Piano Exercises: Top 10 Things to Practice

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One of our most common questions is, “What should I practice?” Which is a great question! In this post, we’ll show you piano exercises that will help train the most important parts of learning how to play, such as speed, flexibility, agility, and hand independence. These piano exercises can help piano players of all levels.

Speed

We all want to play fast but, but playing fast starts with playing slowly and gradually ramping up the speed. Make sure you can articulate all your notes clearly before you get faster. Accuracy is just as—if not more—important as playing quickly.

1. First, master the thumb tuck. It’s essential for fast and fluid scales. Try to keep your elbow stable (no flapping wings) and try tucking under different fingers.
2. Then, go beyond the thumb tuck. In the video above, Jordan Rudess (speed demon keyboardist from Dream Theater and a Juilliard-educated pianist) shows you how to focus less on the tucking motion and more on the overall movement of your arpeggiating hand. Insightful stuff.
3. Don’t forget about leaps. Playing fast isn’t just about scales! Leaping wide distances across the keyboard is important too, and it’s all about accuracy. Practice by playing the root note of a triad, then play the third and fifth an octave above.

Related lessons:

• How to Play Scales Hands Together (Master the Thumb Tuck)
• Piano Target Practice
• The Jesús Molina Speed Challenge

Agility

When it comes to keyboard skills, agility, accuracy, and flexibility are key. Hanon exercises are perfect for this.

Hanon No. 10

> Download the Sheet Music

This exercise not only improves speed; it works your fourth and fifth fingers, which are often our weakest fingers. Remember: if your speed is inconsistent, it doesn’t count! So get out that metronome. Start slow. Once you’re comfortable with the speed you’re at, then—and only then!—increase your speed by 3-5 bpm.

Hand Independence

Hand independence is one of the toughest skills to master for pianists. A common complaint we hear is: “My brain knows what to do, but my hands just won’t co-operate!”

Syncopation Exercise

In this exercise, play fifths with your left hand in a syncopated rhythm pattern. When you feel comfortable with this pattern, play quarter notes with your right hand. This means the rhythms in each hand won’t align perfectly with each other.

It’ll feel weird, which is totally normal. Slow down if you need to, tap out the beat, or write out the counting in your sheet music.

We have loads of free lessons on hand independence on our site. Some of our favorites include:

• Hand Independence With the Blues: The blues is a very rhythmic genre that requires some nifty hand independence. It also sounds cool, making it an awesome learning tool.
• Hand Independence in 5 Days: Hand independence takes time to develop. And sleeping between practice sessions can actually help! Here’s a five-day practice plan to tackle hand independence for good.

Scales

It’s almost universally agreed upon that music students dread scales. But scales are necessary because they train everything: speed, agility, hand independence…and they reinforce your understanding of keys.

Here are some ways to spice up your scale practice:

1. Use a backing track. It’ll make playing scales feel less alone and like you’re playing a song…with a band! Download a free backing track and learn how to use it in this lesson.
2. Play with different articulations. This can instantly make scales a lot more interesting…and tricky! Play a scale staccato, tenuto, legato, or better yet, play one articulation with one hand and another articulation in the other!
3. Play with a chord progression. This is similar to the backing track except you provide the backing track. By pairing your scale with a chord progression in your other hand, you’ll not only end up with an exercise that sounds musical, but you’ll also practice your chord progressions in every key. For starters, try the I-V-vi-IV pop progression.

More related lessons:

• Chords and Scales Library
• Piano Scales: Types of Scales and How to Apply Them

Scales are like vegetables.

Lisa Witt

Chords and Chord Inversions

Chords are the building block of music. This is especially true for piano players because we often comp for other musicians, or accompany ourselves with our left hand. So, having chord shapes down pat in all keys and all inversions makes this so much easier.

