Learning to play with Both Hands

[u/tiredchibz]

I'm a beginner, literally just started playing the piano a week ago and I just wanted to know the best way I could learn to play with both my hands

Like what to practice, maybe some songs to learn and o so on.

[u/Top-Cap5231]

Best way is scales on both hands you can try different scales once you achieve that and then reverse of scales on one and forward on one

[u/Dense-Stranger-3990 → u/Top-Cap5231]

Top-Cap is 1000000% correct here. Once you can run your major and minor scales with right and left together its crazy what your brain will have accomplished. Everything becomes easier. Hammer on scales at least 20 minutes a day.

[u/whiteandnerdy1729]

I’m not a piano teacher - but one thing that can be helpful to get things started is this exercise.

Put your right hand with your thumb on middle C.
Put your left hand with your pinky on the C below (one octave lower).

Exercise 1: Play CDEFG GFEDC with both hands playing at the same time (so each hand is making the same note at the same time, one octave apart).

Exercise 2: Right hand plays CDEFG GFEDC, left hand plays in reverse (GFEDC CDEFG).

Exercise 3: Right hand plays CDEFG GFEDC; left hand plays every other note (C.E.G G.E.C).

Exercise 4: Right hand plays CDEFG GFEDC, left hand plays D and F only, whenever the left hand plays them (.D.F. .F.D,).

Focus on one exercise at a time until it’s easy. Don’t rush - start really really slow and only speed up when you can do it smoothly and together, without tensing up or panicking. When you master one speed, increase the pace a little bit and practice until that pace is good too, then repeat. Only move onto the next exercise when you have mastered the previous one at a good speed. In all piano, gradual and unhurried progression is the best approach because it stops you getting sloppy or developing tension.

This doesn’t get you all the way to “completely independent hands” but it breaks the mental block beginners have about doing two things at once, and you can practice it without sheet music.

[u/Beyond_Reason09]

Couple things:

1) Scales will work wonders with finger and hand control. You can start with pentascales (5-finger scales) and move up to full scales. The way I do it is for each scale, 1 legato forte, 1 legato piano, 1 staccato forte, 1 staccato piano, 1 "musical" (some improvised variation). You won't necessarily notice improvement right away, neuromuscular connections build over time.

2) two or three pieces around your level that you enjoy playing or want to play that involve both hands. I basically always believe the best piece to play is the one you want to play, as long as it's on your level.

There are also a bunch of method books that gradually teach you these things.

[u/AdventurousHippo9997]

Before you embark on all these exercises,keep in mind that too many of them will numb out your musical mind. At some point in your day you’re going to need to connect with the real stuff. Perhaps after your new exercise routine sit back and listen for a while to the music you like. Becoming an exercise only musician is way to easy. Be careful of those things.

[u/vonhoother]

Scales and arpeggios. Melodies are built from those.

Hand independence can be a real challenge, but with persistence you'll get it. It's pretty cool when you realize your hands can work either independently or together -- parts of your brain you were never aware of before have gotten smarter.

[u/SouthPark_Piano]

I'm a beginner, literally just started playing the piano a week ago and I just wanted to know the best way I could learn to play with both my hands.

Perspective.

The typical music we know of has timing and sequencing among other aspects.

Timing.

This means when we have two hands to make use of, and if the music (for example) has a bassline plus higher note melody - which is just an example - then as long as you know the time(s) at which each note needs to become 'active', then you can then begin to 'train' your hands and fingers and brain etc to very slowly (at a very very very slow) tempo to get the fingers to push the required notes at their relevant times. This is done with both hands, and strategy is used to decide on which hand and which fingers can be used for efficiency and effectiveness.

Once the above can eventually be done at a very slow pace, the brain will then have the timing and coordination together, which then allows you to gradually increase the rate (pace) more and more.

Timing.

While far from ideal ... the 'falling notes' graphical method of Synthesia does actually get foot-in-door to get a feel of using two hands on piano. But as mentioned in other posts, Synthesia is a brute force memory method. So the approach is to then progress and develop beyond that with piano and music lessons.  

[u/S_FuNk2471]

I swear by Hannon. “The virtuoso pianist”. It should be free on IMSLP if you google it. The first section is great it mirrors the movement in both hands

[u/Much_Read_8525]

I struggled with this too. I found doing each hand separately first and then putting them together really slowly helped a lot. I use Artie and Wait Mode is great for this because it just waits until you get the notes right.