Hands on piano keys

1. Which fingers go on which piano keys?
2. How many hand positions are there for piano?

Which fingers go on which piano keys?

Rule #1: The natural hand position

The first rule of piano fingering is that the shorter fingers play the longer keys, and the longer fingers play the shorter keys. The shorter fingers are the thumb and pinky, fingers 1 and 5. The longer fingers are the index, middle and ring fingers, fingers 2, 3 and 4.

How many hand positions are there for piano?

Likewise, at the piano, there are 88 keys, 10 fingers, and you move your hands around; thus there are a virtual infinite number of hand positions, if one takes in account both the left hand and the right hand, and all the possibilities, including crossing the hands over.