Fingering [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

It is the art to correctly select the fingers to use when playing the notes of a score. All the exercises can be done as well with the right hand as the left hand, but use only one hand for all notes of the same exercise. Study each exercise with the right hand and then with the left hand (or the reverse if you are left-handed). You will notice that some exercises will appear more difficult with one hand than with the other. Here are some basic rules to select your fingering:

• The fingers are numbered from 1 (the inch or thumb) to 5 (the auricular or little finger) for both hands. In a study score, it is common to see these numbers placed just above the notes to specify to the student which fingering technique he must use.

• The purpose of the fingering technique is to be able to play a piece as easily as possible, with precision, flexibility and speed. It is a practice to use from the beginning. By playing a score very slowly, it may seem easier to you to play with only one finger. Nevertheless you will not be able to tie two notes correctly because it always takes a certain time to raise the finger, to move it and to press the other key. Take directly the good practice, even when you play very slowly: use all your fingers.

• As far as possible, avoid any useless motion of the hand. If you must play the 5 notes from C to G, use fingers 1,2,3,4 and 5 (right hand) or 5,4,3,2 and 1 (left hand). Thus take care to use your fingers in a natural way according to their position in front of the notes and move your hand only when necessary.

• When you must play more than 5 consecutive notes (a scale for example), the hand needs to be moved. To keep a continuity between the notes, one uses the passage of the inch (1) or the major (3) during the scale. Here is for example how to play the C scale with the right hand:

C(1) D(2) E(3) F(1) G(2) A(3) B(4) C(5)

• The inch (1) causes the moving of the hand. By going down, the fingering technique remains the same and it is the major (3) which causes the moving of the hand. For the left hand, the fingering technique becomes:

C(5) D(4) E(3) F(2) G(1) A(3) B(2) C(1)

• For series of longer notes, you can also make a passage of the fourth finger to get for example:

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4…

• When the notes are not related any more (for example C, E, G), keep the same principle: minimize the motions and use the fingers in the most natural way compared to their position. Here is an example for the right hand:

C(1) E(2) G(3) C(5)

• You can also make a passage of the third or fourth finger for longer sequences:

C(1) E(2) G(3) C(1) E(2) G(3) C(5)

• On the left hand, that would give:

C(5) E(3) G(2) C(1)

C(5) E(3) G(2) C(1) E(3) G(2) C(1)

• To envisage the fingering techniques correctly, it is necessary to look at the notes being played a little in advance. The most obvious example is the scale. If you need to play only the first 5 notes, the most natural fingering technique is:

C(1) D(2) E(3) F(4) G(5)

• But the fact that the progression continues further forces to modify the fingering technique to be able to play in a continuous way the 8 notes:

C(1) D(2) E(3) F(1) G(2) A(3) B(4) C(5)

• For the exercises of the course, take care to play the notes in a tied way. When two notes follow each other (i.e. there is no rest between them), the first note must exactly stops when the next note starts, without leaving a vacuum between the two and without superimposing the sounds of the two notes. Therefore you must raise your finger at the same time as you press the next finger. Work slowly to develop that ability from the beginning.

Sounds [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

In order to better distinguish the melody played by Pizzicato and the one you play, you can ask Pizzicato to play with another sound. This is only possible with Pizzicato Beginner or Professional. For this, do what follows.

• Add a second staff in the score view.
• Open the instruments view. For the first line, select the sound with which Pizzicato will play. For the second line, select the sound with which you will play. Remove the cross in the two boxes of the AC (automatic channel) column. In the MC (MIDI Channel) column, select "2" for the first line and "1" for the second line. Close the instruments view.
• Start the score and play at the same time.

Another possibility (without making this) consists in playing the notes an octave higher. The exercise is the same but you play a whole octave higher (or lower) in order to better distinguish the notes you play from the notes Pizzicato plays.

Learning progression [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

Here is the advised progression of study for the keyboard training. Use this progression well, with the following principles in mind:

• Apply each step explained in this lesson.

• Do not go to a new exercise before you perfectly handle the current one.

• If an exercise really seems too difficult to you, do the following steps:

1. Decrease the playing speed (tempo) with the recorder,
2. If it still does not work, return to the previous exercises, until the moment you can do them easily. Then come back to the more difficult exercise.
3. If you need it, read the lessons about the musical theory again, because there can be something which you did not understand well and which prevents you from playing the exercises correctly. Use the glossary to be sure to understand all words of these lessons.

• If exercises really seem too easy for your level (provided that you can play them without fault), do not hesitate to skip some exercises to increase the level of difficulty. To force yourself to make exercises for principle of doing them all whereas you master them can be discouraging, because one does not feel a progress. To keep it interesting, take care to adapt the difficulty level throughout your progression.

Here is the list of the basic steps. Mark on paper each finished step.