Like scales, chords practice can be frustrating. Here are ways to de-stress the process:

1. If you’re learning inversion shapes, try D major (or E, or A…). C major is great, but choosing a chord with a black key can help you navigate the transitions. So, try D major (D-F#-A) and use that F-sharp as a visual aid. Follow along with a D major inversions practice here.
2. Practice transitioning from one position to another. Practice going from root to 1st inversion, then 1st to 2nd. This will help you internalize the shapes.
3. Practice with a chord progression. Doing this applies your knowledge of chord inversions because using inversions is the most efficient way to smoothly transition from chord to chord. We walk through an example of how to do this here.

More related lessons:

• Chord Inversions, Explained
• The Most Musical Way to Practice Chords (for more advanced players)

Ear Training

Music is an aural art form, so exercising your ears is pretty essential! You don’t need perfect pitch to be an excellent musician, you just have to work on your listening skills.

1. Understand intervals. Melodies are made up of intervals. Practice recognizing intervals by associating each interval with a song. For example, the Star Wars starts on a perfect 5th.
2. Do the same with chords. You can apply the same principle with chords by associating chord progressions with songs.
3. Try to figure out songs by ear. Pick a song with a simple melody that you know well and can hum. Now see if you can pick out the melody by ear. Sing the melody (it helps!).

Having a good ear, like all music skills, comes with time. You don’t have to practice for hours every day but try to be consistent. You’ll start to see improvement!

More related lessons:

• How to Identify Chords By Ear
• Ultimate Guide to Interval Ear Training
• Pro Pianist Plays “Rush E” by Ear (tips and insights)

Control

What’s the difference between a good pianist and an awesome pianist? Control. Experienced pianists have incredible control over not only fingers, speed, and technique, but also expression.

“Beautifully Simple” Exercise

In this exercise, we’ll play a very simple piece. Then, we’ll add dynamics, articulation, and other ornaments that make the piece sound more like, well, music.

This may seem straightforward, but it can be a lot to focus on when you first start. Again, feel free to mark up your sheet music with colorful reminders.

More related lessons:

• What Are Dynamics?
• The Art of the Crescendo and Decrescendo
• Complete Piano Terms Glossary

If you can be in control of your hands and those little tiny nuances, that’s going to be what takes your playing from good to great and gives you want you need to be a very impactful player.

Lisa Witt

Creativity

Did you know that musical creativity can be practiced too? It’s a skill like any other, and unlike scales and chords, creativity is fun!

1. Improvise with three notes. A fun way to challenge your creativity is to explore what you can create with a small handful of ingredients. Having constraints like this can actually make it easier to be creative.
2. Come up with melodies using scale degrees. The notes that make up the diatonic scale are all you need to create beautiful melodies. 
3. Play around with the pentatonic scale. The five notes of the pentatonic scale sound very natural together and even better over a chord progression.

Pro-tip: When improvising, don’t forget about rhythm! Rhythm can add so much character to your improv lines, taking your improv from simple to sophisticated.

More related lessons:

• How to Improvise on Piano: A Beginner’s Guide
• How to Improvise a Beautiful Melody: 9 Tips From Jesús Molina
• How to Sound Beautiful on the Piano With Pentatonic Scales

Practice Away From the Piano

Yup, you can practice piano even without one! This is perfect for travelers who want to stay sharp.

1. Play on a flat surface. Play a five-finger pattern (like 3-1-2-5-4) on a desk to limber up your fingers. Lift each finger one by one. If you practice on your leg or arm, you can also feel how consistently you’re applying pressure. Neat!
2. Tap out rhythms. Try tapping quarter notes with your left hand and eighth notes with your right. Kinda like playing the drums! You can also write out rhythms of your own and clap them out.
3. Study your sheet music. Play through it in your head and notice the details. You might catch something you’ve never noticed before!

Active Listening and Music Appreciation

Finally, actively listen to music. If you’re learning a song, listen to it often so that you know it inside and out. Listening to different interpretations of the same piece can also help with creativity. 

Expose yourself to as much music as you can! Explore outside your comfort zone and keep an open mind. The more music you listen to, the more you’ll appreciate the nuances in all styles of music.

More related lessons:

• How to Listen to Music
• 36 Greatest Piano Rock Songs
• 10 Easy Jazz Standards to Learn First

> How to Listen to Music

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Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.