The Secret to Playing FAST 🎹

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LESSON SUMMARY
Let's be honest—fast is fun! Whether it's in a sports car, a roller coaster, or even on piano. There's just something exhilarating about pushing things to the limit. Therefore, today's Quick Tip is all about how to play piano fast. You'll learn:
-The #1 Skill Needed to Play Fast
-6 Essential Cell Exercises
-6 Essential Scale Exercises

► Endless Epic Exercises:

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Fast Thumbs
01:43 - Pillar 1: 6 Essential Cell Exercises
02:01 - Exercise 1
02:58 - Exercise 2
03:32 - Exercise 3
04:30 - Exercise 4
05:11 - Exercise 5
05:37 - Exercise 6
06:01 - Pillar 2: 6 Essential Scale Exercises
06:50 - Exercise 1
07:33 - Exercise 2
08:31 - Exercise 3
09:32 - Exercise 4
09:59 - Exercise 5
10:17 - Exercise 6
10:48 - Conclusion
===

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Happy practicing!
Jonny May

[PianoWithJonny]

00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Fast Thumbs
01:43 - Pillar 1: 6 Essential Cell Exercises
02:01 - Exercise 1
02:58 - Exercise 2
03:32 - Exercise 3
04:30 - Exercise 4
05:11 - Exercise 5
05:37 - Exercise 6
06:01 - Pillar 2: 6 Essential Scale Exercises
06:50 - Exercise 1
07:33 - Exercise 2
08:31 - Exercise 3
09:32 - Exercise 4
09:59 - Exercise 5
10:17 - Exercise 6
10:48 - Conclusion

[fe-dor]

Exercises seems simple... and yes - they're bloody simple. And very effective. After two weeks of everyday practice both pillars I found my fingers moving much, much faster. Jonny thank you!

[pureblood]

This is a great exercise to improve dexterity in all fingers and really Loosen any built up tension in the hands. Great stuff Jonny 👍

[QuantumPulse]

Great excercise! I've much improved my thumb flexibility. I can now run the C scale with only 3 fingers, and finally I can play it very fast without hearing a short gap when I switch to the 4-finger part of that scale! Say whatever you want, but the C scale is easy to remember, but quite hard for passing your thumbs smoothly.

Take your time, practice everyday 10 minutes, and only the next day you might realize you improved. I did that for one month, 3 and 4 fingers and both hands.

Also pay attention to your little finger. When I played the thumb I realized my little finger would get tense and rise a little. Focus on that to release the tension. The less tension you have the faster you can play, you'll feel your fingers are gliding over the keys.

[trankil_web]

Thanks a lot Jonny, you make me better at accordeon and piano every day

[soulcraftloops]

Holy cow…. 20 mins of practice and I’m literally seeing results! Thank you Johnny this is invaluable!
One quick question. Is going down with your right, and relatively, up with your left not as important?

[rubenlima]

Thanks for this lesson Jonny. I'm currently learning Ocean from Chopin and this video could not come at a better time !

[KT-hjeq]

Difficult performance is made very easy. This is the kind of teaching I have been looking for. Now I have learned it from you. Thank you Johnny for sharing. Eagerly waiting for your next tutorial

[jarl]

This is a great exercise when you only have a few minutes to sit at the piano. I was actually surprised my thumb was a little sore after doing the 4 finger one. I have noticed good wrist rotation is key for my speed increases. My pinky wants to fly up though. Should I be concerned with that? I always struggle trying to ease tension in my hands. Thank you 🙏

[enochpeter]

I started doing these five days ago, keeping track of metronome settings. I'm improving every day and it's already added some cool solo tools.

[coiladdict]

Thumb dexterity is great, but the key to playing fast is firm fingers. So firm that it is like you have bags full of lead on each finger. This prevents you from missing notes. With dexterity, you can play fast; with firm fingers, you can play fast and loud. If you don't use firm fingers for fast playing, then your playing will sound feathery and have uneven notes at times. This is very important in a piece I am playing called Impromptu No.3 - Franz Schubert; you need firm fingers, otherwise you will often miss notes because of a collapsing finger.

[jogilife]

Danke
Das sind sehr sehr gute Übungen.

[bryanwest]

Thanks for that Jonny, very logical and already affective.

[vaughnjackson]

Oh how I needed this! Thank you very much.

[luzvimindasuficiencia]

Thanks for sharing the exercises, it is a great review for perfect fingering lessons.

[DenCato]

It's amazing to have the internet and people like Jonny sharing their wisdom.

However, one downside is the contradictions you find as well.
I found 2 teachers on Youtube that go against moving the thumb this far under as it causes stress on the hand which restricts speed and accuracy.
They suggested really moving the hand in an arc (rolling motion) as soon as the piece is fast enough you cannot really hear the legato, unly tucking the thumb in very slightly.

I guess there is more than a single method to play piano well ;)

[orchestrainkeys]

Hi Jonny, this is really great advice. But, please also advise us on how to build a good balance and dynamics. For example, how to develop good techniques for playing pieces like Sibelius Etude Op 76 no 2?

[salo]

Hi Jonny. I love your lessons. I have a question about the fingering in another keys when I have to play flats and sharps. Is it the same?

[TheBionemesis]

Amazing!! this is the best content for us, this is very important to fix a lot of problems

[jollylawyer]

Hey Jonny can you learn Tom Brier razor blades. It's a really hard ragtime piece