Tips for playing/practicing fast tempo songs?

[cantabile83]

I've always had trouble in playing a fast tempo song, one of the reasons was due to my weak fingers. I've tried to strengthen my fingers by practicing scales & do some simple fingers exercise such as squeezing the stress ball, but it didn't really help. Can anyone share some tips?

Apart from strengthening the fingers, any other matters that I need to take note while playing a fast tempo song?

Your kind sharing is much appreciated, thanks!

[jimbo320]

Try playing scales starting out using heavy finger pressure and ever so slowly. Steadily speed up but slowly. The faster you play begin to use normal pressure. This should help...

[larapool]

Playing very, very slowly with heavy finger pressure is absolutely the way to go -- for every piece, no matter the tempo.  Practice very hard one day this way and you'll be shocked at how much improvement you'll have made when you return to it the next day.  Muscle memory is an amazing thing.   

[megadodd]

Playing a fast piece requires a slow, relaxed and focused practice basically.
Or practice backwards, every note in tempo.
For example, a C major scale.
H-C play it in tempo untill you got that perfect, then A-H-C, untill that's perfect, then G-A-H-C untill that's perfect and in tempo, and so on.

[pianowolfi]

For playing fast every approach that focuses on "finger strength" "heavy pressure" "very hard", squeezing stress balls etc is just plainly wrong and counterproductive, as it suggests that you need to make efforts, more efforts, and again more efforts, train your muscles until they are hard, torture your fingers until they are strong, very strong and independent.

Forget it. Think of your health.

Speed comes from release and let go. You have to learn to fly with your fingers. You have to learn the appropriate movements. These will result from a very subtle and playful cooperation of your musical imagination with your fingers, arm, wrist and everything else that belongs to your playing apparatus.

Yes you should practice slowly! But not with an emphasis on strength but on precision and lightness.

[rmbarbosa]

Pianowolfi is right. I must say that finger strenght is "enemy" of speed. You may wish to read the "fundamentals of piano practice" by C.C.Chang (free download). Play slow and forte is good for memorising but doesnt give you speed. For speed, use P.S. as they are presented in this book.
Best wishes.
Rui

[trhmusic]

As a teacher I have helped several of my students with this same problem.
Practice in small sections (maybe 2-4 measures) at a slow comfortable tempo. Focus on the precision and clarity of each note. Try to memorize it and play it to your satisfaction before speeding up. Once you have memorized it and feel like you have kept the precision and clarity, speed it up by a small fraction, maybe 4-8 bpm. Repeat the same process until you reach your desired speed.

Note: Memorizing does not mean you can just play it without looking at your music. I consider memorizing to be when you can see the sheet music clearly in your mind as you are playing.

www.trhmusic.org

[cantabile83]

Wow....thanks everyone for your kind sharing & tips!!! I'll give it a try 

[cjp_piano]

For playing fast every approach that focuses on "finger strength" "heavy pressure" "very hard", squeezing stress balls etc is just plainly wrong and counterproductive, as it suggests that you need to make efforts, more efforts, and again more efforts, train your muscles until they are hard, torture your fingers until they are strong, very strong and independent.

Forget it. Think of your health.

Speed comes from release and let go. You have to learn to fly with your fingers. You have to learn the appropriate movements. These will result from a very subtle and playful cooperation of your musical imagination with your fingers, arm, wrist and everything else that belongs to your playing apparatus.

Yes you should practice slowly! But not with an emphasis on strength but on precision and lightness.

This is good advice. I would agree, the answer to playing fast is not to play slow and heavy, duh!

Cantabile83:  It's hard to say exactly how to help you without actually seeing you play in person. Most students I've come in contact with who have a hard time with fast playing, it's because they have too much tension somewhere in their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, etc. Take pianowolfi's advice: release and let go!