What to do with other fingers when making a chord on piano

Factual Questions
1

I’m finally learning piano. My first lesson isn’t until next week, but my teacher said to go ahead and play around with the book he had me get.

So I’m looking at the C major chord, and I notice that when fingers 1, 3, and 5 on the left hand make the chord, fingers 2 and 4 lift up and point forward, instead of staying nice and curved over the non-used keys. It’s easier that way.

In guitar, this is a big no-no. The non-used fingers need to stay over the strings and aren’t allowed to be lifted off or extended because someone might break into your house, point a gun at you, and demand you play an F note really, really fast, and you can’t because the finger has to travel an eighth of an inch to get to the string.

So am I using bad piano finger form? I don’t want to learn bad habits…in guitar it sucks to learn something one way, and then have to UNlearn it because it was the wrong form.

:slight_smile:

2

Yes, it’s bad form. Sorry. The reasoning is much the same as in guitar — if the fingers are moved away from their “ready” positions, then they can’t get back to play another note as quickly, which will be an impediment to smooth, quick playing as you progress.

3

Hey, thanks. I will work on the correct way…glad I asked after 30 seconds instead of a week.