How to improve dexterity on the piano

By Robert King March 29, 2026

Last Updated: June 29, 2020 References

This article was co-authored by Michael Noble, PhD. Michael Noble is a professional concert pianist who received his PhD in Piano Performance from the Yale School of Music in 2018. He is a previous contemporary music fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation and has performed at Carnegie Hall and at other venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

This article has been viewed 76,523 times.

When playing the piano, improved dexterity in your hands and fingers can have an enormously positive effect on your ability. In order to improve flexibility and strength in this area, use stretches and exercises both while you are at the piano, and while you are away from it. You’ll be one step closer to Chopin in little time!

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Keep in mind that your sound is as important as your speed. Professional concert pianist Michael Noble, PhD says: “The best way to improve your finger dexterity is by playing scales. This will also improve the evenness of your playing. Start by practicing slowly, one octave up, and one octave down. Then, practice going just a little faster every few days. For instance, if you’re using a metronome, you might start at a quarter note equals 16, and work your way up to a quarter note equals 100 or 160. If you need to, you can record yourself to check the evenness of your sound, since it can be hard to tell when you’re playing alone.”

20 February 2018 ∙ 7 minutes to read

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Learning to play the piano (with or without a piano teacher) requires a certain set of characteristics. Will, determination, and a good ear, of course.

Dexterity is one of the most practical qualities to have if you want to learn piano. Personally, I work on my dexterity every time I sit down at the piano. When I first started my piano lessons, I had very little flexibility. I had to work twice as hard on that technique. If you’ve got “small” hands, then you’ll have to compensate with flexibility, speed, and precision. It’s all about finding the perfect balance.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Dexterity is so important when playing the piano. (Source: Christophe Urbain)

I often tend to compare music to sport. Both require warming up, regular practice in order to get better, and a number of physical and mental qualities.

With this in mind, I’d like to discuss working on something that isn’t very glamorous but nonetheless very important when it comes to practicing how to play the piano, your dexterity as a piano player.

Discover also the best times to practice playing the piano.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

What do we mean by dexterity in terms of piano?

When you play piano, dexterity refers to your ability to move your fingers precisely and quickly, when necessary, over the keys. We could also call this flexibility. Having dexterity means that you can put complicated chords together easily and quickly, with a high degree of fluidity.

Regardless of their level or experience, precision is essential for any pianist. You can work on dexterity your whole life. In fact, even experienced pianists do.

Just like any athlete, musicians need to work daily on their dexterity, flexibility, speed, and agility in front of the piano. In order to do this, there are exercises and classes that you should be looking at.

Which types of pianists work on their dexterity?

The answer is so simple: ALL OF THEM. Every self-respecting pianist needs to take this step, no matter where they are in terms of ability. The moment you start to think that you’re too good to practice on your dexterity is the moment what you start to lose your abilities as a pianist.

Working on your dexterity is basically one of the quickest methods to improve your overall playing. If you want to play the pieces you love, you need to work on it!

Whether you want to play your favorite piece, play and sing at the same time, or even write music for the piano, you need to work on your dexterity. If you don’t do this, you’re effectively slamming the brakes on your progress. But don’t worry! There are plenty of tools available to release these metaphorical brakes.

If you choose online piano lessons you will be offered the same kind of advice to improve on your piano playing skills.

Scales to Improve your Dexterity at the Piano

We’ve all heard someone say “they’re just a beginner, they’re still practicing their scales”. There’s a reason for this.

Why practice scales?

Scales are really useful for warming up when you first sit down at the keyboard. They’ll also be one of the first things you come across when you learn to play piano or study music theory.

Scales are also really useful for building up your dexterity when you first start learning how to play the piano. You should start with C-major since it only uses the white keys. Don’t get complacent, though! Crossing the thumb can still be a bit tricky. When you’ve got this down, you can move onto D-major, E-major, etc.

Then you can go faster. Changing speed is a great way to make some serious progress. Start with just the right hand on its own then the left hand on its own. Afterwards you can use both hands together and work on your coordination.

While scales mightn’t seem like the most interesting thing for a pianist, you’re still technically playing the piano.

Hanon and Czerny

These exercises were designed by and named after their composers. You can get books of these exercises, too. The goal of these exercises is to improve your playing.

Hanon and the Important Thumb

Hanon was a composer and a trailblazer when it came to exercises for learning the piano. The idea’s really simple: simple exercises using only the white keys that free up your fingers, rendering them independent from one another.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Hanon exercises. (Source: Amazon)

You can get books filled with these exercises and you can use any exercise whenever you want, changing the speed and adding other complexities as you see fit. The thumb is really important. You have to practice moving it under your index, middle, or ring finger on a regular basis.

Czerny’s Speed Exercises

For Czerny, exercises were for speeding up, working on sequences, and using your fingers independently. These exercises also use the white keys.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Czerny Exercises. (Source: IMSLP)

While some people think these exercises are just for beginners, it’s not true! It’s recommended that everyone use at least some of these exercises regularly, changing the speed, and the fingering, eventually.

The difficulty generally increases, too. Working with these exercises is very effective. Especially when it comes to piano classes.

Students are always asking me how to play better with the left hand. They say that their left-hand feels a little bit sluggish or has less dexterity than the right hand. Can you relate?

The reason for this is that the left hand often gets the “boring” part of the song- acting as the rhythm section or the bass player. The right-hand takes care of melody – and has a more complex role within the songs we play. What this can lead to is a left hand that simply doesn’t get as much attention or skill development as our right hand.

So to solve this problem I have a few tips for you!

1) Pick out simple melodies

The left hand almost never has to play a melody line. Try picking out the melody to twinkle twinkle with your left hand. Feels really weird right? If you don’t like to pick things out by ear you can sight read a right-hand melody but play it with your left hand. This will feel really strange, I guarantee it. Embrace that strangeness, my friends, it is a sure sign that you are developing new dexterity and fine motor skills in your left hand.

2) Play left-hand scales using octaves

T his is really tricky! It forces us to hold a certain shape and make small and precise movements that require focus and skill. You can do this in any key. My advice is to play slowly and loudly, gradually increasing in speed.

3) Dexterity exercises with a left-hand focus

Work on dexterity exercises like Hannons that create obstacles for the 4 and 5 fingers. 4 and 5 are the ones that tend to give us the most trouble. An exercise that has you skip a note between the 4 and the 5 will really help to improve your left-hand skills. I’ve demonstrated my favorite way to do this in the video!

4) Arpeggios are the best friend of dexterity

When we play arpeggios we cover a broad span of the keyboard. They require us to have great posture and be very accurate as the notes are spread out- we have to really know where we are going to play arpeggios correctly. You can organize these into fun chord progressions (try the I–V–vi–IV progression) and play chords in the right hand over the top of them to make them extra fun and a little more challenging.

5) Volume !

Varying volume using crescendo and decrescendo really helps to develop control. Try doing this with your left hand only. Play a scale or arpeggio and practice crescendo/decrescendo. You can also try playing something very very quietly or very very loudly. It’s harder than you think!

Have fun using these tips to make your left hand more awesome!

Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for 18 years and in that time has helped hundreds of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others.

* FREE VIDEO SERIES *
Chord Hacks
Learning chords is a great way to improve your piano skills without any music theory. And Lisa Witt’s “Chord Hacks” series will show you how to play the most popular chords, so you can play many of your favorite songs on the piano!

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
Beautiful (And Easy) Left-Hand Arpeggio Patterns
Make your left-hand more interesting and skillful with these left-hand arpeggio patterns. Use these patterns to sound more beautiful.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
Play Piano With Both Hands
A beginner’s guide to get your fingers to listen to your brain! These simple tips will help you gain confidence and the skills to play hands together.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
3 Ways To Make Your Left Hand Faster
Build and strenghten that left hand so you can play faster.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
Should You Practice Contrary Motion Scales?
How contrary motion scales could be the “secret sauce” in your practice routine.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
How To Make Your Left Hand Sound Awesome On The Piano
Does your left hand suck? It’s time to change that. Improve your left hand skills with these accompaniments.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

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Dexterity means to be able to perform a difficult action quickly and skillfully with the hands. When it comes to the piano, developing dexterity means that you will be able to play faster and more accurately. It also means you’ll improve your control and endurance. All of these things really important to all piano players. A key element of developing this speed, accuracy, and strength is warming up properly and paying attention to your form so that you don’t hold unnecessary tension and develop bad habits.

We’ve got you covered with this lesson! Cassi will help you explore ways to warm up and strengthen the hands (you can do these anywhere, you don’t need a piano) as well as piano exercises that provide bursts of strength, skill building, and finally, relaxation for your fingers. You can think of this as a gym class for your fingers!

Remember, you never want to feel pain while you play. Take breaks as often as you need to and for as long as you need to. Taking breaks isn’t a bad thing at all, it means that you are listening to your body. Building strength and dexterity in your hands in an overnight skill. It is a process that takes time, dedication and patience. Enjoy the journey!

Lisa Witt / Play Faster
Play Piano Faster
Everybody wants to play piano faster. But how do you do it? Here’s a guided practice with tips and play-alongs to boost your speed.

Lisa Witt / Play Faster
Play This Beautiful Two-Handed Piano Crossover Run
The piano run that LOOKS (and sounds) way harder than it is to play. Learn this awesome two-handed piano crossover run.

Lisa Witt / Play Faster
The Piano Finger Independence Challenge
Finger independence means your fingers do what you want them to do. This challenge will build your finger independence.

