Hi Bernie,

I would also recommend the Hannon book for the fingering of right and left hand scales and arpeggios. I think that is in section 2 of the book. Almost every pianist has put serious time into Hanon, I do a little bit everyday. Good luck.

Hannon it is. No shortcuts this time.

Thanks guys

Quick note on Hannon exercises ... Don't let all those 16th notes intimidate you. Hannon is for strength building, and should be learned VERY SLOWLY. In fact, painfully slow is a great approach to start. Use very heavy finger action to build up your muscles. Gradually, move to lighter touch, and build speed as your muscle memory kicks in.

https://www.hanon-online.com/the-virtuoso-pianist-part-i/hanon-exercise-n-1/

Thanks Dave

Ah yes, the Hanon books ... my accordion teacher had me study from those, and a lot of the scales and exercises had to be played with BOTH hands ... yes, on accordion ...

I had to use Hanon on piano when I took lessons. They are great in many ways. From time to time I take out book one and work on the first 20 when I feel I'm losing strength in my left hand especially the 4th and 5th fingers. Tony I can't imagine playing those on accordion with both hands.

Hi Bernie,
not really quite what you’re asking, but , may help with finding fingering for songs. https://youtu.be/pAPClyM8UZU

I decided to subscribe for some lessons to this site.
They have a lot of freebie video’s too.

I used to do a fair bit of piano practice back in the 80’s,
Cerny , Hanon , scales, arpeggios, Exercises of one sort or another. Probably a couple of hours a day. Actually didn’t leave me much time to learn songs . Haha. Should have gotten another teacher, probably would have helped me focus better, instead of just muddling my way thru it.

Anyway when I bought my p121 about 6 months ago, I was really only going to use it to mainly strengthen up my right hand again ( after the fiasco of snapping my right wrist). I thought doing some piano exercises might help.

Then thanks to Donny, and his endless stream of utube video’s, I came across the Pianote website. Lisa the lady who runs it , has countless short video clips on how to do certain things , but they also have classes.
So after a few weeks I actually decided to sign up for some lessons.
One of the little clips I found really handy was, what should I be practicing.

In a nutshell, basically it suggest find the song you want to learn. Learn the scale , arpeggios, and chords associated with the song and do a few finger strengthening exercises.

I probably would have gone off on another tangent, spent hours doing what I did last time. Eventually gotten sick of it, and given up.

Instead I’m actually learning to play a song from a lead sheet? ( chords, melody notes, lyrics) instead of doggedly reading every single note r/l hand from a piece of sheet music.

For the songs on the site , there are both options, note for note or from a lead sheet.

Having more fun than I remember back in the 80’s.

Bernie, after reading Rikki post I went back and reread your first post. Studies like scales and arps. are mainly used to give freedom of movement. To make your hands move without too much thought.

When I started taking piano lessens I and watched my Dad playing the piano, I had the same question as you – thumb under, ect. His right arm moved frequently, positioning his hand, rarely tucked his thumb. Fingers 1 2 3 4 were used, 5 when needed.

I took traditional piano lessens for a short while. What did I learn? I learned that I was having no fun.
I found a teacher who had a different approach. I started with learning how to voice and play two hand chords; both traditional and jazz. Which notes were important, and which notes were the color tones. Then I applied what I learned to playing melody and chords from a lead sheet. Now I was having fun.

For ballads and some up-tempos, it was great. For polkas and fast-moving music; back to scales and arps.
John C,

Wow! The approaches are confusing and I have barely started. Rikki and John,you both have valid points. If Hannon is useful for finger strengthening and arps,that is fine,but if I use a keyboard,it is not like the hard feel of a Steinway. Arps,however,are important. This ties into what Rikki said about how much time to spend on what at age 79. John,your later approach make sense to me.

I can do the following:
1.Read both clefs
2.Know inversions of most common chords on both hands.

Have trouble with independent timing of left and right hand.

I have an easier time playing from a lead sheet,but the left hand is inferior to the written part would be in many cases. The right hand borrows notes from the left and the voicing of the chord is not a matter of chance, I do know that it is recommended to use the nearest inversion in a LH chord change,many times the root is needed. A written part will tell you.

Maybe a little of both until I find my way.

Hi Bernie,
maybe a bit of an odd question, are you planning on playing solo piano, or piano as part of your arranger playing ?

What I used to enjoy playing all those years ago, was of no use to me when I eventually became interested in keyboards.
The solo piano sheets, quite often didn’t even have chord symbols, and the style I liked , left hand arpeggios didn’t lend themselves to keyboard at all, so I had to start over and learn what chords were. Haha.

With the online lessons I’m currently taking, I’m hoping to finally work out how to incorporate l/r hand piano into arranger playing, without just holding a left hand chord down. The course is sort of helping me think for myself instead of doggedly reading every single note, which probably wouldn’t work for left hand anyway, I’m not aware of any arrangements written for piano/arranger.

The solo piano sheets I’ll just treat seperately, and try and relearn ( if I can be bothered)

Main thing is , having fun.