How to Play Piano With Both Hands
To play piano with both hands, learn each hand on its own first, then put them together very slowly, one beat at a time. Start with pieces where the left hand holds one note while the right hand plays the tune, then move on to hands moving together and apart. Practise in short sections, count out loud, and speed up only when it feels easy.
Works in the UK and the US. This version uses UK music words (bar, crotchet, stave); the US version uses measure, quarter note and staff. · US version of this page
Updated · By the Classfern Music Department
Key facts
- The right hand usually plays the tune (treble clef); the left hand plays the bass (bass clef).
- Finger numbers are the same in both hands: 1 is the thumb, 5 the little finger.
- Three kinds of hand movement to learn: one hand still, both hands the same way (parallel motion), and hands moving apart (contrary motion).
- Practise hands together at about half the speed you can play each hand alone.
- Work in chunks of one or two bars, then join the chunks.
- Seven step-by-step exercises on this page use only traditional tunes and Beethoven (1824), which are public domain.
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Seven steps to playing hands together
Each step loads into the falling-notes piano. The right hand is green and the left hand orange. Use Hands to practise one hand while the computer plays the other, then switch to both.
Step 1: right hand alone – Hot Cross Buns
Learn the tune with the right hand alone, saying the finger numbers: E is finger 3, D finger 2, C finger 1.
Right hand: E4 D4 C4 E4 D4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 D4 D4 D4 D4 E4 D4 C4
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 2: left hand alone – the bass notes
Now the left hand alone: C with finger 1 (the thumb) and the G below it with finger 5. Try it with your eyes on the music, not your hands.
Left hand: C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 G2 C3
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 3: both hands, same notes an octave apart
Both hands play the same notes an octave apart, with the same finger numbers mirrored (right thumb on C, left little finger on C).
Right hand: C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 G4 F4 E4 D4 C4
Left hand: C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 G3 F3 E3 D3 C3
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 4: contrary motion – hands move apart and back
Both thumbs start on a C and the hands move away from each other, then back. Each hand uses fingers 1 2 3 4 5, so the finger numbers match.
Right hand: C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 G4 F4 E4 D4 C4
Left hand: C3 B2 A2 G2 F2 F2 G2 A2 B2 C3
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 5: tune and held bass note – Hot Cross Buns
The tune in the right hand over one held note in the left. Press the left-hand note, hold it, and play the tune above it.
Right hand: E4 D4 C4 E4 D4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 D4 D4 D4 D4 E4 D4 C4
Left hand: C3 C3 C3 G2 C3
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 6: changing bass notes – Mary Had a Little Lamb
The left hand changes between C and G while the right hand plays the tune. Practise just the change (bar 2 to 3) first.
Right hand: E4 D4 C4 D4 E4 E4 E4 D4 D4 D4 E4 G4 G4 E4 D4 C4 D4 E4 E4 E4 E4 D4 D4 E4 D4 C4
Left hand: C3 C3 G2 C3 C3 C3 G2 C3
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
Step 7: Ode to Joy with a moving bass
Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (1824), the falling-notes piano’s own easy version, with a left hand that moves under the tune.
Partly marked Wait mode counts the right notes; you judge how even and relaxed it feels.
How do you play piano with both hands?
Learn each hand separately until it is easy, then play both very slowly, one bar at a time, counting out loud. Start with a still left hand, then parallel motion, then contrary motion, and speed up only when it is comfortable.
- Play the right hand alone three times without a mistake.
- Play the left hand alone three times without a mistake.
- Set the speed to 50% and play hands together for one bar only.
- Look for the moments where the hands play at the same time. Those are your “meeting points”: aim for them.
- Add the next chunk, then join the two chunks.
- Use wait mode: the music stops until both hands have played the right keys.
- Speed up 5–10% at a time.
How do I get hand independence on the piano?
Hand independence comes from slow, repeated practice of one hand moving while the other holds or repeats a simple pattern. Start with a held left-hand note, then a changing bass note, then a moving bass line.
Steps 5, 6 and 7 above are in exactly that order. A good extra exercise: tap a steady beat on your knee with the left hand while the right hand plays a tune. When that is easy, swap hands. Hand independence keeps growing for as long as you play, so expect it to feel awkward at first.
Should I learn hands separately or together first?
Learn hands separately first, but only until each hand is secure, then put them together straight away at a slow speed. Staying hands separately for too long can make joining them harder.
For very short, easy pieces (like step 3) many teachers start hands together from the beginning. For anything longer, use the “separate, then together” method chunk by chunk.
Why is it so hard to play piano with two hands?
Because your brain has to control two different patterns at once, and it is used to both hands doing the same thing. It gets easier with slow, daily practice, as each hand’s part becomes automatic.
Common fixes: slow down more than you think, count out loud, look at the music rather than your hands, and practise the hardest bar first. If one hand keeps copying the other, go back to that hand alone for a minute.
A 10-minute both-hands routine
| Minutes | What to do |
|---|---|
| 0–2 | Five-finger warm-up, each hand, then together |
| 2–5 | Right hand alone, then left hand alone, of today’s piece |
| 5–9 | Hands together, one or two bars at a time, at 50% speed |
| 9–10 | Play the whole piece once, slowly, without stopping |
Classfern’s free falling-notes piano on lessonplanner.info runs in your browser, so you can practise at home or in class without an account. For the next step, open the falling-notes piano and its free tune library or try our piano technique and trill exercises.
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