7 Steps for Success to Playing the Piano with Both Hands!

One of the most fun (and at the same time complicated) challenges we face when learning the piano, especially in the beginning, is using both hands. 

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• Fun - because you get to play a much wider range of notes than other instruments. 
• Complicated - because each hand is doing its own thing, completely unique to what your other hand is doing. 

Its a bit like brushing your teeth with one hand while washing the sink with the other hand at the same time.

Or remember when you were younger and learned how to pat your head with one hand and rub your tummy with the other hand at the same time? 

Fun - but challenging - at least first!

Why do we have to use both hands when we play the piano?

When you first start to read notes, you're probably going to learn your right hand, which plays notes in the Treble Clef. 
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But then when we start to learn our left hand notes, we're in a totally different clef, where the notes are different on the staff. This is called the Bass Clef. ​

When we read notes from both clefs at the same time, we're playing from the Grand Staff, which looks like this. ​

Once we've learned the notes that each different hand plays on the Grand Staff, we're ready
​ to put them together! <--- This is the fun part!

Let's look at 7 ways that you can learn to play piano with both hands easier.

1. Make sure you practice each hand separately to begin with, and get really secure with the notes. 
2. Start out with scales and easy finger exercises, such as ones you find in Hanon or Czerny books. 
3. Now, play both hands at the same time, but very slowly in the beginning. Don't try to play your music any faster than both of your hands can do well and comfortably. 
4. Don't worry if your fingers and/or hands get mixed up the first few times, or even the first few days. That's totally normal. It's like putting together a puzzle..one piece at a time, until you finally get it. 
5. Don't try to skip ahead either, and 'perform' before you're ready! Stick with easier things, like your scales and beginning exercises as these will train your hands and fingers to move with each other. Scales actually use the same notes in both hands, and they are the best way to put the two together successfully in the beginning. Some exercises will use the same notes in both hands, and the more complicated ones will introduce different notes for the different clefs. 
6. Keep working like this each day. You can certainly do different scales and exercises each day, but keep your tempo slow and remember that you're in training, not performance mode when you're first learning. 
7. After you get more comfortable playing your scales and exercises with both hands, you can move into learning simple pieces that incorporate both the Treble and Bass Clefs. 

Remember...start slowly, begin with scales and easy finger exercises, and stay at it each day. You'll be amazed at how much easier you will be playing the Piano with both hands after a few weeks of using these steps.

And the reward that you get once you're conquered this, is a lot of fun and self-esteem at how much you've accomplished!

​Stay Tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dream of playing the Piano!