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[pies]

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[lufia]

learn more pieces with fingering and it should come naturaly. choose fingerings that are efficient. scales could help you pick the right fingering but i never touched them.

[Floristan]

Fingering is individual.  It all depends on the size of your hand and fingers - and what it takes to keep your hand relaxed.  Lufia's right about scales.  If you learn scales with proper fingering, that answers a lot of fingering problems in pieces. 

I've never found a piece where the fingering the editor puts in is the fingering that is most comfortable for me.  One of the first things I do with a new piece is to figure out the fingering that works for me.  Usually it's some combination of what the editor suggests and what I prefer.  The fingering numbers are all too small anyhow, so writing my own in nice and big works better for me.

Also, editors almost never repeat fingering.  If a figure repeats and it's already had fingering, it doesn't reappear.  Makes sense in terms of keeping a clean page, but it's a pain for sight reading.

[alzado]

One thing that is very important.  Before you go too far on a piece, settle on ONE FINGERING and use that.    Pencil the notations into your music.

One great impediment is to keep using different fingerings as you play the piece multiple times.  You will get to the point you will keep making mistakes and you will never get the piece right.

Even if your preferred fingering is not everyone's ideal, if it works and if you DO IT THE SAME EVERY TIME, you will be fine.

If you have a teacher, she can explain to you if the fingering you have chosen is poor.  Like, will impede the smoothness or flow of the piece.  She does that for me.  Usually, she accepts what I worked out.

[bernhard]

I've always heard the 'fingering is highly personal' statement around here. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Whenever I learn a section that does not having noted fingerings, I always fiddle around with every possible fingering. I cannot find the perfect one. I'm not sure which is the most comfortable/efficient. This is extremely frustrating. Every piece should have fingering notations for absolutely every note.
Sorry, I had to vent.

I completley agree with Alzado above.

Finding the best fingering that will suit your physicality at an optimum comes with experience.

You can have a look here for tips and worked out examples on how to figure out fingerings:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2458.msg21365.html#msg21365
(Mental practice – tips for fingering)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4123.msg37829.html#msg37829
(How to investigate the best movement pattern: Example Scarlatti sonata K70 – How to work out the best fingering. Example: CPE Bach Allegro in A – Slow x slow motion practice – HS x HT – practising for only 5 – 10 minutes)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2619.msg22756.html#msg22756
(unorthodox fingering for all major and minor scales plus an explanation)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4957.msg47444.html#msg47444
(Chopin Op. 10  no. 9 – discussion of fingering and description of movement)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5090.msg48850.html#msg48850
(How to  figure out fingering for Chopin Op. 25 no. 11)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3267.msg28857.html#msg28857
(Chopin Op. 9 no.2 – fingering and LH movement)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5055.msg48120.html#msg48120
(fingering for Bach’s sinfonia no. 9)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2934.msg25714.html#msg25714
(fingerings for Debussy’s Dr. gradus)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5354.msg50995.html#msg50995
(fingering for Grieg’s Arietta)


Sometimes it is indeed very useful to have a score with suggested fingerings. But you should not be afraid of changing them if you find them unsuitable to produce easy and effortless playing.

What Alzado said above is the truly important point. Read and reread it. In fact I consider this such an important point that I tend to paraphrase Bach famous quote:

“Playing the keyboard is simple: just play the right note at the right time with the right fingering and the instrument plays itself.”

When learning a new piece, I always right down every fingering and I put as much effort in memorising the fingering as in memorising the notes (in fact one will help the other – there is nothing that works more against faultless memorising than constantly changing some aspect of what you are trying to memorise).

Best wishes.
Bernhard.