Getting my fingers between the black keys

[mbvs]

Hi,

there is this main theme in Rookie Bootcamp Lesson 81 which goes F Bb A F Bb A A G E F and it would be so much easier to play if I could only squeeze my fourth finger between the Ab and Bb keys. When I try I always keep sounding unintentionally one of the black keys together with the A no matter how I fit my finger in - Is there a trick or do I only have especially thick fingers ?

[TheDestroyer]

can you please specify where this is as I looked through the lesson and could not find the section.

[mbvs]

Sorry, got the row wrong. It's rookie bootcamp lesson 85, Final Review, John Mayer - Your body is a wonderland, right hand, measures 5/6.

But my question is more of a general nature: how to get thick fingers between the black keys?

I dabbled around a lot the last days: with my fingers way in the keyboard, a ever so slightly inward rotation and a more 'forwardish' push of the hitting finger I can manage to stroke the A twice without dragging the Bb or Ab down with it - well, mostly. However hitting the key so close to its pivot point takes some more strength (because of the shorter lever) and I seem to loose a lot of 'sensitivity' - does this make any sense?

'Curling' the finger inwards and hitting the key almost with the nail works too, but I think that is a bad technique which I should better avoid.

It seems to me that this is one of the occasions where computer based training falls short and a human teacher would be really helpful - but perhaps the collected wisdom of the community can help out: how do other people with stronger fingers manage this?

[EFlatMajor]

Very legitimate question. For me, when I put my index finger between 2 black keys, both keys rub slightly against my skin, but if I come straight down there is not enough force to actually play that key. I don't really have anything helpful to add.

One thing I can add is PGS does have human music teachers on staff and you do have access to them, If you look at the PGS YouTube channel, you will see that they do free live lesson streams about once a week. They encourage questions from the Playground Sessions users, Just join the stream (Wednesday at 6 PM EST) and put your question into the chat. If you can't make the livestream, just send your question to that all-purpose customer support email address and they will get it to the teacher (usually Phil) to talk about during the stream. They stream is always available afterwards as a regular youtube video.