Developing efficient and reliable fingering patterns for piano is an essential skill.


The important thing to remember is that you don't need to learn a new fingering pattern for every scale or passage of music.


Good fingering generally follows some basic principles outlined below:


Fingers are labeled by numbers: 1 = thumb, 2 = pointer, 3 = middle, 4 = ring, 5 = pinky


Scales


Generally for scales, we use alternating group of 3 and 4 fingers (ex. thumb, pointer, middle - 1,2,3, / or thumb, pointer, middle, ring - 1,2,3,4) 

  • Find where the pattern repeats and use the same finger set there
    • Ex - the scales of C, G, D, E, A, B all use alternating groups 123/1234 
  • Sometimes we also use a group of just 2 fingers, or 1 (as in the chromatic scale)
  • We usually don't use thumbs on black keys (with some exceptions such as the Bb or Eb blues scale)
    • If a pattern starts on a black key, use fingers 2, 3, and 4 and put the thumb on the nearest white key


Chords


For Triads we generally use fingers 1-2-4, 1-3-5, or 1-2-5 (1-2-5 for 1st inversion triads in the right hand or 2nd inversion triads in the left hand).


For 7th Chords we generally use 1-2-3-5 (most common) or 1-2-3-4.


If it hurts and feels uncomfortable, adjust your hand, finger, or wrist position. 

  • Often, beginner students don't let the hand slide forward enough on the keyboard to play chords with black keys comfortably.


With these guidelines you will be able to discover on your own how to finger different scales and passages of music in each key.