A tip on the fingertips: syncing thirds and pinkies

[Marc]

Hey, folks…
I was having kinda hard time playing passages from E to low C and A to Ab (a.k.a. G#). In both cases we need to press simultaneously ring and pinky fingers, i.e. D and low C keys (right hand, going from E to C) and with the same fingers of the left hand for pressing G and G# keys for going from A to Ab.
I have the natural tendency to press the ring finger first, so every time I needed to play those passages inevitably a short, slight D before the C or a G before the G# was heard.
After fighting hard with that lack of finger syncronization, I found a technique that helped me a lot and in a matter of days I was finally able press both keys in time.
Use the finger tips instead of the distal phalanx pad of them (dunno if that’s the correct name). To do this, simply bend your ring and pinky fingers over the keys and press them just like you do on a PC keyboard.
It takes some attention to “preset” those fingers in position an instant before playing those passages, but once mastered, the technique seldom fails. At least for me, it was a radical change. Anyway on normal scales or passages I use the standard phalanx pressing.

Hope this helps someone out there…

[Anonymous]

i had the opposite problem recently. I was trying to play ‘fascinating rhythm by Gershwin, and i was using the finger tips and bent fingers, no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t get my fingers to fly in time to the backing track speed, then i discovered if kept my fingers straight and used the bottom sides of the fingers instead of the tips – they were flying. The only problem i’m not used to playing that way. But for the 3rds in your example – that works for me too.

[Anonymous]

When I began to play the sax I discovered how weak my fourth fingers were.
If I rested my wrist on the table with my finger tips touching the table. I found that I could drum quite nicely with my thumbs (1) index (2) and middle fingers (3) even my pinky (5) had some control, but my fourth (4) fingers had no movement at all. Sure I could curl them inwards with some force, but I couldn’t lift them above the table’s surface at all!

I have been practicing lifting and dropping my fingers to drum on the table with various patterns like 1,2,3,4,5 and 1,3,2,4,5 etc. and now I can raise them (4) about 10mm. Having precise control of the individual fingers is imperative to playing fast and accurately. You will notice that when trying to move these fourth (4) fingers, adjacent fingers will also move with them. The trick is to practice so that individual fingers only move when you want them to.

This form of practice can be done anytime during the day. All one requires is a flat surface to rest your wrist on.
You will see that your hands fatigue quite quickly in the beginning.

[Anonymous]

You can reduce a lot of fatigue by playing with relaxed fingers, tense fingers tire very quickly, same thing applies to embouchures

[Author]

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