playing fast songs....finger tekniq

animedevotion · December 6th, 2005, 09:57 am

hi
r there any finger exercises to help play fast songs in time? esp. the left hand coz my left hand is sprained and its always like a beat behind or soemthing...

tanonev · December 6th, 2005, 03:17 pm

If your left hand is sprained, don't play with it without first consulting medical help. You risk slowing the recovery of your hand. Talk to a doctor to see what you can or cannot do while your hand is sprained.

Anyhow, practicing your scales always helps improve speed. If they are long even runs that don't come out very evenly, try playing the runs in pairs of long-short, then in pairs of short-long, then playing normally again. That will improve evenness. If it involves a lot of hand position changes or jumps, learn the different hand positions first, then practice moving from one hand position to the next, and finally add the actual notes.

Mazeppa · December 6th, 2005, 07:04 pm

yes, practicing the scales, and usuing the correct fingerings will definately help you. also, try playing sinple songs you know, and speeding them up. also, if you cant play a fast song slown down, then you might as well not try it at the speed you are doing, try slower, and seprate hands.

Darksage · December 6th, 2005, 09:14 pm

Practice the scales, and when pieces get harder and faster, dont worry much about what fingers are SUPPOSED to hit the keys, do it in a comfortable way for you

Mazeppa · December 6th, 2005, 11:54 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darksage

Practice the scales, and when pieces get harder and faster, dont worry much about what fingers are SUPPOSED to hit the keys, do it in a comfortable way for you

true-still, try usuing the fingerings that the book gives you, it can teach you other styles and ways for make it even easier.

tanonev · December 7th, 2005, 05:44 am

There are a couple different ways to finger scales. However, consciously choose your fingering. You should be able to REPRODUCE whatever fingering you choose to use for a particular scale.

And although the given fingerings may feel awkward at first, give them a fair chance. Many times, the best fingering is not necessarily the easiest fingering; however, it becomes the only fingering that works reliably at high speeds.

Neerolyte · December 7th, 2005, 03:57 pm

If you want to train your fingers to be able to play fast songs.
1: play scales, arpeggios etc
2: i recommend you to buy Hanon, the best finger technique book. It features pieces that train varieties of combinations of your fingers like pieces that train your fingers. Like: 1-3-5, 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5, 5-4-3, 3-2-1 etc......
So i highly recommend you buy that book, and practice like 15-20 minutes a day. It seriously works

tanonev · December 7th, 2005, 06:27 pm

"4-5-6"? I don't have a 6th finger

kings · December 7th, 2005, 07:26 pm

scales, scales, scales, harmonic ?(not sure name) acords and all them, do them before you practice everytiem for around a week and you should see improvements.

and also play those fast parts slow first with the correct fingering (or whichever is more comfortable but right if you know what i mean). when you learn that part, then speed up it, but if you do mistakes, slow it down again and practice the fingers to play together also.... i hope i didint confuse you

tanonev · December 7th, 2005, 09:37 pm

Scales you *might* be able to do with a sprained hand. Don't try arpeggios until your hand is better. Better yet, check with a doctor to see what's the best way to keep your practice schedule without delaying or reversing your hand's recovery.

Namine-chan · December 8th, 2005, 04:51 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neerolyte

If you want to train your fingers to be able to play fast songs.
1: play scales, arpeggios etc
2: i recommend you to buy Hanon, the best finger technique book. It features pieces that train varieties of combinations of your fingers like pieces that train your fingers. Like: 1-3-5, 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5, 5-4-3, 3-2-1 etc......
So i highly recommend you buy that book, and practice like 15-20 minutes a day. It seriously works

I majorly agree with Neerolyte. I've been using the Hanon book and it's really helped out. Also, perhaps using a metronome to keep exact beat would be of some assistance. Start out slowly and work your way up. I know that if you have a synth, it should have one built in. If not, $20-$30 for it is nothing compared to what it can do.
Also, with the sprained hand, do get it checked out if it gets worse, hope you get better