Lisa Witt / Play Faster
Hanon – The Most Versatile Exercise On The Piano
Develop greater finger control, improve your speed and your dexterity.

Lisa Witt / Play Faster
Play The Piano FASTER!
Everybody wants to play faster. Here’s how to do it.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Go from absolute beginner to playing
your first song in four easy lessons!

By signing up you’ll also receive our ongoing free lessons and special offers. Don’t worry, we value your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Last Updated: August 4, 2020 References Approved

There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

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It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or play the piano professionally — everyone has room to improve their piano playing skills. You may not want to do a lot of the “work” that goes into learning the instrument if you only want to play for fun, but building those fundamentals will enable you to play more of the pieces you enjoy with less struggle. Learning to sight-read music and mastering the proper technique not only makes it easier for you to pick up new songs but also ensures you’ll be able to enjoy the instrument for many years to come. [1] X Research source

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

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Tip: Choose the time of day when your focus is best. If you’re a morning person, you might get more out of studying first thing in the morning. However, if you’re more of a night owl, you might find it harder to focus at an early hour.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Michael Noble, PhD. Professional Pianist Expert Interview. 25 June 2019. If you have a piano teacher, they no doubt assign specific pieces for you to learn. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t add a piece or two you want to learn to your practice time. [8] X Research source

Almost any popular song you can think of has a piano adaptation, even if there’s no piano in the original song. Many of these songs have multiple versions, so you can learn the song whether you’re at a beginning, intermediate, or advanced level. For example, if you like the music from the movie “Frozen,” you can buy sheet music and learn to play it.
If you’re playing a song you love, you may be tempted to run over your practice time so you can keep practicing it. However, it’s better if you avoid doing this. If you maintain discipline and stop at your scheduled time, you’ll retain that excitement to get back to the piece at the next practice session.
Try songs of different genres and styles to help find your favorite style of piano play. For example, if you are studying classical piano, you might want to try some jazz or pop pieces.

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Here are seven simple ways to develop your finger strength and dexterity and so improve your piano playing technique.

1. Keys

Playing on different types of keyboard instrument can develop different playing technique.

Playing an acoustic piano or a realistic digital equivalent will develop greater finger strength, as it takes greater effort to depress each key.

It can also help in playing notes evenly, particularly quietly, due to its wide dynamic volume range.

Playing a synthesiser keyboard can develop playing speed, because the keys are lighter. It can also improve accuracy as you may need to be more careful not to depress notes inadvertently.

2. Scales

The bane of every music student? Scales and arpeggios are boring, but they work.

Not only do they help to reinforce knowledge of the notes in each key signature, but they help develop finger strength and rhythm.

Try playing major, minor and chromatic scales, and major and minor arpeggios, both single-handed and in unison in a variety of ways:

legato (notes smooth);
staccato (notes played shortly and sharply);
regular rhythm;
alternative rhythm (for example, hold the first note of each octave for longer than the other six notes);
alternative accents (for example, every third or fourth note);
inverted (same start note, right hand plays ascending notes whilst left hand plays descending notes, and vice-versa).

Remember to use the correct fingering for maximum benefit.

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

Play two notes of at least an octave apart, with thumb and fifth finger.
Play a third note somewhere in between, with another finger.
Jump staccato from the lower to the higher note and back.
Hold thumb down on one note and play ascending staccato notes as far as possible with one of your fingers.

4. Work your weaker hand

Many pianists have one hand that is weaker than the other.

Since I stopped playing classical music regularly, my left hand is weaker and less dexterous than my right.

Scales (see above) will help, as will practising parts usually played by your stronger hand.

If you’re looking for a product to help strengthen your hands and fingers while away from the keyboard, check out the Gripmaster series. Available in a range of different tensions, they really help to work out the fingers, hands, wrist and arm muscles, improving strength and stamina abilities for any instrumentalist.

5. Work your weaker fingers

Generally, the little (fifth) finger is weaker than the other fingers in the hand (and the thumb is the strongest).

Significantly differing finger strengths will make it difficult to maintain even playing.

Practice playing scales with even volume across all fingers.
Play two alternating notes with your weakest finger and a stronger finger. Maintain an even rhythm and volume.
Play a run of three notes with your weakest finger and two stronger fingers. Again, maintain even rhythm and volume.

6. Styles

Learning to play music in a style that you are not used to can not only be fun, and improve your overall knowledge and musicianship, but it can also highlight areas where your fingers and hands are weaker or less agile.

It can take quite different technique to play classical music well, compared to rock, pop, jazz or blues, for example.

Try learning some music written in a different style, even just a portion or a phrase.

7. Key and Tempo

Try playing pieces or phrases of music you know well at different speeds and in different keys.

Dexterity can be challenged at faster tempos.
Steady rhythm can be challenged as tempos change.
Different fingers can be stretched and strengthened as a piece of music is played in a new key.

Practice these techniques on a regular basis and maintain your playing technique, strength and agility.

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

Other scales very useful to practice not only for dexterity, but for improvisation and composing are the pentatonic scales, and the melodic and harmonic minor scales.

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You might ask, why should I do finger exercises? Like athletes, musicians need good control of their muscles, and strong muscles can prevent injury. Playing the piano uses more than just the fingers; instead, the whole arms are required. To learn to use the arms, hands, fingers, and wrists correctly, finger exercises are more effective than actual pieces, since exercises are often designed to target one technique and their simple structure is less distracting. Moreover, finger exercises, similar to strength training for athletes, can improve finger strength, flexibility, dexterity, and coordination; these things can then improve speed, musicality, and overall performance when you are playing musical works.

In short, finger exercises, like scales and arpeggios, are important building blocks of musicianship.

To help you with finger exercises, this article explains the importance of finger exercises, provides you with several warm-up and finger/hand independence exercises (with or without the piano), and leaves you with three useful excerpts.

So when should you practice these exercises?

You can incorporate some finger exercises into your warm-up routine.
Afterwards, you can move on to other kinds of finger exercises.

Below, we’ll take a look at some exercises for warm-up, speed, finger independence, and excerpts targeted at finger independence and many people’s weakest link, left hand.

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Here are seven simple ways to develop your finger strength and dexterity and so improve your piano playing technique.

1. Keys

Playing on different types of keyboard instrument can develop different playing technique.

Playing an acoustic piano or a realistic digital equivalent will develop greater finger strength, as it takes greater effort to depress each key.

It can also help in playing notes evenly, particularly quietly, due to its wide dynamic volume range.

Playing a synthesiser keyboard can develop playing speed, because the keys are lighter. It can also improve accuracy as you may need to be more careful not to depress notes inadvertently.

2. Scales

The bane of every music student? Scales and arpeggios are boring, but they work.

Not only do they help to reinforce knowledge of the notes in each key signature, but they help develop finger strength and rhythm.

Try playing major, minor and chromatic scales, and major and minor arpeggios, both single-handed and in unison in a variety of ways:

legato (notes smooth);
staccato (notes played shortly and sharply);
regular rhythm;
alternative rhythm (for example, hold the first note of each octave for longer than the other six notes);
alternative accents (for example, every third or fourth note);
inverted (same start note, right hand plays ascending notes whilst left hand plays descending notes, and vice-versa).

Remember to use the correct fingering for maximum benefit.

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

Play two notes of at least an octave apart, with thumb and fifth finger.
Play a third note somewhere in between, with another finger.
Jump staccato from the lower to the higher note and back.
Hold thumb down on one note and play ascending staccato notes as far as possible with one of your fingers.

4. Work your weaker hand

Many pianists have one hand that is weaker than the other.

Since I stopped playing classical music regularly, my left hand is weaker and less dexterous than my right.

Scales (see above) will help, as will practising parts usually played by your stronger hand.

5. Work your weaker fingers

Generally, the little (fifth) finger is weaker than the other fingers in the hand (and the thumb is the strongest).

Significantly differing finger strengths will make it difficult to maintain even playing.

Practice playing scales with even volume across all fingers.
Play two alternating notes with your weakest finger and a stronger finger. Maintain an even rhythm and volume.
Play a run of three notes with your weakest finger and two stronger fingers. Again, maintain even rhythm and volume.

6. Styles

It can take quite different technique to play classical music well, compared to rock, pop, jazz or blues, for example.

Try learning some music written in a different style, even just a portion or a phrase.

7. Key and Tempo

Try playing pieces or phrases of music you know well at different speeds and in different keys.

Dexterity can be challenged at faster tempos.
Steady rhythm can be challenged as tempos change.
Different fingers can be stretched and strengthened as a piece of music is played in a new key.

Practice these techniques on a regular basis and maintain your playing technique, strength and agility.

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

Hanon is the best way to build strength and dexterity. A bore, but a bore that works!

Increase Your Finger Speed On The Piano!

Today I’m going to teach you a few finger exercises to help you build up speed and dexterity on the piano. Let’s start our finger exercise in that old standby, C Major. With whatever hand you choose to start with, play the first five notes of the scale, using all five fingers. Work your way from C to G, then back down again. Don’t play as fast as you can just yet. Start off nice and slow and make sure that all of the notes are the same volume. You want steady movements. Don’t flick your fingers, move them steady and in a straight down motion.

Now let’s move on to a full scale, say the F major scale. Start slowly, playing just one octave at first. Play up and down the octave, nice and slowly. Once you are sure that you are playing the notes steady and evenly, you can begin to pick up speed. It’s best to use a metronome for these practice sections. Start at a slow tempo and slowly turn up the pace of the metronome. Practicing this way insures that you will develop a proper sense of musical timing. It’s also a fun idea to practice playing blues scales. When you are playing a blues song it sounds really great to play a fast blues scale at an appropriate part of the song.

