An Easy Way to Explain Piano Hand Position

Learning the correct hand position on the piano can take a while – especially for young kids, or students who have already established bad habits. Here, Portland teacher Bonnie M. shares an easy way to explain it… 

One of the first things any beginning piano student learns is hand position. For a right-handed person, the left hand is positioned on the lower notes of the keyboard, while the right hand is positioned on the higher notes. 

However, this can be confusing for some people, especially if they are left-handed. 

In this post, we will give you a simple trick to help you remember which hand goes where – and tell you everything you need to know about how to position hands on piano for the best results.

How Many Hand Positions Are There for Piano?

There are a variety of hand positions on piano:

• The most common position is known as the basic hand position for piano, which is when the thumb of the right hand is on middle C, and the other fingers are on the adjacent white keys. 
• Other positions include the five-finger position, first position, and third position. 
• The five-finger position is when all five fingers are on different keys, while first and third position refer to when the hand is shifted up or down the keyboard. 

Each position has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to experiment to find what works best for you. With a little practice, you’ll be playing beautifully in no time!

Ready to learn the proper beginner piano hand position? It might be time to sign up for piano lessons! Your piano instructor will teach you everything you need to know about the correct piano hand positioning – plus everything else about playing piano, too, like what you see in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wQ1ZXph1HI

Is Hand Position Important in Piano?

A lot of people think that the only proper way to play the piano is with both hands in the middle of the keyboard. This isn’t true! While it’s certainly one way to play, there are other positions that can be just as effective—and sometimes even more so.

One-Handed Playing 

One-handed playing is often thought of as being used only by beginners. This isn’t necessarily true; while it’s certainly a good way for beginners to get started, more experienced players can make use of it, too. 

One-handed playing allows you to focus on one hand at a time, which can be helpful if you’re working on a particularly tricky passage. It can also be used for dramatic effect, such as in a Chopin waltz where the left hand plays a simple accompaniment while the right hand takes center stage.

Two-Handed Playing 

This is the most common way to play the piano and is generally considered the proper piano hand position. Both hands are usually positioned in the middle of the keyboard, and each plays an equal part in the music. This position is ideal for pieces that are evenly balanced between the hands, such as most classical music. 

Split Chords 

Split chords are chords where one note is played by one hand and the others are played by the other hand. For example, you might play the note C with your left hand and E and G with your right. This position is often used when trying to play two melodies at once or when one hand needs to play a sustained melody while the other accompanies it with chords. 

A Hack For Understanding Hand Position Piano Players Will Enjoy

In The Lion King, do you recall Pumbaa relaxing in a watering hole in the desert with Timon and Simba? Proper hand position for playing piano involves bubbles similar to the ones Pumbaa… contributed.

Imagine capturing one of those bubbles in your hand. To do this, your fingers must be curved and the tips must be near your thumb. Looking at your hand from the thumb side, your fingers would form a loose ‘C’ shape. Catch one of these bubbles and turn your hand over. Feel how airy the space below your palm is, and how natural your fingers feel. Now, place your fingers on the keyboard. Since your pointer finger and middle fingers are so much longer than your thumb, keep them curved so that all your fingers have equal opportunities to reach the keys.

Pressing down on the keys provides greater control and ease of movement. This bubble position, which keeps your curved fingers near the center of the keys, also draws your finger pads into contact with the keys. Now when you press a key, you press ‘down’ instead of ‘away-and-down.’ Beginning piano music frequently asks pianists to play the song twice: once at forte and another at piano. Playing ‘down’ onto each key reduces tension in our fragile fingers and enables a greater dynamic contrast between the first and last time through the piece.

Some of us have shorter fingers than others. My fingers are really long, which could get in my way if I let them splay out flat on the keyboard. If I wanted to play a C scale and forgot to grab a bubble to support my palms, my fingers #2, #3 and #4 would run into all the black notes. Not only would that not sound like a C scale, my fingers don’t like bumping into things as sturdy as black keys!