How To Play Faster On Piano

One of the biggest compliments I get after a piano recital is “wow you play so fast!”. As a concert pianist who performs on a regular basis, the speed at which I can play the instrument seems normal to me. For others, it’s a big mystery when it comes to how to play faster on piano.

So, how do you play faster on the piano? To play fast on the piano, a pianist must develop strong muscles and dexterity in the fingers. Routinely practicing scales, arpeggios, and other technical exercises help build the necessary endurance to play passages of music fast. 

If you’re wondering how to play faster on the piano then you’re in the right place. I’ll break down a few specific exercises and techniques I use to increase playing speed. These techniques are mostly for intermediate to advanced pianists, but beginner pianists and adult pianists can also apply these same strategies.

1. Resting The Fingers

Having the proper amount of oxygen flow throughout the fingers is essential for playing speed. The more pianists play in a given amount of time, the more oxygen is being used up by the muscles. This affects flow and ultimately leads to poorer execution while playing.

Fingers that are overworked, or fatigued will almost never be able to play up to their full speed.

This is why it is crucial that pianists rest their fingers as much as possible during practice. When the fingers are refreshed, they’ll be able to play more efficiently.

I recommend trying out some piano finger stretches, there are a few finger exercises here that you can try. Stretches work best when they are performed before practice, and during breaks.

2. Practicing Music Slowly

It takes hundreds and thousands of repetitions to learn music effectively. In order to learn music in the most efficient way, pianists should focus on practicing music slowly. Learning the music slowly allows for the best internalization of the notes, rhythms, and artistry.

Slow practice is also the main ingredient to faster piano playing. As your hands become more comfortable with where to go and how to execute certain passages, naturally speed will come along with that.

Whether it’s scales or an entire cycle of music, practicing slowly should be a foundation of every practice session.

3. Using A Metronome

An excellent complement to slow practice, in general, is a metronome. Metronomes for piano like these allow pianists to subdivide, speed up the tempo gradually and much more.

The biggest benefit of a metronome is that it helps pianists maintain a consistent pulse. This is important when it comes to speeding up your piano playing. The more stable the pianist is with their fingers, the quicker they’ll be able to execute those musical passages.

One exercise I like to do is start with the metronome at a really slow beat of 60. I’ll play through 4 to 8 measures of music at this tempo with firm yet relaxed fingers. The idea is to maintain a strong tone, but without exerting a lot of energy.

I’ll gradually repeat the process, adding 5 beats of speed to the metronome each time. Eventually, I’ll finish at my desired fast tempo, and by this point, I’m able to play through them with a strong or light touch as well.

4. Memorizing The Music

Reading sheet music is a major factor in playing ability. That’s why most concert pianists memorize their music. With the music memorized, all of the focus can be put into the choreography of playing.

With the knowledge already in the fingers and mind, it’s much easier to execute certain passages with more fluidity and quickness. For example, if a passage of music featured an octave scale followed by a chromatic scale, it would be quite difficult to read that and play at the same time.

Memorizing that passage, however, allows a pianist to simply jump to the right location when called upon. Being able to use their eyes to make the leap between the octaves and transition to the chromatic section will greatly add speed.

5. Adjusting The Hands To The Music

Not all music is composed the same. Logically, all fingering and hand positions will not be the same either.

There are instances where pianists will need to use a different form of playing to successfully play a piece up to speed.

This is important to consider when doing slow practice especially. In some cases, the movements you use in slow practice won’t work the same way once the tempo has kicked up.

Pianists need to analyze everything they play and amend it along the way until they find the right finger height, arm position, and fingering to successfully play a passage quickly.

6. Adjusting The Temperature In The Room

Tight finger joints can sometimes cause pianists problems when playing. The colder temperatures cause the fingers to stiffen up, often making them difficult to move fluidly.

This is why I always suggest pianists use hand warmers during a recital or practice. The heat helps the fluids flow in the hands, which helps the muscles breathe.

The same can be said for the forearms and shoulders as well. When practicing, it’s always a smart idea to keep the temperature at a reasonable level.

7. Polishing Your Piano Technique

Usually what holds good pianists back from fast playing is that certain technical aspects of their playing have not been properly developed.

To play any piece of music well, a pianist needs to have developed the proper technique. Learning how to play scales, arpeggios, chords, and more are important. Those skills need to be refined on a daily basis in order to build speed and maintain it.

Proper piano technique is not simply playing those exercises each day. The exercises should be played correctly with proper hand position, distribution of arm weight, and with a good tone.

Ideally, the less motion a pianist uses, the quicker they can play. Developing the proper technique is all about limiting the amount of unnecessary energy being exerted.

Another suggestion is to invest in a few of the well-known method of books by Haydn and Czerny. The School of Velocity book by Czerny is one I highly recommend. You may also want to have a look at the Art of Finger Dexterity technique book too.

Each book has a set of short etudes that help deal with very specific technical issues. The exercises are well written, have dynamics, and read more like normal pieces which help with applying these same principles to whatever main piece you are working on.

8. Analyzing The Piece

A quick tip for speeding up your piano playing is to think much bigger about the music. Rather than looking at each individual note as you play, think about the harmonies instead.

For example, an F major passage will likely produce the same basic finger pattern associated with the scale.

Instead of combing through each note, you could simply funnel out the fingers needed to play it and focus the attention elsewhere. Doing a simple chord analysis of a piece will help you learn it faster.

With proper chord analysis, it’s also easier for pianists to memorize the piece, and anticipate which notes are coming next in the pattern. Being able to glue together the various musical ideas in any given work is really crucial to playing it cleanly, and with good speed.

9. Changing The Dynamics

Sometimes playing too loudly can slow down your piano playing. Making simple adjustments to the dynamics of a passage of notes can greatly help with speed.

In general, the softer a pianist plays, the quicker they’ll be able to play that section of music.

There are some pieces that require very loud dynamics at a quick speed. In order to do this, you’ll need to touch the keys rather than dig too far downward. Pressing the keys might seem logical, but with the right kind of arm weight distribution, pianists can play loudly without needing to press so far into the keyboard.

10. Keeping The Fingers Close To The Keyboard

One thing many young pianists struggle with is keeping their fingers close enough to the keyboard. Without a good teacher, they end up developing a bad habit that’s tough to fix later on. From the very beginning, pianists should work on keeping their fingers close to the keys.

This accomplishes three main things:

1. It limits the distance the fingers must travel
2. It helps pianists maintain a consistent hand shape
3. Reduces the overall movement needed to play

The hand shape is the more important of the three. Anytime a pianist stretches or lifts their fingers beyond the desired position, it adds tension. When tension is added, the speed of playing is greatly reduced.