beginner question - pedaling?

[italk2planes]

Concerning overlapping pedal

What is the timing of it supposed to be?  Are you supposed to get the pedal down just after you hit the corresponding note/chord? My pedaling is causing mushy sounds.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

[ranniks]

Experiment? Try to hear the different ways the keys sound when you hold, release and hold the pedal again in that sequence. Play a c-scale (basically all the white keys) and release the pedal at every 3d note and push it back in the very next one. Like this:

c hold
d
e release
f hold
g
a release
b
c hold

Etc. The easier part of Fur Elise is perfect for learning how to pedal. The easy part is doable for anyone, doesn't really matter how long you've played the piano for. You won't be able to play it concert-level, but then again, how many of us actually can?

Tutorial:

I learned the easy part from the sheet, but if you're a beginner, sheet reading might be difficult.

[ranniks]

If the video is too difficult to follow, just say so. Always glad to help.

[hfmadopter]

Depends on the overlap. If it's for every note or two, or instead, for one passage to the next. Think of it as breathing on the pedal with your foot in the first case and lightly at that. In the later instance I look at that the other way around, when to let off the pedal. Either way generally has a pulse and becomes a kind of pumping action onto or off of the pedal. In time it becomes automatic.

On acoustic pianos I use a very light foot on the pedal, I don't depress it very far. On my digital I usually cram it to the floor if there is a lot of pedal in the piece. Two completely different approaches. My grand would ring into the next county if I used the pedal like I do on the digital.

Ranniks mentioned Fur Elise. Fur Elise is the very first piece I learned to feather the pedal on, ever so slight brief touches of pedal, almost non existent. From there I learned to adjust pedal usage for certain passages. I used the most on the cascading/decending scale near the end but, I believe, even then it was not full pedal I used.