The last finger exercise I am going to talk about is arpeggios. An arpeggio is when you play the individual notes of a chord instead of hitting them all together. Play the notes of your chosen chord and then work your way up the keyboard, playing higher and higher octaves of the chord.

Whatever methods you chose for finger practice, remember that starting off slow and building speed is the proper way to insure that you aren’t learning bad habits. As you practice the exercises your fingers will develop the muscle memory required to play the scales faster and faster without having to think about the notes.

For the next lesson, I recommend you check out this Medley Of Famous Piano Songs .

Affiliations

1 School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada ; Feil and Oberfeld Research Centre, Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Research Site of the Montreal Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) , Laval, QC , Canada.
2 Laboratory for Motor Learning and Neural Plasticity, Department of Psychology, Concordia University , Montreal, QC , Canada.

PMID: 25202258
PMCID: PMC4141215
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00662

Free PMC article

Authors

Affiliations

1 School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada ; Feil and Oberfeld Research Centre, Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Research Site of the Montreal Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) , Laval, QC , Canada.
2 Laboratory for Motor Learning and Neural Plasticity, Department of Psychology, Concordia University , Montreal, QC , Canada.

PMID: 25202258
PMCID: PMC4141215
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00662

Abstract

Objective: Music-supported therapy was shown to induce improvements in motor skills in stroke survivors. Whether all stroke individuals respond similarly to the intervention and whether gains can be maintained over time remain unknown. We estimated the immediate and retention effects of a piano training program on upper extremity function in persons with chronic stroke.

Methods: Thirteen stroke participants engaged in a 3-week piano training comprising supervised sessions (9 × 60 min) and home practice. Fine and gross manual dexterity, movement coordination, and functional use of the upper extremity were assessed at baseline, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 3-week follow-up.

Results: Significant improvements were observed for all outcomes at post-intervention and follow-up compared to pre-intervention scores. Larger magnitudes of change in manual dexterity and functional use of the upper extremity were associated with higher initial levels of motor recovery.

Conclusion: Piano training can result in sustainable improvements in upper extremity function in chronic stroke survivors. Individuals with a higher initial level of motor recovery at baseline appear to benefit the most from this intervention.

Keywords: cerebrovascular accident; hand; learning; music; paresis; rehabilitation.

Posted by StringOvation Team on Nov 15, 2016

Have you ever felt your fingers cramping while you’re practicing? Are you a beginner music student who is having a hard time developing left-hand finger dexterity, and maybe feel discouraged about it? Building better flexibility and hand strength is an important part of learning to play any string instrument. And, since you’re relying on muscles that have rarely been used, this aspect of training can be a challenge for many students.

However, you can improve finger dexterity and increase your hand strength by employing some specific techniques. Avoiding injuries, cramping, and pain is really a matter of conditioning your muscles and joints for their new tasks. With the right stretches and hand exercises, you can transform your abilities and protect yourself from experiencing hand fatigue or a debilitating injury.

Stretches

No one would set out hiking or running without doing some hamstring and leg stretches, and the same philosophy holds true for musicians, especially beginners. Stretching your finger muscles and flexing your joints has a big influence on your finger dexterity and your range of motion. These exercises are easy to do before you practice, and can be swiftly done between sets to help maintain your flexibility.

#1. Finger stretches. Extend and spread your fingers out from your palm as far as they’ll go. Hold the stretch for five count, then relax your hands into a loose fist. Perform ten repetitions. You can also vary this exercise by squeezing your fingers into a tight fist after the stretch.

#2. Wrist stretch. While holding your fingers extended, gently rotate your wrists clockwise and counterclockwise, for ten repetitions.

#3. Wrist and forearm stretch. Bring your palms together in front of your body (like praying hands), and slowly extend your elbows further out. With fingers pointing up, gently turn them down as far as you can and hold the stretch for a count of five. Repeat this process five more times.

#4. Shoulder stretches. With arms by your sides, gently roll your shoulders forward three times, then backward three times. You can also bring your right arm across your chest vertically, holding the stretch with your left arm for a count of five. Repeat with the left arm.

Perform these stretches every 10-15 minutes of playing time, especially the finger ones, to help keep the blood flowing to your muscles and joints, and to prevent cramping or sprains.

Finger and Hand Exercises

These tips help improve your reach and extend your dexterity. And, the good news is that many of these hand exercises can be practiced when you don’t have your instrument.

#5. Scales, scales, and arpeggios. You might not realize it, but performing your chromatic scales (or portions of them) over and over is one of the best ways to increase finger dexterity. Choose arpeggios that include hard reaches for the best results. But, take your time. Rather than trying to rush through your scales, perform them deliberately, at an exaggeratedly slow tempo. After you’ve mastered them Grave, you can gradually increase your speed.

#6. Use a portable fingerboard. You can buy a portable fingerboard, or print out one for free that you can use to practice scales and arpeggios when you don’t have your instrument. These type of tools are great for hand exercises that are silent, letting you practice almost anywhere.

#7. Practice apps. There are tons of practice apps for your specific string instrument that you can download and use to increase your finger dexterity. “Fingering Strings” works for violin, viola, cello, and double bass, and provides fun interactive ways to increase hand strength and fingering responses. It’s available at iTunes for $5.99. Or search the play store for an app that has fingering exercises for your specific string instrument.

#8. Pencil reach. This hand exercise really increases pinky strength and dexterity. Using a pencil or regular pen, grip it in your left hand (you can use this exercise on your right hand, too) using your fingertips only. Gradually ‘walk’ your pinky finger away from the others as far as you can and then slowly ‘walk’ it back.

#9. Solidify your form. Many students forget this aspect when they’re concentrating on finger dexterity, but it is extremely important. Understand that the proper back, shoulder, and arm placement will greatly influence your abilities, especially those in your hands.

#10. Be Patient. Remember, learning new techniques can be challenging. It takes time to build muscle memory and you’ll need to recognize that you won’t miraculously be gifted with amazing aptitude over- night. However, the good news is that if you perform your stretches and hand exercises diligently, your determination will most definitely pay off.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

Dr Jennifer MacRitchie tests the limits of pianist Simon Tedeschi’s coordination.

What are the benefits of learning to play the piano? Cognitive scientist Dr Jennifer MacRitchie believes that learning piano for even a short time can lead to improved working memory function and dexterity.

How does playing piano improve memory?

Throughout their lives, pianists will learn thousands of musical patterns. These patterns are then retrieved with lightning speed when the performer sits down to play. With time, pianists can add their own nuance to the patterns, finessing them to provide the exact expression they want to convey. They can even improvise with musical patterns, putting different ones together on the spot. To MacRitchie, this is all evidence of excellent working memory function, the same function we use when we recall words in conversation, or hold numbers in our head during calculations.

How does playing piano improve coordination?

The coordination required to perform everyday tasks like writing a note or preparing food tend to deteriorate with age. Playing piano might help maintain this dexterity into older age.

It is certainly the case that pianists develop the coordination of their non-dominant hand to a point that is detectable using brain imaging. Where our dominant hands are usually represented in our brain more strongly than our non-dominant hands, pianists’ brains will have a more equal representation of both hands. In other words, they develop ambidexterity, the ability to use both hands equally well.

How do I get the most benefit out of playing the piano?

If you want to share in the cognitive benefits of learning the piano, MacRitchie has good news: It’s not just virtuoso pianists who benefit from playing the piano. It is never too late to start and benefits are measurable after a matter of weeks.

The key, MacRitchie says, is playing the music you love. That might be classical music, but it might also be jazz, pop songs, or death metal covers. And once you have a few chords under your belt you can even play with other people, opening up a world of social and emotional benefits.

Dr Jennifer MacRitchie is a Senior Research Fellow in Health and Wellbeing at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University. In her current study into the wellbeing benefits of learning music, she is looking for people aged 65-80 to start learning piano.

Does it feel like your left hand has a mind of its own?

Or that no matter what you try, it just won’t listen to your brain telling it what to do?

Then this is the lesson for you!

Cassi has 3 tips that you can start using today that will help you play much better with both hands at the same time.

These tips will help you play songs more easily, as well as help to build your dexterity.

The Mirror

This is where you play something in your right hand, and then mirror it with your left hand. So if you’re playing a C scale up in your right hand, you’d play it descending with your left hand. This way the fingering will be the same for both hands.

You can use this exercise for scales, broken chords, and arpeggios. Try working up and down the keyboard playing through the different inversions.

Once you can play each hands separately, try mirroring them hands together.

The Rhythm

This exercise is fantastic to use BEFORE practicing a piece of music hands together.

Picture this – you can play the left-hand part on its own really well. You can play the right-hand part on its own really well. But when you try and play them together your left-hand falls apart.

This is the in-between step. It involves playing the music with your left-hand and tapping the rhythm with your right. This means you only have to focus on the rhythm with the right hand, instead of the notes.

It also helps to count out loud while doing this.

That way, when you do come to play the piece with both hands, you’ll already know the rhythm.

Staccato

The final exercise is great for technique practice, any exercise (like a Hanon) or for practicing songs. It’s good to use it when your left hand is sloppy and you’re having trouble keeping it under control.

Practice the left-hand part staccato – that just means really short, detached notes. It will help your brain and fingers know exactly WHEN to play, and it will help you develop muscle memory for your left hand so that when you do play the exercise or piece of music, you’ll have much more control and things will be nice and smooth.

These 3 tips can be used separately or together to really help speed up your hand independence.

