Piano Technique & Exercises for Beginners

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in this post. Click here for more details.

Improve Your Piano Playing with Technical Skills

Piano technique is what you need to work on consistently, to be able to make musical choices as you play; quickly and effortlessly.

Learning to play our instrument well involves many aspects of practicing.

Learning to play our instrument well involves many aspects of practicing. Apart from learning to actually find the notes on the instrument (ahem..), a well rounded pianist should learn:

Finger drills and to improve your piano playing with different piano exercises.
How to use the piano pedals.
To read piano music and to be able to sight read while playing.
Different styles of music and how to interpret the music.
To build a repertoire consisting of different composers as well as learn to perform the pieces stylistically correct.
As a "cherry on the pie" you also need to learn to add your own personal touch to it all!

Piano technique is what you need to work on consistently, to be able to make musical choices as you play; quickly and effortlessly.

Piano Technique is Many Things...

All of the above could essentially be called "technique", but usually we mean the study and practice of exercises and etudes, scales, chords and their inversions as well as arpeggios, when we talk about technical studies.

Below you'll find a look at different aspects of piano playing, and many free lessons with tips and exercises.

If you are looking for books to help improve your piano technique for adult beginners, here are my top 3 piano book recommendations:

Piano Technique Lessons

Beginners

Build Your Piano Playing Technique Step By Step: This is a step by step plan with suitable method and piano books for beginner (adult) pianists to help building a great piano playing technique.

Correct Piano Fingering; The Why and The How: Learn the why and how of basic fingering for piano playing, and why it's so important to learn.

Practicing Piano Exercises for Beginners: Tips and advice on how to practice exercises for best results.

Hanon's Piano Exercises: A Beginners Guide: Yes, you can learn to play Hanon's exercises as a beginner! Here's how to get started.

The Piano Pedals: Learn how to use the piano pedals, as well as some easy exercises.

Intermediate

Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist: The real deal. Print out (free) the famous exercises, and learn how to practice for the best results.

Effective Exercises for Piano Arpeggios: Part of an important technical skill, arpeggios should be practiced regularly. Learn some tips on how to practice with musical examples as well.

Musical Phrasing and Piano Playing: Learn how to play a beautiful and balanced musical phrase. Phrasing is so important to learn, and there are tricks to it!

Piano Playing Tips: Melody vs. Accompaniment: Another technical skill so important to master is how to bring out a melody and not let it disappear in the noise of the accompaniment... Here are some clever exercises.

If you are on an intermediate level, a really good technique book is:

It has finger exercises that are very effective and are useful throughout intermediate - advanced levels.

All Levels

How to Play Piano: Technique and Expression: The balancing act between technique and expression. Always remember that technique serves expression!