Finger Positions

Everyone seems to have her/is own ideas about finger positions, so it is clear that there are no rigid rules. The only guidance is that the fingers should be in the most relaxed and powerful positions. First, make a tight fist. Then open your fingers and stretch them as far out as they will go. Now relax the fingers completely. In this relaxed state, place the hand on a flat surface with all the fingertips resting on the surface and the wrist at the same height as the knuckles. The hand and fingers should form a dome. All the fingers should be curved. The thumb should point slightly down and bend very slightly towards the fingers so that the last digit of the thumb is parallel to the other fingers. It is important to maintain this slight inward bend of the thumb when playing chords with wide spans. This positions the tip of the thumb parallel to the keys making it less likely to hit adjacent keys. It also orients the thumb so that the correct muscles are used to raise and lower the thumb. The fingers are slightly curled, curving down and meeting the keys at angles near 45 degrees. This curved configuration allows the fingers to play between the black keys. The tip of the thumb and the other fingertips should form an approximate semicircle on the flat surface. This is a good starting hand position for playing the piano. You can then modify it to suit your playing style. If you do this with both hands side by side, the two thumbnails should be facing each other. Use the part of the thumb directly below the thumbnails to play, not the joint. For the other fingers, the bone comes very close to the outer skin at the fingertips. Just inside the fingertip (away from the fingernail), the flesh is slightly thicker. This fleshy part should contact the keys, not the fingertip.

This is just a suggested starting position. Once you begin play, these rules immediately go out the window. You may need to stretch the fingers almost straight, or curl them more, depending on what you are playing.