat the practice, advancing progressively yet playing piano consistently. This practice will improve your movement dexterity, allowing you to perform easy piano melodies with more ease.
2. Full-Scale Exercise
The complete scale is a piano fingering exercise that is significantly more difficult than the preceding one due to the “thumb tuck.” This is a movement from which you can progress up the scale by sliding the thumb beneath the other fingers (typically the index and middle fingers) and playing the following note with it.
This movement is typically used when we need to play scales with over 5 notes in succession to keep advancing up the scale as smoothly as possible. Before practicing the full-scale piano exercise, you should practice thumb tucking on a 3- or 4-note series. Once you get hold of the movement, you can start practicing the full-scale exercise.
To do so, place your right hand’s thumb in the middle of C, index finger on D, and middle finger on E. Play the first three notes in a row. Then, while situating your other fingers on the following keys, slip your thumb beneath your index and middle fingers to play the F.
Place your fingers in the following order: thumb on F, index finger on G, middle finger on A, ring finger on B while placing your little finger on C. All you must do is play the notes one by one with your right hand.
3. Chords Exercise
This exercise is going to train you on major 3-note chords. To begin, place your right-hand thumb in the middle C, middle finger on E, and little finger on G.
Now, simultaneously press all six notes. You just played a C major chord with both hands. But let’s keep going with the workout. Then lift your 6 fingers one more note to form a D major chord. After that, to continue playing in chords, you should place your fingers in the following situation:
- With your right hand, place your thumb on D, middle finger on F, and the little finger on A.
- From your left hand, place the little and middle finger on the D and F while pressing the thumb on the A.
- Then, simultaneously, push all six notes. You just played a D major chord with both hands. To produce the following chords, continue to lift all your fingers one note higher.
- Repeat the practice until you reach the C chord, dropping down one note between each chord.
- As with any piano exercise, begin slowly and progressively increase your pace.
4. The Broken Chords Exercise
This exercise is similar to the last one, but it differs in that the chord notes are played one by one rather than all at once.
For each chord, play the little finger of your left hand and the thumb of your right hand simultaneously, then place the middle finger of both of your hands simultaneously.
Lastly, the thumb of your left hand and the little finger of your right hand are used simultaneously. After you’ve completed this sequence on one chord, move on to the next. To produce all the chords of a C scale, for example, proceed up one note at a time by playing the keys one by one.
You return to the C chord once you’ve reached it. You may also complete this exercise with piano sheet music.
5. Arpeggios
Arpeggios are unique keyboard exercises that stretch and strengthen your fingers and wrist. A fractured chord is what an arpeggio is. Arpeggios are composed of the first, third, fifth, and eighth notes of a major scale.
Short and lengthy leaps on the piano will benefit significantly from arpeggios. This is due to you omitting one or two notes during the procedure.
When learning arpeggios, start slowly and gradually increase your tempo as you feel more comfortable with a certain speed. You will execute this in descending and ascending order with both hands at separate times.
Conclusion
Fluently playing piano requires utmost dedication and consistency while simultaneously acquiring additional knowledge to improve your form and increase your musical knowledge.
These exercises follow the principle of note building and symphony construction to enhance your skills from basic level to proficient expertise in order to handle elements like arpeggios seamlessly.
However, like any skill, it is necessary to first familiarize yourself with the principles and advance according to your comfort level.
As the editor of the blog, She curate insightful content that sparks curiosity and fosters learning. With a passion for storytelling and a keen eye for detail, she strive to bring diverse perspectives and engaging narratives to readers, ensuring every piece informs, inspires, and enriches.