Try them out, and comment below to let me know what you think!

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
3 Ways To Make Your Left Hand Faster
Build and strenghten that left hand so you can play faster.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
Should You Practice Contrary Motion Scales?
How contrary motion scales could be the “secret sauce” in your practice routine.

Lisa Witt / Hand Independence
How To Make Your Left Hand Sound Awesome On The Piano
Does your left hand suck? It’s time to change that. Improve your left hand skills with these accompaniments.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

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I don’t have access to a piano every day of the week, but want to keep my flexibility. Searching on the Internet, I found many kinds of contraptions and devices that claim that they help keep and improve dexterity and strength. Including:

Finger weights, where small weighted rings are worn on each finger
Buttons that fit in your grip, where there is pressure when each one is pushed

Does anyone have experience with such or other devices, and do they really help?

4 Answers 4

This came as a surprise, but as far as strength is concerned, I felt a positive difference in my playing after using a Powerball.

I’m guessing, but I’ll let others confirm or correct this, that this could be useful for other instruments as well, such as guitar.

Out-side the box, personal experience: Any exercise will do.

Raquet-ball: Only one hand gets much work, but gets your whole body moving and blood circulating. This game works well because it is intense. (wear eye protection, it really is necessary)
Moving rocks: There are lots of large rocks on our property and I move them around to make walls or steps or what-not. This is more of an all day sort of thing.
Hammer-drill: Concrete screws require a hole to be pre-drilled. This I find to be the most helpful. It is also satisfactory because it’s not going anywhere, almost no matter how much weight you put on it. (assuming you have good concrete or blocks). The hammer-drill required to pre-drill the hole creates a vibration that tends to strengthen the body parts involved.

After any of these activities, my piano skill is improved.

The general concept is, over-use is really just that you are under-using the rest of your body. The human body has tremendous capacity, but is often never used due to the comforts we provide ourselves with (air-conditioning, TV, computer).

I almost always have a piano. But the best exercise for my fingers when away from it, is “playing” piano exercises on my leg. Position your hands so that they are comfortably over your body surface. Bend your elbows to a comfortable angle. When standing, my front pants pockets are in the right place for me.

Hanon exercises are great. All you need is the fingering. For example, the first exercise is simply 1 2 3 4|5 4 3 2|1 2 3 4|5 4 . . . and so on.

Another good one is 5 3 4 2|3 1 4 2|5 3 4 2|3 1 4 2 . . . And the reverse: 1 3 2 4|3 5 2 4|1 3 2 4|3 5 2 4 . . .

Go slowly with some force behind it. Go fast with less force. Go evenly with the metronome in your head. Or a real metronome if you have it.

Be sure to stretch your forearms as needed during your workout.

In addition to the “playing”/tapping above, spread your fingers out wide on your pants or shirt, grip lightly and close your hand against the light resistance. keep your fingers spread while closing. Sometimes close fingers in sequence from little to forefinger and reverse. Similar to milking a cow.

The exercise I find most useful to improve speed and muscle tone, on a piano or away from one, is a technique that I believe was (is) used by the Russian school: I know it as legato technique.

take a succession of notes you want to improve on (be it a Hanon exercise, a scale, or a section of the piece you actually play)
press the first finger in the succession down (on your leg, a table, or a keyboard); make sure to have all the weight of your hand on that finger: you don’t want to tense up your arm in putting that weight, but it must be fully anchored down by the weight of the hand + arm
while holding that first finger down, play (or press) gently the second note once (down and up again), exaggerating the move of your finger, doing a gentle tap, with your weight still on the first finger you played
play that second note another time and this time release the first finger at the same time (i.e. in a legato fashion, hence the name of the technique), transferring the weight from that first finger to the new one
repeat the same approach for the entire succession of notes you want to practice on

This is very slow, about one second per sound you play (i.e. about 2 seconds per new note). It does miracles especially on fast successions of notes. Transferring the weight as I described it and doing the whole exercise slowly is key for the technique to work well.

It re-enforces the muscles no matter what and even helps with accuracy in the case where you can practice on a real piano. I typically only use it for successions of notes that have no or very few chords.

If the description isn’t clear enough, let me know and I will make a small video to illustrate.

Improving dexterity in your hands and fingers can give positive effects on your ability to play the piano. Doris Chiang, a well-known piano teacher in Newport Beach, explains to her students how to boost their hand and finger flexibility.

She uses different techniques, like stretching exercises. You can perform these exercises while you are in front of the piano or away from it.

Flexor Stretching

In here, you need to place your elbow on a table. Your hand has to point up. Then, slowly pull and hold every finger to your wrist for 30 seconds. It gives the finger a proper stretch.

This exercise is also great before you play as it warms up your fingers and loosens your muscles.

Relax Knuckles

You need to strengthen your every finger. To do so, you must spread your fingers on a flat surface. Then, push them down gently. As you allow your knuckles to bend naturally, you need to relax your hand muscles.

The contractions and expansions happening here will allow small tears in the muscle tissue that can be useful when playing the piano. The small tears can strengthen those muscles over time. As a result, they become more flexible.

Practice Scales

Scales are vital in improving hand dexterity. They are boring. However, scales can help you in learning key signature as you develop your finger strength.

As your piano skills progress, you can start playing minor and major, as well as chromatic scales. You should also practice arpeggios to further boost your dexterity.

Strengthen Your Weaker Finger

Typically, the thumb is the strongest among the five fingers. The little finger is oftentimes the weakest.

But you need your fifth finger when playing the piano. That’s why it is vital that you strengthen it to maintain consistency.

When strengthening your weaker finger, you must practice playing scales and you must use all your fingers. Or you can play alternating notes using your little finger and the thumb.

Do You Need Big Hands To Have Dexterity?

Contrary to what other people think, you don’t need huge hands to play the piano and improve your dexterity.

There are certain piano pieces that require large hands. However, some people with small hands could play them beautifully.

Fortunately, most of the composers wrote their music that could be played by most players’ hands. Generally, if you can stretch an octave, your hands are big enough to play any piano music.

In fact, some students of the piano teacher in Newport Beach have tiny hands. But they could play Liszt rhapsodies brilliantly.

When playing the piano, it is all about the desire to learn. Doris Chiang, who is a well-revered piano instructor in Newport Beach, will teach you various techniques on how to play the piano well. And yes, even though you have tiny hands.

Start Your Piano Lessons Today

Your piano teacher in Newport Beach can’t wait to see you at her studio. To book an appointment, you may call her 562-537-7548. You may reach her online as well.

Most people don’t realize how important dexterity is when it comes to their hands. Dexterity is having very well-tuned fine motor skills, specifically in the hands. Having dexterous hands means that every day you wake up without any hand pain or discomfort, and you can perform most tasks with reasonable ease and comfort. Hand dexterity is important for people who type every day, play guitar, or do any complicated action with their hands on a daily basis. Any repeated movement over a long period could hurt your hand dexterity, and potentially your overall range of motion.

One of the best ways to improve hand dexterity is to stretch often, and while there are several ways you can stretch your hands, remember to not over-stretch or over-extend yourself. If you want to ensure that you are taking every precaution possible, wash your hands in warm water or cover them in a hot towel every once in a while. Warming your hands helps blood travel through your fingers, making your whole hand more pliable.

One stretch in particular that helps with both strength and dexterity, is a hand exercise where you lift each individual finger (with your palms facing down) off of a flat surface like a table or countertop. By lifting each individual finger, you are strengthening each digit while simultaneously improving dexterity. Gently bending your fingers every once in a while also improves finger flexibility and increases the range of motion for each individual finger.

The VariGrip hand exerciser is a product built specifically with improving dexterity in mind. With its patented ability to adjust the resistance level in each individual finger, the variable tension functionality proves to be the ultimate way to improve both dexterity and strength.

“A professor of surgery says students have spent so much time in front of screens and so little time using their hands that they have lost the dexterity for stitching or sewing up patients.” ( )

There are plenty of professions out there that require an incredible amount of hand dexterity and control. These future surgeons have lost dexterity in their hands and fingers due to the incredible amount of time they spend on their phones and on their computers. Their ability to hold surgical implements has actually been damaged by their amount of screen time. In their defense, a large majority of their time is probably spent studying on their computers.

The point is that the lack of hand strength and dexterity is becoming commonplace. While this may seem inconsequential to most people, when you look at it from a ‘big picture’ perspective it’s actually very concerning.

There hasn’t been a period in history where people were not actively using their hands for laborious tasks on a daily basis. It’s in our genetic makeup to be physically active, and our bodies are built to withstand this type of activity. Especially our hands. It used to be commonplace to be a stonemason, carpenter, etc… Now, it’s more common to encounter someone who works on their computer every day (myself included.) I know from personal experience that I’ve had some pain in my index finger after typing and clicking all day.

Some good advice would be to make a conscious effort to think about how much you are exercising and actively using your body. It’s good for you! You might even find that you become more productive and attentive every day. Physical exercise naturally increases your grip strength, and it also will improve your overall physical and mental health tenfold.

Click here for a breakdown of all the great exercises you can do with the VariGrip hand exerciser . There is a wide variety of great exercises which will both increase hand strength and finger dexterity. Feel free to check out the other blogs for other information about general hand health!

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Here are seven simple ways to develop your finger strength and dexterity and so improve your piano playing technique.

1. Keys

Playing on different types of keyboard instrument can develop different playing technique.

Playing an acoustic piano or a realistic digital equivalent will develop greater finger strength, as it takes greater effort to depress each key.

