fingering
Alma Mater Adjust Fingering
I have an elderly student who can’t bend fingers 3 and 4 in his RH. We are adjusting songs accordingly. For Alma Mater Blues 3rd Section CAGE chord I, what would you suggest? C G E – fingers 5, 2, 1 – 100% C A…
Finger Substitution
I have noticed pianists do something I have never been shown nor taught. They play a note and then change the fingers so that note is still being played but the hand is being set up for the next steps. Is this something that is…
Chord Fingers Bending
One of my students is struggling with playing chords because her fingers are doing what you see in the photos. Can anyone help me know what is going on? Are there any exercises or things we can do to help her? Have her hold a…
6th Chord Fingering
I’m working my way through the Chord Drill supplemental program. I’m learning the +6 chords. I’m wondering which fingers to use for the C6 chord. I see conflicting info in the random internet searches I do. Is there an official Simply Music way to do…
Clarifying Fingering Online
I’m sharing my online tricks as I think of them. This is really helpful to enhance the visual when demonstrating. Use the a fluoro marker as you ba ba the song slowly — as you teach the song you tap and move to each finger with…
Chord Fingering
What about fingering for chords? Sometimes my new students want to play the basic chords with 1, 2, and 5 instead of 1, 3, and 5. I have been trying to get them to do 1, 3, and 5… But maybe it doesn’t matter. Marsha,…
Alternate Greensleeves Fingering
An 8-year-old student came up with an alternate fingering for Greensleeves that I thought was both insightful and helpful for kids with small hands, and I told her I was going to share it here, and that Neil Moore might even see it. In the…
Student with Two Functioning Fingers
The 12 year old son of an adult student of mine would love to take piano lessons. He can already play the violin and has a great ear, able to figure out how to play songs he hears on the piano. However, due to a…
Blues Scale Fingering
I am doing the Blues Improvisation ‘Blues Scales’ and have a question about fingering patterns. In the C scale we use F1 on White notes and F3 on Black notes but what about in other keys? I don’t know if I’ve missed it somewhere… but…
Teaching Capitals & Periods Early
Successful new idea I hit upon with a new group. These are kids on the young side, 6-7. I ended up teaching them just the Capitals & Periods from the Pause Button (Tune Toolkit Project 2) prior to teaching them the rest of that project,…