Bill, I'm in agreement with many of the comments here. First, I do find that with practice of a particular piece, the independence naturally improves. But, when starting on something unfamiliar, that old bugaboo is back. The table top exercise sounds counterintuitive at first, but it's very sound advice (pun intended). I find that I can keep almost any rhythm and beat when driving, for instance, and a familiar song comes on the radio or CD. I don't even think about it. My fingers tap out a beat without a problem. But, when I try your suggested exercises on the table top, I can almost feel my brain straining to come to grips with it. Eventually, however, I find that I'm able to begin replicating what happens when driving. It's when that finger strumming gets on auto-pilot, that I know I'm approaching my driving experience. That's the same auto-pilot experience I want at the piano. I've also heard, either from one of your earlier vids, or elsewhere, the importance of starting slowly, which you mentioned in this video. A metronome, or metronome app is invaluable. I start at around 60 BPM, and work at it until the fingers are working the pattern flawlessly. I know when it's time to move to 70 BPM, for instance, when I begin got get ahead of the 60. Then, when 70 feels like it's under my fingers, I move to 80 BPM, and so forth. This might be spread over a day, or two. However, spreading out the practices, as you've suggested....short, but frequent...and adhering to the metronome, seems to have speeded up this independence process for me, even if I have to come back to it for a refresher, now and then. Good one!! Lon

Hi Bill, I am watching your videos for 4 years already. Thank you very much for the great content!

Thank you Bill. This is not dissimilar, for me, to your podcast that went with your book. Read the book and replay the information in the podcast, over two days but in smaller revisions.

Thank you for this. In the beginning you pointed out exactly the problem I run into every single time when learning a piece: Because I learned each hand separately, my brain has developed a habit of playing only one hand at a time. So when I try to put things together, it’s really, really hard to break that habit. These “both hands together” exercises are essentially learning a piece with both hands first, as opposed to learning each hand separately. And while the hand separation exercise in itself is a skill that transfers to any piece one is trying to learn, I’m wondering why we wouldn’t learn a new piece with both hands together first, avoiding creating the habit of playing each hand separately, which is a hard habit to break. I wonder if at first progress may be slow, as in one might not cover as much ground in a given amount of time, but at least you’re getting your brain used to learning the piece with both hands together right away, which is ultimately the goal anyway. So maybe you won’t gain in time, but you’ll gain in avoiding having to relearn the piece again this time with both hands together. What are your thoughts on this? Everyone I know, my past teachers, fellow piano players, myself included, we were all taught to learn each hand separately first. But is this actually a non-optimal approach?

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

The short answer is that I think it's difficult. The old argument for separate hands practice is that you can get things semi-memorised in one hand (usually the left) to free up mental processing power to focus on the other (usually the right). Now, in some contexts that can be very handy: so, for example, I think it can be a good approach for beginners, who are still learning to read each clef. I also find it handy if, for example, I'm trying to play an improvisation with a complex left hand part (say, a stride pattern). However, the downside is that you're essentially training your brain and body to fulfil a specific task (to play such-and-such a thing in either L or R hand) but the ACTUAL task you're aiming for involves playing with two hands... which is very different. I do, therefore, think there's something to be said for going with two hands from the start, even though - as you say - it means very slow going to start with. Starting with hands together is certainly the norm for more experienced player (who tend to be better sight-readers) and if I'm learning a piece from score I'll typically only practise one hand at a time if there's a really awkward short section or individual movement that needs nailing down. Like I said, though, I think as an approach it does have value for beginners, if only because it prevents absolute brain overload - though it comes at the cost of difficulty when it's time to put the hands together. Does that make sense?

Thanks so much…being an older person I found this extremely encouraging and practical.

Even just for single hand stuff, I love the advice on tabletop practice. I just tried the thirds exercise on my desktop, and I had to concentrate *much* harder than I normally do practicing on piano, and it felt much more effective as a result (I have quite a good "ear" for when I make mistakes, but I'd never realised this wasn't necessarily a good thing!) Now I just have to make it into a habit 🙂Thanks for the video!

