Alfred's Adult Piano Lesson 9

Level 1 - Left Hand C Position

Alfred's Adult Piano Lesson 9 will help guide you if you're learning from Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course, Book 1. It's free for your personal use only.

By far the most popular adult method in the US, the All-in-One Course covers music reading, theory, technique, and all kinds of different styles of music, including blues and jazz.

All the free lessons I've done so far can be found here.

Want the lesson books? You can get them here:

Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course - Level 1 (Book/CD) Written by Amanda Vick Lethco, Morton Manus, Willard A. Palmer. Instructional book (spiral bound) and accompaniment CD for piano. Series: Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course. 144 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.5756) See more info...

Now you've got some practice in the right hand and worked on the treble clef and learning the five notes of C position. Time to switch hands!

Find the first C below middle C (to the left) and put your left hand pinky there. Now put down one finger on each key.

This will feel different, and likely strange, to you. We are used to our thumbs being the dominant finger, and with your left hand, your pinky will have more work to do!

Practice playing each finger, up and down. C - D - E - F - G, G - F - E - D - C.

Notice how some fingers are stronger than others? (This whole hand might feel weaker and less coordinated, especially if you're right-handed.

Work on playing each of your fingers evenly, at the same level of loudness. Try not to move your whole hand, but focus on each finger.

The bass staff, like the treble staff, is made up of five lines and four spaces. However, you'll notice a different clef at the beginning: the bass clef.

This clef is also called the F clef, because the two dots surround the F line. That can be your first piece to memorize, and will give you help in remembering where the other notes are!

Practice playing up and down, C to G, and saying the note names out loud while looking at the notes on the staff. You can do the same with your finger numbers.

This is basically a written version of what you've already been doing, if you've followed my instructions above!

If I haven't convinced you yet that talking while you play is important - let me just say it again.

We learn anything by time and regular repetition. (That's why every-day piano practice is more effective than once-per-week piano practice, even if the overall amount of time is the same.)

But our senses play an enormous role in the learning process, and you definitely want to use that to your advantage in learning piano.

Studies have shown that our own voices are even more helpful in teaching than someone else's voice. So speaking note names, finger numbers, or other instructions out loud to yourself is literally one of the most effective things you can do to speed up your learning!

So forget feeling silly about it - just look at it as a normal part of learning to play, and just do it!

One more note...

On the bottom of this page, there's a little theory note that's easy to miss. It explains why the stems of some music notes go up, and some go down.

If a note is below the middle line of the staff, the stems of notes point up. If a note is on or above the middle line of the staff, the stem points down. Makes sense!

Enjoy learning the left hand!

Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course - Christmas Hits (Level 1) Edited by E. L. Lancaster and Morton Manus. For piano and voice. Method/Instruction; Piano - Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Christmas. Difficulty: easy-medium. Songbook. Easy piano notation, fingerings, lyrics and introductory text. 31 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.17108) ...more info

Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course - All-Time Favorites (Level 1) (52 Titles to Play and Sing). Arranged by Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, and Dennis Alexander. For easy piano and voice. Method/Instruction; Piano - Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Classical and Folk. Difficulty: easy-medium. Collection. Easy piano notation, fingerings and lyrics (on some songs). 96 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.3079) ...more info

Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course - Pop Song Book (Level 1) For piano and voice. Method/Instruction; Piano - Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Alfred"s Basic Adult Piano Course. Pop and Instructional. Beginner. Songbook. Vocal melody, lyrics and introductory text. 32 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.2463) ...more info

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