Do You Use Your Piano Sustain Pedal Often Enough?

There are a number of things you can do to improve your piano playing and make it more enjoyable without necessarily having to practice more. And of course I don’t mean to imply you shouldn’t practice – you certainly do. But there are half a dozen techniques you can use that don’t require any practice, yet make you a more interesting piano player to listen to.

One of those things is to use your piano sustain pedal more often. Most people don’t use it enough – and some use it too much and their music sounds “blurry”. But there is a middle position where you use it just right. Every time I encounter a new chord I lift my sustain pedal up and depress it until the next chord comes along. Then I lift it up to let the sound go away, then press it down again.

Use your ear to guide you!

Here is a good article on  Wikipedia about the sustain pedal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustain_pedal

***For lots more good stuff on piano playing come on over to my website at https://www.playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips – “Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”

Here’s a great little book on chords and chord progressions on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Chords-Chord-Progressions-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0076OUGDE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404158669&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+chords+duane+shinn

You’ll learn piano chords galore and how to apply them when you play piano – major chords, minor chords, augmented chords, diminished chords, 6th chords, 7th chords, 9th chords, 11th chords, 13th chords, suspensions, alterations and more. Chords are the “missing link” in most piano lessons and you can learn them all easily. Learn piano playing and music theory at the same time – it will make your progress faster and you will understand music like you never have before.

Here is the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLMY6oBQadk&feature=youtu.be

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