Bach's Little Preludes, Prelude No. 1

[kevinpiano]

Hello everyone! I don't have a piano teacher at the moment, so if you don't mind, I have a few questions about which fingers to use in measures 3 and 4 in the bass. In measure 3, which finger would you use for A? 3 or 4? Also, in measure 4, which finger would you use for E? 5 or 4? I hope you don't mind me asking these sorts of questions from time to time! I will find a teacher soon. Thanks!

[pianocat3]

Hopefully you will get a good answer, but in general you can look for scores with fingering suggestions.

[adodd81802]

Hello Kevin,

Here's my honest question, does it matter?

Do we know the exact span of your hands, the length of your fingers, a comfortable reach and the weight of your keys on your piano?

Fingerings are often indicated when those are the necessary fingerings, whether it's for a particular skill like an Etude, or if it's required to create an intended sound.

Even then we can often get away with using alternatives that work for us, especially as with some publishers, some impractical methods have been applied when offering the fingering advice.

My honest answer is try both. See what works, you must use common sense and logic for these questions as you may not always have somebody on hand to offer advice.

However, this is a forum offering advice and so here's what I would do however for your reference;


Looking at the A in measure 3, the following note is a B correct? Underneath you can see the annotation which indicates that B should be played with finger 3 to then play the ornament of notes. Logic dictates then that you should play the A with 4.

Looking at the E on the 4th measure, the following note is an F# which it suggests playing with the 3rd. Now consider playing 4E 3F# the stretch over 1.5 semitones may be just a TAD uncomfortable for those with smaller fingers, especially trying to smoothly move between the white note regiser and the black note register with two long fingers - without over curling of fingers or wrists.

As the pinky finger is smaller it is often ideal to play in the white-key register when you are moving onto a black note which can be played with a longer finger - it's more efficient, the gap between 5-3 on the E-F# is probably more comfortable AS would be using that same 5 coming from the C before hand.

If I have misunderstood your question, please let me know. What I will say is the music you are working from in this instance looks HEAVILY notated, and so again I would reiterate the fingering probably isn't indicated on those particular notes because common sense should work out the logical fingers for you.

It will come with practice, and i've played some pieces for months before realizing a change in just one section will have a knock affect for the rest which greatly improves the performance.

Good luck.