Basic Piano Drills (Exercises For Your Fingers)

Upon hearing the word piano, the very first thing that pops into your mind is the set of black and white keys. Anybody can play the piano believe me. You don’t necessarily need to go to music schools or hire certified music instructors to tell you how to pound those keys and play a song. You can be your own teacher as long as you have the interest and the eagerness to learn then it wouldn’t be so difficult.

All you need is a piano, song lyrics with chords and a piano chord chart. Play any of your favorite songs on the piano just like you do on a guitar. Learning to play the piano through chords is not the traditional learning procedure. You will still meet musical terms, read notes and other symbols but not through hectic musical lessons.

Playing the piano through chords is easy and fun. But how do you really start pressing those keys? First, of course, you must know and familiarize the piano. This is because you need to acquaint yourself with the middle “C” or the middle “do” which is the main key on the keyboard. The middle “C” is the white key located before the two black keys in the middle of the keyboard. Note that every white key on the left side of every two black keys is called the “C” or the “do”, but you have to look for the middle “C” or “do”.

Now that you know about the middle “C” or the middle “do”, you have to know the names of the rest of the keys. No, don’t worry, you won’t have a hard time naming the all the keys. As mentioned earlier, every white key on the left side of every two black keys is called the “C” or the “do”. A group is composed of a of two black keys, three black keys and seven white keys. It will then depend on the length of your keyboard on how many groups it would have. Try dividing the keys of your keyboards according to the keys. Then you are now ready to get to know each key on each group.

Remember that the each group would start with “C” or “do”. Then the succeeding white keys take the letters D, E, F, G, A and B or re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti. You have now named all of the white keys. The black keys are the flats and the sharps. The technique to determine the flats and the sharps is to know their position. If the black key is found at the left of every white key, then it is a flat. If the black key is found at the right side of every white key, it is a sharp. For example, the black key nearest to the middle C is at its right side, the black key then is named as C sharp or do #. The C# then could take another name since it is also found at the left side of D or the “re” key. The same goes for the other black keys. There’s the “D” or “re” sharp which is the same key for “E” or “mi” flat. The “F” or “fa” sharp is the same as “G” or “so” flat. The “G” or “so” sharp is also the “A” or “la” flat. And the “A” or “la” sharp is also the “B” or “ti” flat.

Now that you know the names of the keys, you are now ready for the proper position of our fingers over the keyboard. You should know that your fingers have assigned numbers. They also have their proper positions. The thumbs of both hands have the number 1, the forefingers have the number 2, the middle fingers – number three, the ring fingers take number 4 and the pinkie fingers are number five. You are now ready to do the exercises.

Starting with your right hand put your thumb on the middle “C”. Then place the other fingers to the following keys, forefinger on the D key, middle finger on the E key, ring finger on the F key and the pinkie finger on the G key. Practice pressing the keys one after the other starting with the thumb then ending with the pinkie finger. Repeat the exercise ten times. And then try reversing the direction. This time, start with your pinkie finger and end up with your thumb. Do this again for ten times or until you get the hang of it. And then try playing continually from the thumb to the pinkie finger then back to the thumb and so on.

Do the same with your left hand but this time position your left pinkie finger on the “C” lower than the middle “C” then the ring finger on the lower “D”, the middle finger on the lower “E”, then the forefinger on the lower “F” and the thumb on the lower “G”. Try playing the keys starting from your thumb to your pinkie finger for five times. Then start from your pinkie finger to your thumb and then continuously just like what you did with your right hand. And when you get the hang of it, try practicing both hands, then alternating right and left hands.

The saying that goes practice makes perfect is irrefutably true. In whatever you desire to achieve, you must remember that it takes not only the desire but also the drive for the desire to materialize. Have fun paving your way towards perfection!