4 Brilliant Piano Exercises For Strengthening Your Left Hand

The left-hand or bass-hand piano technique is arguably one of the hardest techniques to master according to many pianists of all levels! Nonetheless, this does not make it impossible for you to achieve your passion in the music industry.

While the right hand is mostly playing the Chords and Melodies but why is the left hand considered a hard technique to learn? Obviously, due to the requirement of both hands coordination, in most cases, the right and left hands have different notes and rhythms – this makes it daunting for beginners and newbies.

The extra challenge some people face is the fact that one hand tends to be predominantly stronger than the other, which makes it difficult to take on tunes that require a fast pattern and transition. Additionally, for the majority – the left hand is the weaker one.

Sounds like mission impossible? Not. At. All because the best thing about learning a piano and, anything else per se is that constant practice and patience make you better. It may take plenty of time and lessons – encompassed with frequent exercise – but the result is worthwhile.

Now, let’s get cracking and see how you can make your basic piano lessons a whole lot easier with just a couple of piano exercises!

Four Easy Left-Hand Exercises

1. The Classical Pattern

The classical left-hand pattern is the basic and perfect workout for your left hand; which is also a great routine if you’re planning to specialize in classical music; and it’s excellent for toughening your little pinky finger.

This exercise is really focussed on your pinky. First, you’ve got to start your pinky with the key of C, afterwards, start to play the chord E-G, and use the pinky once more to move towards to the low G.

This pattern isn’t just suitable for classical pieces – you can easily employ this skill in different types and genres of music, hence, the basic left-hand pattern.

the left-hand classical piano pattern exercise

the left-hand easy blues piano pattern exercise

2. The Easy Blues Pattern

This left-hand pattern – 1-3-4-6-5 – is well-recognized in various blues and jazz piano pieces.

Practically a match made in heaven – this wonderful combination is lovely to listen to and creates perfect harmonization when joined together.

Or if you’re a big fan of oldies – this type of pattern has been seen in rock music during the early days.

Meanwhile, for the other remaining left-hand exercises – it’s best that you attempt this in the keys which you’re comfortable with. For example, if you start in C – C-E-F-A-G – are the notes you have to press with the left-hand fingers.

3. The Simple Blues Pattern

Again, this is another great pattern coming from the blues genre. It is an ideal pattern to use when practicing scales and arpeggios using your left hand.

You can start with the ‘C’ key and progress to 1-3-5-6-b7 (C-E-G-A-Bb). Once you have mastered these keys – you can get down to trying other keys too so that you create the perfect blues blend!

One example of another pattern of keys you can try out after mastering the former is 1-4-5-4-1 (C-F-G-F-C). This will give you more confidence to improvise other patterns.

the left-hand simple blues piano pattern exercise

the left-hand blues chords piano pattern exercise

4. The Blues Chords

As you’ve noticed that the Blues genre is basically the best music to strengthen your left-hand technique due to its simplicity and note progressions. In this Blue Chords technique, you will still use the 1-4-5-4-1 (C-F-G-F-C) pattern for the initial exercise but you will play them as triads.

Looking at the ‘C’ key, you will need to start with the root and then the 1-4-6 (C-F-A) pattern. Lastly, you will take on the 1-5-flat-7 (C-G-Bb) model. This type of chord progression is typical in most jazz, musical theatre, blues, and country music.

Use this exercise to work your way around chords and power up your tiny fingers!

Conclusion

Always remember that both your left and right hands are equally important. Without fully strengthening either – your piece won’t be played out the way you want it to. Especially if it’s your child who’s showing a keen interest – get them to start with the basics by joining piano classes for kids first. That way, they can master the musical instrument completely.

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4 Brilliant Piano Exercises For Strengthening Your Left Hand