Piano Speed Drills: How to Play Faster with Accuracy

Playing fast is so fun. It will make you sound like a total pro, but only if you are staying in control as you play. If you aren’t playing accurately while you are playing fast, you're going to sound like a disaster.

So how can you develop speed AND accuracy? Well, the first rule is to start slow. This is so simple but it is the most important part of developing speed. If you don’t start slow and take the time your body needs to really memorize and build muscle memory around what you are playing, you won't do well.

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ABOUT LISA:
Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for +20 years and in that time has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others. She is a songwriter and recording artist. Lisa’s contagious enthusiasm will have you excited to practice and return to the keys for your next lesson. Her teaching style focuses on you, making lessons encouraging and fun.

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[barbmoody]

Thank you. At age 70 I am a new piano player. Started almost 2 years ago and am finally feeling like I am making progress. Love your videos.

[krasko]

I've just started learning to play the piano at the age of 40 and love all of your videos. No redundant talking and no bragging. Always spot on and useful. Your personality, smile and the way you talk are also very pleasing. Thank you.

[Kali-bsoj]

If you’re ever feeling sad just remember that one day Yousician and Simply Piano won’t exist

[cjyu]

The 3 most common habits that slow people down are 1) heavy thumbs, 2) straight 2nd fingers and 3) wrist not staying level to your knuckle ;)

[kurowa_]

step 1: play osu mania
step 2: rage
step 3: ???
step 4: profit

[annehewitt]

I am 80 years old and always wanted to learn how to play the piano. So I finally signed up and am now on my 12th lesson. So far I practice C Major, G Major, D Major A Major, and E Major daily using both hands and also Hanon Exercise No 1 - only the right hand and left hand separately. Haven't mastered doing them together yet. Also some simple songs from a beginner's piano book - so this exercise is something that I think I can do and will add to my daily practice routine. I am enjoying the practice and hope I can do some simple songs without sounding disjointed. I know practice, practice, practice. Thank you for this video.

[paulfletcher]

At age 57, I've been playing now for about 20 years. Because I was mostly self-taught, my fingering was almost always incorrect. This kept me from being able to play more complex pieces. Your tutorials are simple and make sense. Thank you so much for posting these. They help tremendously.

[jayhan]

Yes this is the kind of exercise that none of the teachers have taught me though I know how to play the scales I am not able to develop speed I am sure this exercise is going to help me a lot - Thanks a lot.

[linuss]

I can’t play 5 minutes/day...
Once I started practicing something I want to keep going.

[santomon]

To really get the benefit out of your exercises, you need to grab your ole circle of fifths chart and gradually work through ALL 12 major and minor keys... I personally ALWAYS do everything in all of those keys ... but I’m a professional musician who practices all day long lol However, I can usually get through quite a bit of different exercises before most people wake up in the morning... but you can do one key one day then the next key a fifth up the next day until you’ve cycled through them all.... Also... NEVER look at your hands while doing scales and exercises!!! Maybe a quick peak if you’re totally lost but first try and find your place with eyes closed and searching by ear...🤪. I wish someone would have told me that years ago... also sight reading is VERY beneficial for getting used to playing without looking at your hands as well as developing concentration and orienting your hands to the keyboard... I recommend sight reading fortress... great app 👍 These are some great exercises she’s presented... maybe she can show you the broken chord exercises... one of my favorites especially for developing your fourth fingers...(weakest)

[dutypol]

I have been playing the piano on and off, and never get to the level I wanted. Since I started watching your video, I have been practicing at least an hour, mainly scales which I did not enjoy so much before. I already feel my piano skill has been improved. Thanks for the great videos.

[jakebeddow]

4:40 'it took me weeks and weeks

Me two years later still cant play it half as fast

[hectoraguilar]

Hi! Thank you for showing us those 3 exercises.
The first one you showed us it is good to play the C major scale and its modes.
I have my own method to play fast and fast the left hand with the 3, 4 finger style, for example: to play the C scale I start Playing the 3rd mode (The Phrygian mode) going down, and paying the 4th mode (The Lydian mode) going back:
C Scale going down to the low notebook and going up to the high note:
Starting from E going down (Phrygian mode):
E, D, C, B, A, G, F...
3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Starting from F going up (Lydian mode):
F, G A B, C, D, E...
4, 3, 2 1, 3 2, 1...
The other 11 scales I apply some other modes...
The second exercise you showed us is based in the Hannon book. The good book to have speed is the Hannon, the Beller and the 40 exercise from Scherni (I'm not sure if I spelled it right)...
However, there are some other books related to Hannon to practice Blues, Salsa, Jazz, and so on.
The third exercise you showed us is the C pentatonic scale in BOTH hands recommended it:
(C, D, E, G, A)
Also for further speed exercise, we could include the chromatic scale, the diminish scale, the whole scale and all minor scales.
Just for beginners to start, is fantastic these 3 exercises you showed us.
With them will be enough to practice with and gain great speed. And as you said it complete right, we have to start to play all these exercises slow, then try speeding up a little by little. Greetings from Tijuana!

[ATthemusician]

I just apply the way I learned how to play much faster and more difficult pieces on guitar.
first, learn what you are trying to play, typically at half speed, sometimes even slower.
once you can play it perfectly at that slow speed, speed it up by 5 bpm(or less if you need to), progressively do this until you can play it at full speed, or even faster if you wanna challenge yourself. it can takes weeks but it is worth it in the end, the feeling you get when you get in that pocket is so satisfying and rewarding. the most important part is genuinely learning it note by note at a much slower speed. you can't play it fast if you can't play it slow.

as a bonus tip, sometimes when I'm having trouble progressing playing a piece faster, I will speed up my metronome to 15-20bpm higher than my current goal, and try playing along at that speed. obviously, I can't play that much faster, but when I revert back to my current goal, it feels much slower and easier to play than it did before. its like tricking your brain, it has worked pretty well for me.

practice to a metronome, always. practice in shorter intervals multiple times throughout the day, you get more out of practicing than if you burn yourself out in a long practice session. set small goals, and achieve them.

[jimc]

Excellent tutorial. I am very begginer ( Ijust bought eletric piano 3 months ago). Please, keep sharing exercises for improving skill like this video.

[MsPea]

New player here (well, returning to piano after 40+ years). So glad I found your videos. They're so helpful. So concise and clear. I have trouble with speed and right/left hand coordination. Glad to have these exercises.

[luigi]

Thank you so much. I was becoming very frustrated at not being able to play faster pieces due to my hands not listening to what I wanted them to do, but these exercises helped correct some things I was doing wrong, and you gave great advice! Once again, thank you.

[rajaportibi]

Thank you very much. At my age of 40, I still have a dream of able to play piano. Watching your videos and putting it into practices help me to fullfil the dream.

Thank you so much, you are a talented and beautiful teacher, awesome skills, excellent lessons and it was a helpful tutorial video ever