It can also help in playing notes evenly, particularly quietly, due to its wide dynamic volume range.

Playing a synthesiser keyboard can develop playing speed, because the keys are lighter. It can also improve accuracy as you may need to be more careful not to depress notes inadvertently.

2. Scales

The bane of every music student? Scales and arpeggios are boring, but they work.

Not only do they help to reinforce knowledge of the notes in each key signature, but they help develop finger strength and rhythm.

Try playing major, minor and chromatic scales, and major and minor arpeggios, both single-handed and in unison in a variety of ways:

legato (notes smooth);
staccato (notes played shortly and sharply);
regular rhythm;
alternative rhythm (for example, hold the first note of each octave for longer than the other six notes);
alternative accents (for example, every third or fourth note);
inverted (same start note, right hand plays ascending notes whilst left hand plays descending notes, and vice-versa).

Remember to use the correct fingering for maximum benefit.

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

Play two notes of at least an octave apart, with thumb and fifth finger.
Play a third note somewhere in between, with another finger.
Jump staccato from the lower to the higher note and back.
Hold thumb down on one note and play ascending staccato notes as far as possible with one of your fingers.

4. Work your weaker hand

Many pianists have one hand that is weaker than the other.

Since I stopped playing classical music regularly, my left hand is weaker and less dexterous than my right.

Scales (see above) will help, as will practising parts usually played by your stronger hand.

5. Work your weaker fingers

Generally, the little (fifth) finger is weaker than the other fingers in the hand (and the thumb is the strongest).

Significantly differing finger strengths will make it difficult to maintain even playing.

Practice playing scales with even volume across all fingers.
Play two alternating notes with your weakest finger and a stronger finger. Maintain an even rhythm and volume.
Play a run of three notes with your weakest finger and two stronger fingers. Again, maintain even rhythm and volume.

6. Styles

It can take quite different technique to play classical music well, compared to rock, pop, jazz or blues, for example.

Try learning some music written in a different style, even just a portion or a phrase.

7. Key and Tempo

Try playing pieces or phrases of music you know well at different speeds and in different keys.

Dexterity can be challenged at faster tempos.
Steady rhythm can be challenged as tempos change.
Different fingers can be stretched and strengthened as a piece of music is played in a new key.

Practice these techniques on a regular basis and maintain your playing technique, strength and agility.

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

“Since I stopped playing classical music regularly, my left hand is weaker and less dextrous than my left.”

Sorry, I know what you meant but I still have to point that out.

Didn’t you know I have two left hands – a strong one and a weak one.

Can’t believe no-one else has pointed that out in two-and-a-half years! 🙂

Some very good advice. I would only add that, in my experience, it is the fourth (ring) and not the fifth (pinky) which is the weakest for most players, because of the shared tendon between the third and fourth fingers. These are all excellent suggestions for improvement.

A great way to develop better overall finger strength, wrist stability, and coordination between the fingers is to practice playing scales in minor and major thirds with each hand. That is, instead of just playing F G A Bb C D E F, for instance, play (F&A) (G&Bb) (A&C) (Bb&D), etc., so that you are always using two fingers for each degree of the scale.

Good extra tips, Curtis, thanks.

I hadn’t considered that my ring finger would be weaker, but I can see what you mean.

I think perhaps the little finger (for me at least) is less controlled, so while it may have a bit more strength than the fourth, it’s slightly harder to control, which could affect timing rather than velocity.

I like the “thirds” scale idea, too. Would certainly assist with mental recall of the notes of the major and minor scales, too. How might you transition from the third and fifth fingers back to the thumb and third fingers? Just “hop” to the next notes?

I read in a recent unpublished story that you can increase dexterity away from the piano by: tapping your thumb to your pointing finger, thumb to your ring finger, thumb to middle finger, thumb to pinky then restarting the process, i don’t know entirely if this is true but i am able to go faster then when i started and i have found myself addicted to the motion as something to do when bored or trying to think, and often when listening to music. oddly ive also noticed that though i write with my right hand, my left hand had a much easier time adapting the motion.

That’s really interesting, and good to know for when you’re away from a piano keyboard.

Thinking about those movements, I’d expect they would help. Having just tried it a little, my left hand (non-dominant) also finds this slightly easier. How strange 🙂

EXcellent advice. Just what I was looking for!

If you were to compile a list of the greatest riffs in rock history, it would be littered with Jimmy Page riffs. One of the greatest guitarists ever, his riffs range from edgy to funky. As fun they are to listen to, they’re even more fun to play. So, why not use them as exercises to improve your guitar playing? Here are 5 Jimmy Page riffs to increase your finger dexterity.

Finger Dexterity

Dexterity is essentially your ability to coordinate fine motor movements. Knowing that, it’s obvious that building dexterity is an important part of playing and improving on guitar. Without it, your guitar playing ceiling will be pretty low.

There are many traditional exercises that can help develop finger dexterity, but it’s good to use “real music” as much as possible. There’s a musicality that’s developed when using…well, music.

The Jimmy Page Riffs

The Jimmy Page riffs I chose for this lesson are great for building dexterity in the beginner/beginner-intermediate guitar player. They incorporate string skipping, bends, vibrato…you name it. The rhythmic variation and fingering requirements will help you improve on common weak areas and force you outside of linear and uniform playing patterns of typical guitar exercises.

So, let’s get to it and break down the riffs.

Riff 1: “The Ocean”

The Ocean is one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs simply because of the groove of this riff. It’s impossible to listen to it without bobbing your head along.

The riff opens with a couple of quick hammer-ons from fret 5 to 7 on the D (4th) string before playing down an arpeggio pattern from the 5th fret on the D string to the 7th fret on the A string to the 8th fret of the low E string.

Note the fingering for this section of the riff below:

Involving the pinky finger on the 8th fret of the 6th string can be a bit problematic for the beginner guitar player or intermediate guitar player who hasn’t developed enough coordination/strength in the pinky finger.

The next part of the riff is simple, but can challenge your coordination at first because of the groove. Again, the fingering I use is noted below.

You can hear the full riff here: The Ocean

Riff 2: “Black Dog”

Black Dog is quick and shifty. The technique in this riff is fairly basic, but the arrangement requires a bit of coordination. You’ll want to start slow with this one and gradually build it up to speed.

The first part of riff contains a little chromatic lick into a roll on between the 7th frets of the 4th and 5th strings. The roll is an important technique to develop and dexterity will improve in the process.

The second part and last part of the riff have a couple of quick position shifts. Shifts like this require that the note before the shift be released quickly or you end up with a little inadvertent slide between positions.

You can listen to the riff here: Black Dog

Riff 3: “Heartbreaker”

Heartbreaker. Another Led Zeppelin song with a groovy icon riff that’s just plain fun to play.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

In this riff, you also see a little chromatic lick as you did in Black Dog. Only this time instead of there being a roll at the end of it there’s a string skip.

This is particularly effective at building finger dexterity in the second part of the riff that begins on the 2nd fret of the 5th string. This section requires the use of the pinky finger for the string skip and a 1/2 step bend.

Riff 4: “Out on the Tiles”

Out on the Tiles is kind of a back to basics sort of riff.

The pinky finger roll on the 4th fret combined with the repeating two note licks will help build both technique and right hand/left hand synchronization.

Riff 5: Moby Dick

Despite being recognized mostly for the amazing drum work of John Bonham, Moby Dick offers a great riff for the beginner-intermediate guitar player. It’s yet another example of a dirty, groovy riff by Jimmy Page.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

*Note that the 6th string is tuned down to D.

Similar to Out on the Tiles, this riff also includes a two-note repeating lick that I think is great for building fundamental coordination and synchronization. It gets your pinky involved as well, which you can never have too much of.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Wrap up

Improving finger dexterity is crucial for continuing to develop as a guitar player. These Jimmy Page riffs are fun to play and will accomplish just that. While traditional exercise can be effective, sometimes the best exercises are found in the music itself.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Hand therapy exercises can help improve strength and dexterity in the hands and fingers. They are especially helpful for improving fine motor skills after a neurological event like stroke or brain injury.

Furthermore, hand strengthening exercises like these can also help prevent conditions like arthritis from getting worse. If you want some effective physical and occupational therapy exercises for your hands, read on!

Stretching Exercises for Extremely Stiff or Paralyzed Hands

For those with paralyzed hands from neurological injury like stroke, you should start with passive exercise. This means using your unaffected hand to help your affected hand complete the exercises.

Not only will this will help prevent muscle stiffness after stroke (spasticity), but it can also help introduce movement into your affected hand.

For those who do have some hand mobility, you can practice these hand therapy exercises actively (meaning no assistance from your unaffected hand) as a good warm-up activity.

1. Wrist Extension and Flexion

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

For this gentle hand dexterity exercise, start with your forearm on a table. Let your hand hang off the side of the table with your palm down. Then, move your hand up and down, bending at your wrist. When you’re done, repeat with your palm facing up.

2. Thumb Extension and Flexion

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

For another gentle exercise, start with your palm open, as if you were signaling the number 5. Then, practice moving your thumb over to your pinky side, signaling the number 4. Continue to move your thumb back and forth between these 2 positions.

3. Inner Arm Stretch

Place your hands in your lap and interlace your fingers. Then stretch your affected arm palm-side up. You should feel this stretch all the way up your inner arm. Hold this stretch for 20 seconds and release. Then, repeat on the other side.

4. Wrist Stretch

With your fingers still interlaced, gently bend your affected wrist backward and get a nice stretch there. Hold this stretch for 20 seconds and release. Repeat on the other side.