Neerolyte · December 8th, 2005, 06:31 pm

=.= oh right i got carried away putting 4-5-6

but you know what i mean =P

animedevotion · December 10th, 2005, 04:16 am

thanx for ur advice

is ferdinand beyer the same thing as hanon? like does it help in finger tekniqs?

also isnt scales a bit boring to practise daily????

but arpeggios do sound better

tanonev · December 10th, 2005, 02:45 pm

Yes, scales can be boring at times. If they bore you, do different scales in different ways on different days. Remember, out of the "regular scales" (Major + 3 minor), you have 48 different options. Then you can choose to play them in eighth notes for 2 octaves, triples for 3 octaves, and/or sixteenths for 4 octaves. You can also choose to play them in contrary motion (one hand goes up while the other goes down, and vice versa). One common pattern that integrates contrary motion is as follows:
Play in sixteenths.
Up 2 octaves, parallel.
Out 2 octaves, contrary.
In 2 octaves, contrary.
Up 2 octaves, parallel.
Down 2 octaves, parallel.
Out 2 octaves, contrary.
In 2 octaves, contrary.
Down 2 octaves, parallel.

If you're still bored after these, you can always practice your rhythms by playing your scales in long-short and short-long, or by playing 2 against 3 or 3 against 2 (or 3 against 4?

).

When doing scales, though, you're not supposed to let your mind wander. There's a lot of stuff to think about.
One common problem is that when your fingers cross over, there's a "thud" from a finger landing. No notes should sound out of place, especially not the thumb. First work on every single note being exactly the same in duration and in volume. Next, try to work in crescendos and decrescendos without disturbing the evenness of duration or smoothness of volume.
At the same time, you should be working on hand position and posture. Remember to observe all posture rules when playing the piano, even if it's just scales. As for the hands, it's a good idea to try to keep them motionless when playing individual notes, so that it's the finger playing, not the whole hand (there are other exercises for playing with the hand and the rest of the body, but for now, let's use scales as finger exercises), and that when you cross your thumb under, you always lead with your wrist (turn your hand a little so that the wrist is now in the direction in which you are going; it'll make the crossover a lot easier), and that when you cross your finger over, you trail with your wrist. Neither motion should be exaggerated; it should only be just enough to keep the scale rapid, even, and comfortable. And of course, your fingers should be curved, your wrist should be at finger level, etc.

Speaking of playing comfortably:
The saying "No pain, no gain" DOES NOT apply to piano. If something hurts, don't do it. There IS a way to play just about every passage without it hurting, so your time is better spent finding that way than brute-forcing the passage and ignoring the pain. Of course, there is a difference between pain and fatigue, and even among different types of fatigue. You will have to build up some finger strength and endurance so that you don't tire from playing long pieces. However, if your fatigue results from contorting your fingers to reach the notes, sit down and figure out a more reasonable fingering. Similarly, if your elbows or wrists start to hurt, work on keeping those joints loose so that tension doesn't build up in them.

Asuka · December 10th, 2005, 02:58 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanonev

Speaking of playing comfortably:
The saying "No pain, no gain" DOES NOT apply to piano. If something hurts, don't do it. There IS a way to play just about every passage without it hurting, so your time is better spent finding that way than brute-forcing the passage and ignoring the pain. Of course, there is a difference between pain and fatigue, and even among different types of fatigue. You will have to build up some finger strength and endurance so that you don't tire from playing long pieces. However, if your fatigue results from contorting your fingers to reach the notes, sit down and figure out a more reasonable fingering. Similarly, if your elbows or wrists start to hurt, work on keeping those joints loose so that tension doesn't build up in them.

Please, do tell that way. Cuz if I can't reach a chord, I stretch my finger until it gets into it, then keep my hand in that position until it becomes natural, regardless how much pain I feel. I had to do that with Largo in G and now I can play it no problems. There is no point in trying to figure out a way to finger a chord if you just can't reach it.