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome! It's surprisingly challenging, isn't it? I spend three quarters of my time on here urging people to listen to themselves (because the classic thing on the piano is to focus on "pressing the right buttons" and zone out of the actual sound you're making) but sometimes it is just good to focus purely on the movement,

This is great advice. I just tried the first patterns on my table, and it really made me think. I'm going to try it on my keys tomorrow.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful Kim!

Genius! Thanks Bill.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome Karen!

Wow that's so cool! Thx. I can't do the left hand, let alone play with both hands. I already struggled as a little kid. What I chose to learn instead was violoncello. Finally I found sth I could do.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, Ulrike - glad it's helpful!

Wow I love these exercises Bill, the first one showed me how weak my pinky and ring fingers really are , these are part of my daily several visits to my piano ,😀thank you .

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Patricia - glad you liked them 👍 You'll probably also like the next tutorial, which should be live later this week (w/c 3 Jul). It's the first instalment of my Exercises, Inventions and Ideas project, and it has several bits and pieces in it that follow this line of thinking.

👉Revolutionise your music skills with my new book, How To Be A Better Musician: www.bettermusicianbook.com 👉Improve your piano skills with my great value Piano Packs and 3 Ebook Bundle deal: www.billspianopages.com/pianopacks www.billspianopages.com/bundle 👉Join my Patreon community - we're a very friendly bunch of piano learners! www.patreon.com/billhilton

I use some note reading trainer, ear trainer and rhythm trainer apps like this. i really feel a noticable difference, when I get them out multiple times a day. just like you've said when I'm on the tram for example. it makes a big difference.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Funnily enough it was exactly the way I improved my ear ability a few years ago: I noticed I was struggling with harder sight singing in my choir, so I used the mobile version of Auralia, and every time I was out and about somewhere or had a couple of spare minutes, I did a few exercises. It made a huge difference.

@shaunreich

Жыл бұрын

I do the same. I'll even look at a song I'm going to learn, check out the hard rhythms, practice it while in the grocery line. Then whenever I start learning the song itself I've already got the rhythms internalized. Now my rhythm ability and reading is far above my other skills. Which isn't a bad thing, means the method books are more focused on teaching me other concepts while I've got the main ones already down. I did the same with a note reading app, every day for a year. Now I can read several notes above and below both clefs, in different keys, rather easily. Ear training is my hard part though, and it's not as exciting for me as notes and rhythm...I guess I can't find the actual application to it as well... And I kinda figured more of it would come naturally as my other skills develop and it would not be as terribly hard and unfocused

And so I bought your book 🙂

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, Lars! I really hope you like it, and do let me know if you have any questions or want help with/feedback on any of the exercises.

I learn with the right hand first. Then once I have it down, then the left, it is definitely easier for me than doing both at the same time, it is just too much to take in all at once.

I vave been doing these types of exercises to good effect based on previous information in your excellent videos. The problem I have is playing different timing in the right and left hands. For example, if playing a shuffle rhythm in the left hand with swinging 1/8th notes, I have great difficulty in doing straight 1/8 or quarter notes in the right hand. Any suggestions? Also, I think your viewers would greatly benefit from a video addressing this problem. Thanks.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

I *very* clearly remember trying to learn the shuffle left/straight right when I was a teenager, and it drove me nuts for quite some time - it's actually a really hard independence challenge. As you may know, it's slightly easier if you triplet the eighths in the left (so there are twelve in a measure of 4/4) but even that's not super-easy. You can do it on your knees, though, so it might be a good candidate for this kind of very-little-very-often approach (I realise, though, that the hardest bit is just getting going with it in the first place: for that I can't think of anything off the top of my head except "keep trying". I'll ponder, though, and get back to you...).

@michaelleskin3117

Жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton Bill, really appreciate the reply. I think I may try some tapping exercises away from the piano and aim for different timings in the right vs a swing rhythm in the left. Once (if) I get that, I'll transfer it to the piano. If successful, I'll let you know.