Individuals recovering from a stroke or brain injury may find these four exercises challenging enough. You can stop here and repeat these 4 exercises with high repetition.

Repetition is important because that’s how you rewire the brain (via neuroplasticity) and improve hand movement.

Those looking for a bigger challenge can continue to the next hand therapy exercises.

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How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Manual dexterity is the ability of the hands and fingers to make coordinated movements. Strong fine motor skills, such as used with writing, knitting, sewing, and other activities that involve the hands and fingers, rely on this dexterity. In young children, it is developed normally through routine activities that also require hand-eye coordination.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano Knitting relies on fine motor skills and good manual dexterity.

Some children’s manual dexterity develops faster and stronger than that of others. A child with weak final motor skills may struggle some when learning to form letters and beginning to write. Because there are many reasons why fine motor skills may be affected and weaknesses in these areas may cause problems for children in school, pediatric occupational therapists often work with a variety of children to improve these abilities.

There are several ways to help a child improve his or her manual dexterity through simple hands-on activities. For a child, exercising the fingers and hands can dramatically lead to dramatic improvement. Parents may want to try some of the following activities:

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano Hand massages may help improve manual dexterity.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano Activities that require dexterity improve fine motor skills.

Children can thread O-shaped cereal pieces onto a length of yarn. This activity requires fine motor skills and is repetitively exercising the same muscles, all while practicing hand-eye coordination.
Wooden peg games or similar toys that require placing pegs into small holes can improve motor skills.
Sewing with yarn and cardboard cutouts is another activity that can improve manual dexterity and builds on fine motor skills. Children simply feed the yarn back and forth through holes, which is again repeating the same skill over and over.
For particularly young children who cannot play with small objects, a classic shape sorter toy is a great place to start. For older children, small, interlocking building blocks are great ways to play while improving this ability.

Where young children are concerned, the goal is to improve manual dexterity to build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. In older individuals suffering from the onset of arthritis, however, preserving these skills is the primary concern. Exercising the fingers and hands without overdoing it is key. People who have arthritis should avoid prolonged activities that cause pain in the joints of fingers and hands, and simply perform activities in shorter periods. When possible, they should use both hands to reduce the strain and be sure to rest the joints before pain sets in.

Arthritis sufferers may want to consider periodic and passive hand massages, getting them either from a manicurist, physical therapist, or family member. Sometimes, working through the pain to keep the fingers limber is necessary, but people should not let the pain get ahead of them or their pain reliever. If painful arthritis has set in, patients should consult a medical professional for management and treatment. He or she can recommend hand exercises tailored to the individual.

Early arthritis detection and pain management along with a commitment to continue using fingers and hands is necessary to preserve manual dexterity, which will mean the person can retain most normal use of his or her hands for a long time.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano Arthritis sufferers might have to work through the pain to regain dexterity.

Discussion Comments

Here’s another thought. Teaching yourself to be ambidextrous is a great way to improve dexterity, not just with handwriting but in any activity you can think of. So for example you could take up hobbies like playing the piano, juggling or learning card flourishes. OeKc05 February 21, 2013

Sewing requires a lot of manual dexterity. You also have to have a lot of patience.

I’ve made my fingers sore and gotten very frustrated before while sewing. Hitting those tiny holes with the needle requires care and attention, and it isn’t something you can do in a hurry. feasting February 21, 2013

@cougars – Playing guitar is a great way to work on your manual dexterity. You have to learn new ways of positioning your hands and fingers to comfortably and correctly make the notes, and though you have to go through some pain and discomfort while training your hands and fingers at first, you eventually get to the point where it just comes naturally and feels normal.

Playing piano is also a good way to train your fingers to do something well. I’ve been playing for so many years that it seems that my fingers know where to go before my brain has a chance to tell them! giddion February 20, 2013

@shell4life – It sure is. Since the manual dexterity definition involves your fingers and hands working together to do a task, being able to type fast without making too many mistakes is a great way to work on this.

Typing too much can result in fatigue, though. I started a job where I had to type all day long, and the tendons in my hands and fingers ached so much in the beginning that I had to alternate between hot and cold packs at night to relieve the pain. shell4life February 20, 2013

Isn’t typing one of the activities requiring manual dexterity? If so, then my fingers must be in great shape, because I type quickly and efficiently for many hours a day. cougars July 23, 2010

@ Babalaas- I have to admit that I do play video games on occasion, but not necessarily to improve my manual dexterity. I have noticed though that I have better hand eye coordination because of video games.

I use a grip master, play the trumpet, and I am learning how to play the guitar to improve my manual dexterity. All these exercises can lead to good manual dexterity, and playing the guitar and trumpet is fun. I am definitely no Santana or Miles, but I can dream.

The grip master is nice because you can buy them in all difference tensions. I have the heavy tension grip master, and I often use it when I’m watching television or stressed. The grip master is also nice because you can work each finger individually. Babalaas July 23, 2010

Believe it or not, playing video games can improve manual dexterity skills and hand eye coordination. I am not advocating endless hours of video games as a way to aid a child in development, but age appropriate video games every once in a while can be good for children and adults alike. Maybe it is because I grew up in the era of the video game, but that is just my opinion.

Dexterity is defined as the level of skill your hands have, which is referred to as your fine motor skills. By improving your dexterity, you can perform things like piano playing. You can also attain a certain level of independence as an elder if you develop your dexterity now.

You can improve your dexterity by performing activities that involve eye-hand coordination, focus, repetition, and a steady hand. These activities will strengthen the flexibility of your hands. The gross motor skills, on the other hand, involve the use of the bigger muscles in the arms and legs. Below are some exercises which can help strengthen your fine and motor skills.

Juggling

You can do juggling exercises in order to improve your dexterity. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and elbows at a ninety-degree angle. Start by shifting a ball from one hand to the other with the use of a single ball. Concentrate, focus your eyes on the ball. As you get used to performing this exercise, you can add another ball and juggle them between your hands.

Finger Tip Press

This is another good exercise to improve dexterity. Try to imagine that you’re holding an invisible ball with your two hands, but with your fingertips pressing against each other. Push your fingertips as hard as you can. This is a good exercise to relieve tension and strain.

Switching Fingers

Place one hand palm-down on a flat surface. Then slowly lift one finger up and stretch as far as you can. Then bring it down and do the same with the next finger. Repeat this exercise three times and try to increase the tempo.

Making O

This is another good exercise to improve dexterity. Touch the tip of your thumb with your index finger, making an O. Release, then touch the tip of your thumb with your middle finger making an O again and release. Do the same for the rest of your fingers.

Waving Goodbye

Raise your right hand with your palms facing outward, then bend your thumb towards your palm. Bend all four fingertips to your palm as if you’re waving goodbye, or imagine that you’re holding something with your fingertips. Open your arms and repeat this five times.

Hackey Sack

This is an exercise to help strengthen your gross motor skills. It requires foot and eye coordination and quickness. This exercise involves stuffed bags around the size of a fist. The player will kick the bag back and forth so as not to touch the ground. Players can use tricks which are designed to showoff their dexterity. They compete in terms of quickness and various moves to prevent the hackey sack from touching the ground.

Perform these exercises regularly and you will notice how your fingers become more flexible. Your eye-hand coordination can also benefit from these exercises.

As surgeons we rely on the absolute well-being of our hands to ensure excellent veterinary care to our patients. After several hours of surgery, fatigue and manual discomfort are common, and over the years, repetitive strain injuries may occur.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Blue suggests some exercises that help increase the flexibility, precision and breadth of manual movements:

To increase the range of movement, close both hands into tight fists, hold the position for approximately 1 minute and then open and spread your fingers as much as you can. Repeat the cycle 3 to 5 times for each hand.
To increase the thumb’s strength, extend your hands in front of you, palms down, and, keeping your thumbs stretched to the side, close the remaining fingers. Then flex your thumbs over the other fingers until you touch the little fingers and hold the position for a few seconds before slowly returning to the starting position. Repeat the cycle 3 to 5 times for each hand.
To increase the dexterity of your fingers, place your hands on a flat surface with your palms facing down and lift and lower each finger sequentially, beginning with the index finger and then reversing the direction. Repeat several times a day and increase speed.
To increase eye-to-hand coordination, place your hands on a flat surface with your palms facing up and join the tips of your thumbs with your index fingers, forming an “O”, without raising your other fingers. Return to the starting position and repeat with the remaining fingers. Repeat the exercise several times and increase the speed sequentially.
To increase hand strength and the ability to hold objects for long periods of time, squeeze an anti-stress ball with your maximum strength without causing discomfort, hold the position for about 5 seconds and then relax the hold. Repeat the exercise 10 times every 3 days.

Other activities that help improve manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination include playing video games, juggling and writing on keyboards!

Getting Started On The Piano (NEW free video series!):
►

These 4 exercises are fantastic for anyone wanting to improve their speed, dexterity, hand independence, and control.

These are geared towards beginners, but they can be used by any level as a great way to ‘wake up’ the fingers and develop muscle memory.

Here are the four exercises and their timecodes:

1. The Five Finger Sale – 0:20

This exercise uses the five finger scale to work on control and hand independence. Start slow, and make sure that you are always in control of the notes you are playing.

To make it more difficult, you can try playing one hand smoothly (legato) and the other hand sharply (staccato). To make it even MORE difficult try it with each hand playing a different length note.

2. The Contrary Motion Scale – 3:10

This scale sounds fancy, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. Start with both thumbs on Middle C. Then play the C scale UP with your right hand and DOWN with your left.

