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How to play piano with both hands
Learn each hand separately until it is automatic, then put them together one bar at a time at half speed. The reason both hands feel impossible is not coordination, it is that you are still thinking about the notes. Once one hand runs without conscious thought, the other has room to join it. Nobody learns both hands by attempting both hands from the start.
Click any key to hear it. Your computer's A to K row works too.
Why is playing with both hands so hard?
Because your attention is a single resource and each hand is asking for all of it. It feels like a coordination problem but it is really a memory problem. When the right hand still needs thinking about, there is nothing left over for the left. Solve it by making one hand automatic first, so it costs no attention at all.
What is the right practice order?
Right hand alone until it is easy. Left hand alone until it is easy. Then both hands, one bar at a time, at roughly half speed. Add a bar only when the previous ones run without stopping. This feels absurdly slow for about three days and then it works, which is faster than any other route.
Should I use a metronome for this?
Not at first. Get the notes secure with each hand, then add the metronome when you join them, because staying in time is the specific thing that falls apart when both hands are busy. Set it slower than feels dignified.
How does the practice room help with this?
Choose one hand and the app plays the other for you, so you hear the whole piece while only playing half of it. Wait mode holds the music until your fingers arrive, so you never fall behind. Level 2 adds a single left hand note per bar, which is the gentlest possible step between one hand and two.
Keep going
Read next
A piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, repeating one pattern of twelve. Find any note Open → ♪ Where is middle C on the piano?
Middle C is the white key just left of any pair of black keys, nearest the centre. Here is Open → ♪ A 20 minute piano practice routine
A simple daily routine: warm up, technical work, the hard bars, then play something for fu Open → ♪ How to use a metronome for piano
What BPM means, where to start, and how to use a metronome without fighting it. The tool m Open →
Put it into practice in the practice room, or start at the beginning with the five minute walkthrough.
Questions
Common questions
How long does it take to play with both hands?
Most adults manage a simple piece with both hands within a few weeks of short daily practice. It comes far quicker with hands-separate practice first.
Should both hands play the same rhythm at first?
Yes, ideally. A melody over a single held bass note per bar is far easier than two independent rhythms, which is why the levels on this site are arranged that way.
Why does my left hand feel useless?
It has had less practice, that is all. It catches up faster than you expect once you give it dedicated time alone.