Five Tips for Getting Those Hands Together!

Learning to play with both hands together on the piano is one of the most challenging aspects of playing more advanced music that we deal with as pianists.

In the beginning, we usually learn to play with one hand at a time and then when we start putting the two hands together, we are playing the same notes, rhythms, and articulations in each hand. What we learn here is simply playing with both hands together and it’s much easier to do when we are playing everything the same in each hand.
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As we progress however, we start learning music that requires us to play different things in each hand but still at the same time.

• We may have running notes in one hand and chords that are held for an entire measure in the other hand.
• We might have accents in one hand and smooth notes in the other hand.
• Sometimes we’ll have loud notes in one hand and soft notes in the contrasting hand.

Whatever the case may be in each specific piece or exercise, the challenge here is more difficult because each hand seems to be speaking its own language instead of saying the same things. We can even feel like we’re trying to speak a foreign language when we first start doing it, but there are a few things that you can do that will help you feel more at ease with this challenge as well as help you overcome it quite easily with some steady work.

1. Practice each hand separately – don’t ever try to play both hands together if you’re having any trouble with either of them separately. Practice each one individually until you have it mastered.
2. Practice each hand slowly – and don’t speed up until you can play it correctly in a slow temp.
3. Use your metronome – to find your starting tempo (which will be slow) and when you can play that hand correctly at the tempo on the metronome, start pushing the tempo up one or two notches at a time and keep practicing at each new tempo until you can play it well.
4. “Air Play” the contrasting hand – when you have practiced both hands separately and before you actually play both hands together, pick one hand to play with and let the place the other hand just over the keyboard where your fingers are supposed to go, and move them along with your other hand that you’re playing with. This will help train your body and mind for the task before you actually do it; sort of like warming up before a run. Do this with each hand.
5. Play both hands together slowly – now play with both hands together fully on the piano keys – but slowly. Go back to the very first metronome marking that you started with when working your hands separately, and move up from there. Don’t go faster than a temp that you can play both hands together, correctly.

Be patient and apply these tips daily anytime you are struggling with playing different notes, rhythms, and articulations in each hand on the piano. They key is always starting slow enough that you can find your good starting point and play what’s written in the music correctly; and then moving up in a steady, methodical way until you’ve mastered the two hands.

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