When you’re comfortable, start experimenting with dynamics, to control the volume.

3. The Solid Claw – 4:55

This is called the claw because we make a claw shape with our hand, and use our 1, 3 and 5 fingers to play a chord. Once you can play a chord, work your way up the keyboard to play a chord on each note, and come back down again.

If this is too difficult, you can take out the middle finger for now, and just use the top and bottom notes.

4. The Broken Claw – 6:19

This is very similar to the Solid Claw, except instead of playing the notes as chords, we are going to play each one separately. This exercise can be very challenging, so make sure you take it slow.

These lessons vary in difficulty, so if you can’t do them all, that’s ok! Work on what you can do, and practice to get better. If you can do them all, that’s great! Work to get them faster, and check out some of our more advanced exercises on our channel.

…in your Dental School Application

Dental Schools are often looking for applicants who can demonstrate that they have good manual dexterity. This blog aims to shed some light on this area and highlight ways that you can develop your manual dexterity, indicate your skills in your personal statement and then show these skills at interview. Here is a four step process to show that you have the manual dexterity required to secure a place at dental school.

1. Understand What Manual Dexterity is

Manual Dexterity is the skill of using your hands to carry out a task skilfully and to a high level. It’s a skill developed through life as well as through a Dentistry degree. That’s why different Dental Schools place varying importance on it. It is useful to know how manual dexterity is applied in Dentistry such as in placing fillings, making dentures or removing calculus from the tooth surfaces – so do some research!

2. Develop Your Manual Dexterity Skills

If you don’t already have a hobby that involves manual dexterity it might be worth taking one up. This will give you an idea if you enjoy using your hands and also give you the chance to practice your skills. Examples of hobbies that involve manual dexterity are; playing a musical instrument, painting, creating models, stitching or knitting, building computer circuit boards and DT projects.

3. Highlight Manual Dexterity in Your Personal Statement

A good place to highlight your manual dexterity skills in your personal statement – either when you are talking about why you want to study Dentistry or in a section relating to your extracurricular activities. A key thing to remember to do is to reflect on your manual dexterity skills. You can speak about how you may have had to preserve and practice a skill that at first you found difficult. You could then relate this back to learning skills in Dentistry.

4. Demonstrate Manual Dexterity at Interview

Depending on the interview, you might be asked to directly demonstrate your manual dexterity by completing a task, or you may be posed a question about manual dexterity. Sometimes the interviewers may not ask you a direct question relating to manual dexterity at all!

If you are assigned a task, the key to completing it is to listen carefully to the instructions. Remeber to stay calm! Interviewers understand that you will be nervous, so they will not be expecting a perfect performance. They just want to see how well you do under pressure.

Questions relating to manual dexterity require you to speak about what you have done to develop your skills. This is where you can speak about your preparation and reflect on what you have learnt.

If interviewers do not ask directly about manual dexterity, you may be given a chance to show some examples of your skills at the end. If you have made anything showing your skills bring this with you. Alternatively, you can bring your manual dexterity into an answer for “Why do you want to study Dentistry?” or “What skills are important for a Dentist to have?”

Stay tuned for more Dentistry insights!

Uploaded by Joelle on 2nd March 2016

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There are a lot of different opinions about Charles-Louis Hanon’s “The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises”. Some say it is unmusical and can even lead to wrist damage, while others think they are the best exercises around. I am a beginning piano player — how should I regard these exercises?

5 Answers 5

There are several schools of piano teaching. I have been raised in the idea that almost all technical training should be done with a specific piece of composed music as a target, not in isolation, and should be defined by the teacher after observation of a student’s playing. It does not take long to write down a little exercice on a sheet of paper. The art of teaching is to propose gradually challenging piece from the repertoire while covering the most important technical ground.

Chopin and Liszt were the first piano studies which were also works of art by themselves and had a vision wider than the style of their time.

Clementi, Hanon, Kunz, and consorts are in my little teaching experience a very good way to put off students and not achieve anything worthwhile. But other school of piano playing may have an efficient tradition of using them for the student’s good. I do not know how to do that. I know how to do that with Bach, Schumann, Debussy, Scarlatti, Bartok, Chopin.

Czerny is something else, I would recommend some of his studies from his pedagogical works, but again according to what you desire to be able to play and with a grain of salt.

Studying too much (and too soon) without pause, regularity and progressiveness, denying the pain, believing that forcing and striking hard will give you better fingers, is the most common and real source of wrist dammage, hand inflamation and traumatism, not a specific set of piano exercices.

I would like to answer this question by quoting a musician I met online. I forget who it was, so I apologize for it. But that person developed carpal tunnel from hammering away using similar excersises. However, what he said afterward will stay with me forever. He said, “These excersises really work in helping you develop better playing skills. Just use caution and think of it as lifting weights. Very helpful, but you can hurt yourself.”

I believe that quote highlights exactly what these excersises are designed for. To use a similar analogy: Imagine a boxer lifting weights. That in itself does not directly make them a better boxer. But it will allow the boxer more strength, power, and stamina in the boxing arena. For a pianist, these excersises are designed to give the player more finger strength, better flexibility, and greater accuracy. However, you should think of it as a tool and nothing more.

Just like the professional boxer, you do not want to spend your entire practice time lifting weights. A boxer that does only that will get murdered in the ring. The boxer will have plenty of strength, but no boxing form. Conversely, as a pianist, you need to develop a strong musical sense. These excersises will not teach you how to interpret music or play “beautifully”.

A little off topic: It is the same issues with people who depend entirely on the metronome. It is an excellent tool for keeping in time, but you still need to develop your “internal tick”.

Just remember that there was a time in which these tools did not exist.

Affiliations

1 School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada ; Feil and Oberfeld Research Centre, Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Research Site of the Montreal Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) , Laval, QC , Canada.
2 Laboratory for Motor Learning and Neural Plasticity, Department of Psychology, Concordia University , Montreal, QC , Canada.

PMID: 25202258
PMCID: PMC4141215
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00662

Free PMC article

Authors

Affiliations

1 School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montreal, QC , Canada ; Feil and Oberfeld Research Centre, Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Research Site of the Montreal Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) , Laval, QC , Canada.
2 Laboratory for Motor Learning and Neural Plasticity, Department of Psychology, Concordia University , Montreal, QC , Canada.

PMID: 25202258
PMCID: PMC4141215
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00662

Abstract

Keywords: cerebrovascular accident; hand; learning; music; paresis; rehabilitation.

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

If you really want to advance your piano playing, mastering the art of sight reading can take you far. But if you’re struggling, don’t worry. Although some people have a more natural ability to pick up a piece of music and play it sight unseen, the good news is that sight reading is a skill you can improve upon with practice–and even teach yourself from scratch.

In fact, there are basic things you can do every day that will improve your dexterity and translate to your piano skills. Try the following:

Work on Your Typing
Even if your typing skills don’t extend beyond the odd post on forums or social media, you are almost certainly using both of your hands in a coordinated way. The next time you sit in front of a computer rather than a piano keyboard, look up. Try to learn, even if slowly, how to type properly. It will pay dividends with your piano playing, as you’re trying to train and coordinate your hands and fingers!

Work Each Hand Independently
Make sure to do hand and finger exercises with both hands–not just your dominant one. The more ably and easily your hands can work independently of each other, the easier you will find it to read two lines of music at once, and translate what’s on the page to your fingers.

Reading the Map
The most common situations where you will find yourself called upon to sigh tread are in graded examinations, or perhaps even simply looking through new repertoire in your piano lessons. Don’t rush it–take a moment to “read the map”; look at the key signature, time signature, and tempo markings. Are there any modulations or cross-rhythms? Are there any accidentals? Make a note in your mind of anything unusual in the music, and work out in your mind how you will approach it. Probably the most important piece of advice to remember when you practice sight reading is to keep going–if you make a mistake, don’t stop to correct it. Even if the mistakes grate upon your ear and your perfectionist streak, you will end up a far better sight reader in the long run if you keep a sense of fluency in your playing.

Unraveling the Notes
If you are a beginner musician as well as a beginner pianist, then you have the perfect opportunity to reduce the music you are studying down into the smallest building blocks, and improve your musicianship as you practice sight reading. This is a skill you can teach yourself at home each time you pick up a new piece of music.

To begin, look at the time signature and the first bar. How many notes are there? If it’s a bar of common time, are they all quarter notes, or are there eighth and sixteenth notes as well? Are there any syncopated rhythms, or is the basic layout of the bar reasonably simple? Do this for each hand individually, and as you become more adept, use the same analytic process for both hands at the same time. There are several words and phrases that you can learn to help you work out the exact rhythm of note groupings as well–for example, “hippopotamus” is a useful word to work out the exact note distribution in a quintuplet, and “Sicily” will help you with triplets.

Good luck with your sight reading–it’s a skill that will come in handy throughout your piano-playing career!

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I’m trying to learn how to play in position on an acoustic, and I’m finding that it’s the dexterity of my fingers that’s really letting me down (especially my pinky. ) – which means that I’m hitting the frets slow and clumsily, and I really need to think about it.

So are there any exercises or anything I can do to improve dexterity in my fingers to improve my guitar playing?

I’m also learning keyboard, if that helps.

my old man had this thing that looked like a harmonica with 5 different spring loaded buttons on it, hard to explain, but it was awesome, i didnt use it for guitar though, i used it for turntablism, but i’m pretty sure it was for guitar users originally.

will try and find it and post some photos.

yeah, thats it, cheers man. 😀

Ah cheers guys. Yeah I’ve seen those, I just thought it was another forearm thing (I’ve got the forearm grips), didn’t realise there was actually some benefit to the individual finger bits.

