Struggling with some fingering positions

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jbriden
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:49 am

Struggling with some fingering positions

Post by jbriden » Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:54 am

I find some of the fingerings in the Rookie Bootcamp really awkward. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong.

For example one of them has the right hand 1 = C, 2 = F, 3 = G, 4 = A, 5 = B♭

That pinky on B♭ I find really difficult to do while keeping my other fingers on or near their positions. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

andrewwegierski
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:37 pm

Re: Struggling with some fingering positions

Post by andrewwegierski » Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:08 pm

The pinky is the weakest of the 5 fingers on your hand, so it's no surprise that fingering combination is giving you some trouble. I have a solution for you, and it involves how you think about the hand position.

Right now, because of how you described your 5th finger, you might be thinking about the hand position from the standpoint of your thumb - being tightly anchored to C, it's hard for the other 4 fingers to free up. Here's my take on it:

Think about your hand position as if it was a standard position on E F G A and Bb: 1 2 3 4 5. This should be close and comfortable. Next, stretch your thumb down to the C key, as opposed to being on E. This stretch is a lot easier to think about because of the natural gap between your thumb and index finger, as opposed to how stubborn the 4th and 5th fingers can be!

To recap, anchor the right 4 fingers, and stretch the thumb down to C.
Andrew Wegierski

Customer Support Representative
Music Arranger

support@playgroundsessions.com

jbriden
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:49 am

Re: Struggling with some fingering positions

Post by jbriden » Mon Jun 18, 2018 10:54 pm

Perhaps I didn't explain the problem very well. It's not so much the pinky being weak. It's just it's a lot shorter than the other fingers (not abnormally short, just like anyone's is).

Maybe part of the issue is that I have quite thick fingers. I've seen some piano players just play the white keys by pushing on the key in the space between the black keys. But can't fit them between the black keys. This means that fingers 3,4, and 5, all have to sit in front of the black keys and then the pink which is shorter has to somehow reach up to that Bb.

What I end up doing is having to rotate my hand around (anticlockwise) to try to bring the pink in line with the black key, and then I have to rotate it back to reach the C with the thumb. That kinda works for now, but is not going to be a solution if in some other song I have to play both keys at the same time, or even in quick succession.

I tried search online, and one piece of advice I found was that, in principle, the long fingers (2, 3, 4) play the long keys (i.e. the white ones) and the short fingers (1 & 5) play the short keys. But of course that just isn't going to work in some songs.

andrewwegierski
Posts: 783
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:37 pm

Re: Struggling with some fingering positions

Post by andrewwegierski » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:17 am

I understand now. Yeah, for that position, you definitely want to play F G A with 2 3 4 fingers inbetween the adjacent black keys. Otherwise, my 5th finger can't reach Bb either.

Try just using the tips of your fingers in order to fit between the black keys. Sorry I don't have a better solution for you! It's just one of those "piano" things.
Andrew Wegierski

Customer Support Representative
Music Arranger

support@playgroundsessions.com

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sw1tch73ch
Posts: 539
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Struggling with some fingering positions

Post by sw1tch73ch » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:18 pm

I know what you mean. I don't think my fingers are all that thick, but they do press three keys at once sometimes when I try to play between the sharps/flats. Here is a quick shot of my playing our "Summer Challenge" for which I chose "Take Me Home, Country Roads" - my thumb and little finger are "assigned" the task of playing the F# and C# respectively. You can see I do a fancy finger dance to keep my ring finger out from between the sharps/flats when I play the A. Speaking of which - I need to get practicing...!

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