A question about piano technique

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I like fooling around on the piano, but I've never had lessons and boy it shows. I was wondering if this is considered proper technique: when I play a chord that has adjacent white keys (a second interval) I often straddle the keys with a single finger playing both notes. Is that how they teach you to do it? Just curious.

[whatswisdom]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

)I often straddle the keys with a single finger playing both notes. Is that how they teach you to do it? Just curious.

I doubt that to be a good way to do it. If you want to build on a good foundation, pick up a bunch of beginner books that have easy pieces. I have one called "Around The Keys - Short Studies for Piano in All Major & Minor Keys," by Hazel Cobb. There are loads of similar books with easy pieces for kids. Fingerings are given, which helps you build confidence. Great for helping your sight-reading too. You can pick them up for cheap all over the place. (Bass clef had been intimidating for me. Not any more.) And, I forgot, they're lots of fun...

[brad4d8]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I often straddle the keys with a single finger playing both notes. Is that how they teach you to do it? Just curious.

I had piano lessons for about five years as a child and one semester in college (both classical), nothing like that ever came up. However, it seems like something a jazz musician might do in order to add a voice to an extended chord.
Brad

[jmstritt]

I remember when I took piano proficiency in school. That was the scariest class ever.

[jmstritt]

Luckily my professor had a good sense of humor. On the second lesson, I played a Bb and an Eb looked at him and said, "There ya go, I'm the next McCoy, how about you just go ahead and pass me?" He got a laugh out of it.

Man I was an irreverent little brat... LOL

[ayatas]

I'm a jazz pianist (just trying to learn jazz guitar now) and no generally proper techinique will not have you playing two notes with one finger except in certain cases where occasionally you will have the thumb play two adjacent notes if it's a very large voicing where you need more fingers to accommodate the notes required for the chord. hope this helps!