With the Keyboard exercises 44.piz (measure 4/4) file, do the following exercises:

• Range from C3 to F3 with Melodies 1; take a tempo of 60 to start and increase gradually to 100; use the following rhythms, in order from 1 to 20:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20

• Range from C3 to C4 with Melodies 1; take a tempo of 60 to start and increase gradually to 100; use the following rhythms, in order from 1 to 20:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20

• Range from C3 to C4 with rhythm 19; take a tempo of 60 to start and increase gradually to 100; use the following melodies, in order from 1 to 15:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15

• Range from C3 to C4 with the chromatic melodies; take a tempo of 60 to start and increase gradually to 100; use the following rhythms, in order from 1 to 20:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20

With the Keyboard exercises 34.piz (3/4 measure) file, do the following exercises:

• Range from C3 to C4 with melodies 1 to 15; take a tempo of 100; work with the following rhythms:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16

• Range from C3 to C4 with the chromatic melodies; take a tempo of 100; work with the rhythms:

16 - 15

With the Keyboard exercises 68.piz (measure 6/8) file, do the following exercises:

• Range from C3 to C4 with melodies 1 to 15; take a tempo of 40 and increase gradually up to 60 beats per minute; work with the following rhythms:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20

• Range from C3 to C4 with the chromatic melodies; take a tempo from 40 to 60; work with the rhythms:

22 - 21

Here is the additional suggestions to increase the difficulties and the variety of the exercises:

• You can do the same exercises by dividing the duration of the rhythms by 2 and then by 4. You will obtain eighth notes and 16th notes and the rhythmic aspect will be more difficult.
• You can extend the range of the playing notes. By placing it for example between C 3 and C 5, you will have a range of 2 octaves. If you lower the range (from C 2 to C4) you will get exercises with notes in bass clef and treble clef.
• You can work each exercise with the right hand, the left hand or even the two hands at the same time (by playing the right hand for example an octave higher).
• With a good understanding of the composition libraries operation, you will be able to give free course to your imagination. You will be able in particular to create scores with several staves (to work with both hands at the same time) and to add accompaniments with chords progressions. You will be able to learn how to play all generated exercises.

Learning to play with an accompaniment [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

Only Pizzicato Professional will allow the following exercises. If you do not have that version, use the demonstration version to give it a try

Here is a series of exercises accompanied in various light music styles. You are not forced to finish all the other exercises to begin them. We nevertheless advise you to work some exercises from the beginning of the lesson, in order to understand the basic principles.

Pizzicato contains various styles of light music accompaniment (Disco, Reggae, Jazz, Rock, Funky…). To exploit these styles of accompaniment as well as possible, see the lessons about the composition libraries. We will see here the steps necessary to learn the keyboard by being accompanied by a small light music orchestra.

• Open the document corresponding to the style you wish to work. The styles are available in the File menu, in the Open a model item, Accompaniments sub-item. Open for example Jazz. The main view displays a whole series of icons which constitute the basic elements of the style.

• By holding down the Ctrl key, double-click on the Example icon located in the top left corner. The sequencer view opens.

• Drag the Melodies icon into the second measure of the sequencer view first track (Labeled Sol. for Soloist).

• Do the same with one of the rhythm icons (folders with an "R").

• Click on the sequencer window to activate it, and in the Edit menu, select the Generate score item. Pizzicato then calculates the melody and the accompaniment. The notes of the melody are selected in a random way but they respect the chords progression associated with the style.

• Open the scrolling view or the score view, the keyboard and the recorder windows and organize your screen as explained at the beginning of this lesson.

• First listen to the melody with its accompaniment. Visualize the notes and the keyboard keys. Then try to play with Pizzicato. Correct yourself by listening to the version of Pizzicato.

• When you control the exercise, you can either generate others of the same level, modify the rhythmic element or change the style (close all windows without saving and go back to the beginning).

To work accompanied melodies, we advise you:

• For the rhythmic aspect, work the rhythms folders by increasing difficulty (from 1 to 20). When you control these levels of difficulty, use a division by 2 or 4 of the rhythmic elements, as explained in the first part of this lesson.
• To get a different melody of the same difficulty, select all measures and select the Generate score item in the Edit menu. Pizzicato computes another melody for you.
• The notes of the random melodies have by default a range of one octave (from C3 to C4). You can decrease or increase these values as explained in this lesson.
• Although these exercises with accompaniment are more pleasant than playing alone, do not neglect the exercises indicated at the beginning of this lesson. In a general way, the accompanied exercises are more difficult. The other exercises propose more continuous melodies, because the notes are not related to any chord.
• Do not hesitate to decrease the tempo of some accompaniments.
• When you control an exercise well, you can disable the play of the melody by Pizzicato (P column of the instruments view) and play it as a soloist with Pizzicato accompanying you. Then you can try to play other notes and to amuse yourself to improvise on the accompaniment. Listen to the notes which sound good and locate the moment where it happens. Compose your own melodies based on each accompaniment.

If you modify the documents of the Music folder used for learning, you can easily get the originals back by reinstalling Pizzicato. Your other documents will remain present.

It is by a regular practice of this lesson exercises that you can manage to read scores. You will progressively feel progress with these exercises. Alternate the exercises alone and the accompanied exercises. Vary the styles of accompaniment and the types of rhythms. Good learning and have fun!