..or the guy’s site.

You can use the finger grip things or you can perservere with playing your guitar. The guitar will be more fun, you’ve just got to stick at it.

I’m also learning keyboard

I know nothing about guitar, but for piano, Hanon exercises could help.

Also, I don’t know if you can even get the ribbons any more, but if you could find a manual typewriter, there’s nothing better to strengthen the fingers and improve dexterity.

How to increase finger dexterity?

I read the post title and was going to say “learn guitar”, but then I read the post and it was playing the guitar that you were having difficulty with.

I used to have the same problem when I first started playing guitar. The only thing that will help is practice. Eventually your fingers will just feel natural and you will wonder why you had so much difficultly in the first place.

How to increase finger dexterity?

I used to do this exercise.

on the frets anywhere play
for instance a a# b c
now move that in a shape over all the strings
so it would look like

5 6 7 8
6 7 8 9
7 8 9 10
7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9
5 6 7 8
and back up in a User #86166 8005 posts

The best thing to do is practice.

Don’t do exercises and scales or you’ll end up a soulless metal player

drawing, painting, knitting, calligraphy. anything which requires fine-motor skills.

Don’t do exercises and scales or you’ll end up a soulless metal player

scales may not be exciting but they do teach the fingers where to go.
got to walk before you can run ‘type of thing.

just practice mate.

using one of those finger devices will help the muscles, but it doesn’t mean it will help them for guitar. the only way to get better at guitar is to practice.

i used to be terrible at barre chords, and i was considering buying one of those, but someone told me to forget it and just practice. now i can do them with ease, and cant imagine how difficult i used to find them.

Umm.. what about guitar hero on expert :p j/k

i ran into an old friend yesterday.
He’d been playing guitar for a long time and was terrible. Could not keep in time. (this is one of the hardest things to learn. Some ppl do it easily others find it hard)
anyway.. Hes got one of those GTRhero things and he LOVES it. He can finally play gtr !

See if you can get an old manual typewriter and learn to touch type properly on that. That should vastly increase the dexterity and strength of your fingers, particularly your pinky. When you can get an a, z, p, etc. typed with the same pressure as an f or a j, you’ll find guitar playing much easier.

Other than that, it’s practice, practice and more practice. If you haven’t yet got callouses on the tips of your fingers you’re not practicing enough.

How to improve hand-eye coordination/dexterity? Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:23 pm

As long as I can remember I have struggled at doing different things which each of my hands. For example playing the piano. I can use my right and left alright individually but when I do something on one hand, my left hand is just dysfunctional.

What exercises can I do mentally/physically to improve this?

Back in the day up until about late 2007ish I also had bad coordination. Than, someone suggested I play Guitar Hero 2 to improve it. Now, I can play real instruments without a problem as well as the game. I can play bass decently and I am really good on the drums.

Maybe try out a music game and go from there. Worked for me.

2 useful
0 not useful

Miss wrote Back in the day up until about late 2007ish I also had bad coordination. Than, someone suggested I play Guitar Hero 2 to improve it. Now, I can play real instruments without a problem as well as the game. I can play bass decently and I am really good on the drums.

Maybe try out a music game and go from there. Worked for me.

That makes a lot of sense. Do you know any games that I could get?

0 useful
0 not useful

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

0 useful
0 not useful

Miss wrote Back in the day up until about late 2007ish I also had bad coordination. Than, someone suggested I play Guitar Hero 2 to improve it. Now, I can play real instruments without a problem as well as the game. I can play bass decently and I am really good on the drums.

Maybe try out a music game and go from there. Worked for me.

That makes a lot of sense. Do you know any games that I could get?

Any music game really would probably do the trick. Once you get the hang of it, maybe even move onto a real instrument since it is more of a challenge.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Aubrey Bailey, PT, DPT, CHT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maureen Malone

How to Improve Dexterity on the Piano

Whether you type all day, play the guitar or perform precise surgical operations, you need finger dexterity, flexibility and strength for many activities. Practicing a few simple exercises will keep your finger joints lubricated and increase the dexterity and strength of your fingers.

Factors That Affect Finger Dexterity

Anyone can experience tired and sore hands that decrease your flexibility and dexterity. It could simply be the result of repetitive actions such as texting, typing or playing a musical instrument. This may cause your muscles to become tight or the median nerve, which sends messages to and from your hand, to become compressed.

In more serious cases, you may also experience numbness, tingling or pain. According to Keck Medicine, these symptoms may be caused by a more serious medical condition or injury such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis. Parkinson’s disease and hand-arm vibration syndrome may also decrease your finger dexterity and motor skills.

Performing stretches and exercises to increase the strength and mobility of your fingers, hand, wrist and forearm may help improve your finger dexterity. Practicing the activity you are trying to achieve will also improve your dexterity and abilities. For example, if you are a piano player, practicing your playing each day will improve your finger dexterity and coordination.

Warning

If you have a medical condition or injury that is affecting your finger dexterity, consult your physician before exercising as some exercises may make your condition worse. Additional treatment may also be recommended.

Range-of-Motion Exercises

Mobility and stretching exercises increase your range of motion. Perform 10 repetitions of each exercise, advises Pacific University. Begin by holding up your hand with the fingers straight and together. Then, spread your fingers as wide as you can for 15 seconds before returning to the starting position.

For the next exercise, make a fist and hold it for five seconds. Then, as in the previous exercise, spread your fingers as wide as you can for 15 seconds before making a fist again.

Other exercises focus on the joints of the fingers and thumbs. For example, holding your hand flat with your thumb out, bring the thumb across the palm of your hand toward your pinkie finger. Then return to the starting position.

Another exercise focuses on the joints of your fingers. Starting again with a flat hand, slowly roll your fingers down until your fingertips touch the base of each finger. Then continue to roll down until your fingertips are touching your palm. Return to the starting position.

Wrist stretches will also help with your range of motion. Flex and extend your wrist until you feel a gentle stretch. Another exercise recommended by Harvard Health Publishing is wrist pronation and supination. Begin with your elbow bent at a 90 degrees angle and your hand out with your palm down. Then, without moving the elbow, rotate your hand so that your palm is facing up, then return to the starting position.

Applying heat for five to ten minutes to warm up your hands prior to exercise may help decrease pain and make movements easier, according to Keck Medicine. You can soak your hands in warm water, wrap them in a warm towel or use a heating pad.

Finger Dexterity Exercises

Using a squeeze ball can help to strengthen your grip and the muscles that move your fingers. Squeeze the ball tightly and hold for three to five seconds before relaxing. Build up to 10 to 12 repetitions for each hand per session. You can also do this exercise with a hand grip strengthener.

Finger isolation exercises will help with motor control and increase dexterity. For example, try finger taps. Start by holding your hand flat. Beginning with the index finger, bring it down to tap your thumb. Repeat this with your middle, ring and pinkie fingers.

Another finger isolation exercise is to lay your hand flat on the table. One at a time, lift each finger off the table. You can also practice moving each finger from side to side, advises the University of Florida Health.

Finally, practice dynamic movements in your day-to-day life. This may include playing piano or guitar, sewing, making jewelry and picking small items up off the table or floor.

What do we mean by dexterity in terms of piano?

Scales to Improve your Dexterity at the Piano

Why practice scales?

Hanon and Czerny

Hanon and the Important Thumb

Czerny’s Speed Exercises

1) Pick out simple melodies

2) Play left-hand scales using octaves

3) Dexterity exercises with a left-hand focus

4) Arpeggios are the best friend of dexterity

5) Volume !

Go from absolute beginner to playing your first song in four easy lessons!

Go from absolute beginner to playing your first song in four easy lessons!

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Piano and keyboard information and resources

1. Keys

2. Scales

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

4. Work your weaker hand

5. Work your weaker fingers

6. Styles

7. Key and Tempo

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

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At a glance.

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Piano and keyboard information and resources

1. Keys

2. Scales

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

4. Work your weaker hand

5. Work your weaker fingers

6. Styles

7. Key and Tempo

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

Increase Your Finger Speed On The Piano!

Affiliations

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Stretches

Finger and Hand Exercises

How does playing piano improve memory?

How does playing piano improve coordination?

How do I get the most benefit out of playing the piano?

The Mirror

The Rhythm

Staccato

Go from absolute beginner to playing your first song in four easy lessons!

4 Answers 4

Flexor Stretching

Relax Knuckles

Practice Scales

Strengthen Your Weaker Finger

Do You Need Big Hands To Have Dexterity?

Start Your Piano Lessons Today

Piano and keyboard information and resources

Piano and keyboard information and resources

1. Keys

2. Scales

Other features you may enjoy

3. Stretches

4. Work your weaker hand

5. Work your weaker fingers

6. Styles

7. Key and Tempo

22 thoughts on “ 7 Easy Ways to Improve your Piano-playing Strength and Dexterity ”

Finger Dexterity

The Jimmy Page Riffs

Riff 1: “The Ocean”

Riff 2: “Black Dog”

Riff 3: “Heartbreaker”

Riff 4: “Out on the Tiles”

Riff 5: Moby Dick

Wrap up

Stretching Exercises for Extremely Stiff or Paralyzed Hands

1. Wrist Extension and Flexion

2. Thumb Extension and Flexion

Go from absolute beginner to playing
your first song in four easy lessons!

Go from absolute beginner to playing
your first song in four easy lessons!

Go from absolute beginner to playing
your first song in four easy lessons!