Okay so I was looking at your piano course and it’s cool but a little bit more beginner then I am . I essentially grew up playing music. I play bass in a band . I am fluent on treble clef from saxophone from my school days . I know basic music theory but wanted to build piano chops and skills outside of basic chords. Any advice on where the hell to start 🤣

@JustMe-999a

9 ай бұрын

Why not just do the beginner course and move through it more quickly? Are you able to do lesson 20 right now? Playing the bass or sax isn't going to give you some magical ability to play the piano.

@mastermachetier5594

9 ай бұрын

@@JustMe-999a Ya I guess I could do that. Its just I find it hard to engage when its going over the basic basics :)

This may sound a tad silly but could I apply this to 5/10 minute chunks for say 1hr or so of practice at this specific technique to sort of leap frog my playing?

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Potentially, yes - as long as you're mixing it in with other things. As with anything, any sort of "(relatively) little and often" approach is usually going to deliver the best results!

My hand independence is reasonably good but where I do struggle is when I want to play a repeating chord progression in my left hand and improvise with my right. I can't get my left hand to work on autopilot. I'm practising by playing a walking bass line - C Bb Ab G - to a drum beat at 60BPM while improvising with the C Blues scale. I noticed a small amount of improvement but then it stopped. Will these exercises help with that do you think? Another good exercise people may want to add to this is to go around the circle of 5ths playing a different scale in each hand at the same time. So play C in the right hand, F in the left (Up and down 2 octaves) then Bb in the left and F in the right and just keep going around the circle. For a beginner it's quite hard but I'm convinced it helped me when I was more of a beginner than I am now. Give it a try. Use a metronome and increase by 5-10 BPM once it stops being hard at a given BPM. Cheers for another well thought-out video Bill. Your books are great BTW!! :)

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome, Col, and thanks! Yes, these are exactly the kind of exercises that ought to help with that kind of problem - though you might want to have a go at trying the specific thing you're struggling with on a table top (nobody's knees are wide enough for jazz 🤣). Take it slow at first, and you might find the extra little bit of challenge improves the coordination when you get back to the piano. BTW that's a very good exercises: I might borrow that for a video at some point if you don't mind (with due credit given, of course!)

@coloaten6682

Жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton Thanks Bill, I'll give those exercises a go. :) Help yourself with those exercises, I really think they are useful!

Can we buy your book on Amazon?

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Sorry for the delay in replying to this! How To Be A Better Musician isn't on Amazon yet, but that will change when I get the print edition released later this year - right now I'm aiming for August, so keep an eye out for it!

Hi Bill. I want to donate, but would rather not do a subscription based option. Do I have the ability to send a one time donation? thanks for everything

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

I really appreciate that, Kevin - thanks very much indeed! The easiest way to do that is to buy one of my ebooks (because that sorts out the issue of sales tax...) but if you want to donate an amount that isn't the same as the cost of one of the ebooks, drop me an email at billhiltonmedia at gmail dot com and I'll set up a custom payment link for you. Once again, I really appreciate the thought - thank you!

Brilliant exercises, but you should have stressed to do them legato. I had to stop going out in public in shorts with the bruises on my knees from doing this for too long.

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

🤣

Early March 31

I'm 12 and doing good but how dare you say our brains are “plastic” I'm offended!!!😲😯😯😯 Just kidding I understand!!!🤪🤪 BTW I have some self-discipline!

Yes, children are better at passive learning, but I think by "just practicing" an adult learner will still be intentionally learning hand independence

@shaunreich

Жыл бұрын

Sure, but practice needs to be isolated generally. Especially when looking at technique and stuff. And a lot of times rhythm is the last thing to add because of how much cognitive loaded it needs. Can only learn so much at a time and the biggest musical learning tool is the ability to break a task down into smaller ones until you can master that, and build. Or maybe I misunderstood you