Piano Fingering For Beginner Jazz Standards

General Discussion
1

Hi,
It would be very helpful to have the finger numbers (fingering) indicated on the lead sheets. This is one of the things that beginners struggle with.

Thanks!
Frederick

2

Hi @frederick-campbell :wave:

Welcome to the PianoGroove community and thanks for this suggestion.

We donā€™t include the fingering on lead sheets, but we can add the fingering to some of our beginner PDF notation documents which I think would be useful for you.

Coincidentally, I have just finished notating some beginner PDF files - a handful are attached below - and I think it would be better to add the fingerings to these documents:

These PDFs have been added to the lessons in our ā€œLead Sheet Fundamentals Learning Pathā€. There are 27 of these beginner PDFs in total which cover the 9 jazz standards included in this learning path.

Each PDF covers an 8-bar section of the tune (A Section, B Section, etcā€¦) to make them laser focused and easy-to-follow.

Please let me know what you think to adding the fingering to these documents.

Lead Sheets & Fingerings

On a related note, I donā€™t think I have ever seen a jazz lead sheet with fingerings.

This is because the fingering can change depending on how we play the melody (especially when adding ornamentations and embellishments) and perhaps more importantly, the type of chord voicings we play will often change the fingerings of the melody notes.

For this reason I wouldnā€™t recommend adding fingering numbers to a lead sheet, as the lead sheet layout is designed to be minimal in information so that it can be freely interpreted.

However, I do appreciate that it would be helpful to have the fingerings on the beginner documents above which cover 3-note spread voicings. We currently have these PDFs for the following tunes:

  • Moon River
  • Autumn Leaves
  • Fly Me To The Moon
  • My Foolish Heart
  • Misty
  • In A Sentimental Mood
  • Over The Rainbow
  • Tenderly
  • Body & Soul

Just to confirm, do you only want the right hand melody fingering? Or also the 2-handed fingering for the 3-note voicings section? I think we should do both.

For the triad and 7th chord sections I donā€™t think fingering is necessary as we would never use these root position voicings in performance - they are just included for education purposes to help students visualise the foundations of the harmony.

Cheers,
Hayden

3

Hi Hayden,
Thanks a lot for updating the lead sheets! Letā€™s try 2 or 3 lead sheets with the fingerings and see if it helps. Both hands.

Cheers,
Frederick

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4

Hi, I am completely in favor of adding the fingering to ALL the ones you listed. I am right now musing over the fingering for Moon River beginner lesson!

Thanks!

5

Hey @frederick-campbell and @nivaldofernandes

Rodger that - thanks for the feedback.

I will add the fingerings to these documents and re-upload them in this thread for your feedback.

To confirm, we will only do this for the 2-handed notation of spread voicings such as the below example for Moon River. I have added the fingerings in red:

Moon River - A Section with Fingerings
Moon River - A Section with Fingerings1678Ɨ1094 71.1 KB

Please confirm you are both happy with this style of fingerings and I will do this for all 27 PDF files in the Lead Sheet Fundamentals Learning Path.

Cheers,
Hayden

6

Wonderful, Hayden. I am more than happyā€¦this is a great reference for us beginners. I really appreciate your dedication!

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7

Hi Hayden,

Yes, this would be of great help. Please add to all 27 PDF files.

Greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Frederick

1 Like
8

Yes, got it guys.

I have just sent an email to our transcriber who created these PDF files.

I have asked him to add the fingerings in the ā€œspread voicingsā€ section for all 25 PDF files.

His turnaround time is usually pretty quick. Iā€™ll post an update here when I hear back from him.

Thanks for suggesting these improvementsā€¦ Iā€™m sure it will also help other beginner students too. If you have any other suggestions to improve the lessons or PDF files donā€™t hesitate to let me know :sunglasses: :+1:

Talk soon!
Hayden

2 Likes
9

Hi @nivaldofernandes and @frederick-campbell :wave:

Our transcriber replied to me with the following information:

My concern is there are lot of different ways to finger these passages - I was looking at the example you provided and I would naturally play this very differently.

In my original email I asked him to add his recommended fingerings and his concern was:

Iā€™m just worried about entering the fingering I would use normally (I have big hands) and then have to do a lot of edits and changes on the back end. Thoughts?

This highlights an issue with adding fingerings (especially for jazz transcriptions and improvised vocabulary).

The issue is that we all have different sized hands, and so what is possible and comfortable for some students might not be possible for others. Also as our transcriber mentioned he has big hands and so he would naturally finger passages differently to someone with smaller hands.

In addition, we all come from different musical backgrounds. For example, some students may have had classical training where they have been trained to follow specific fingering rules and frameworks.

I studied some classical piano in my youth, but Iā€™m largely self-taught with jazz piano, as many jazz musicians are, and so there really isnā€™t a ā€˜one-size-fits-allā€™ with regards to fingering.

In summary, I will still add the fingerings (my personal fingerings) to these documents, but at the same time weā€™ll keep the original, fingering-free versions available for download, so students who prefer to find their own fingerings (or adapt things freely) still have that flexibility.

I just want to stress that if my suggested fingerings ever feels unnatural, or if you personally prefer a different fingeringā€¦ thatā€™s totally fine, and in fact I encourage that.

In my opinion, an important element of learning jazz, blues, and improvised piano styles is identifying fingerings and approaches that feel comfortable for our hands and support our individual playing style.

10

Hayden, your response makes total sense. Yesterday I lived exactly through the experience of your transcriberā€¦the fingering suggestions were in certain places very different than what I was using and felt comfortable with. But it is still a good reference for beginnersā€¦the LH use of fingers 2 and 5, as opposed to 1 and 5, freeing the thumb for additional use later is an insight that would have escaped me. Thanks for all your attention to thisā€¦I am starting to realize that choice of fingerings is an integral part of oneā€™s jazz arrangementsā€¦would that be fair to say?

11

Hey @nivaldofernandes and @frederick-campbell :wave:

Here are the first 3 files with the fingerings:

Sometimes when playing ballads I change my fingering whilst the note is held down. For example I play the melody note with my thumb, index finger, or 3rd finger, and then switch it to my 5th finger whilst the note is still held down.

Itā€™s difficult to write this movement with finger numbers so I omitted those movements from the fingering in the charts. If something seems unusual or difficult to finger, please reference the video files where you can see exactly how Iā€™m playing those passages.

I will finish the other 6 jazz standards asap.

Yes some fingering choices might seem unusual when there are only 2 notes in the left hand such as the root and 5th.

However, in our more advanced lessons on the same tunes the left hand will often play 3 notes and so keeping the thumb free gives us more options.

My pleasure, Nivaldo.

Yes I would say that many jazz and blues players have fingering preferences/habits which are related to the style(s) that they play.

Thelonious Monk is a great example of a musician who had very unorthodox and unconventional fingering techniques, but one could argue that itā€™s exactly that which made his sound and his playing so distinctive and unique.

Anyhow, I hope the fingering charts above are helpful to get you started and I will finish the other files as soon as possible. I will post them in this thread when they are done.

Any questions or issues with the PDFs just let me know.

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12

Indeed, I have been studying your playing of sections A and B of Moon Riverā€¦lots of interesting nuances/differences across the different times you play the same sectionsā€¦itā€™s an experience all on its own.

Thank you for all that you do for us!!

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