Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Finger Tapping Technique (Guerrero)

Hey guys,


I was watching a film on Glenn Gould today (32 Short Films about Glenn Gould, brilliant movie) and as I was researching him further I stumbled upon Alberto Guerrero's method of independent hand playing that he taught Glenn Gould; the finger tapping technique. If you look at youtube videos of it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0MBf4GgI7k), it looks laughable but considering Glenn Gould's independent hand playing skills I was a bit hesitant to forget about it. I was wondering whether any of you have tried this technique and have had some success with it, and whether or not it's a good exercise to add to a practice schedules.


EDIT: Oops, sorry for the wrong link; now it just looks like I was advertising my channel haha. Real link up there now.

I practice Bachs method of transferring arm weight to the fingers, but I think the finger tapping method is worth trying. Especially since Gould used it. Thanks for the info.

You have to sit lower like Guerrero or very low like Gould if you want to make it work. I've been using this method for a while now and even though i am somewhat of a beginner, and a bad one at that, what i found was that this method solves some problems but presents some other obstacles but it sure is awesome for Bach creates that separation of notes so needed for clarity in Bach. I think many pianists dont try this technique because i believe many pianists would rather spend time perfecting Chopin rather than a technique more suitable for counterpoint... which is understandable because tapping doesn't work well or sound good for romantic period music... again imo.

The reason you must sit lower is that in tapping the goal is to use your pads rather than tips, or at least an in between spot. If you sit too high or even normal and try to do that your hands will loose their shape and therefore strength. So sitting lower actually ensures that while you are using the tapping technique that you don't loose you hand's shape completely. Even though sometimes you can see Gould's videos and his hands look flat, actually they still retain the arch.

Since there is minimal lifting of the fingers there is less fatigue in the posterior muscles and tendons and therefore no tendinitis... and least that's been my experience.

Another benefit is that by using more of the pad and also pulling rather than pushing down there are virtually no slippage issues. So if someone has slippery finger syndrome they should try to apply at least some of the tapping principles, imo....

... but again i'm just a big dummy hobbyist so what do i know.

Thank you so much for posting this. I have read Gould biographies that have talked about this method but none of them explained it very well. In the latest Gould documentary one of Guerrero's students actually gives an example of this technique but does not go into much detail about why it was used. This vid is great.

Legend has it that for the 2nd recorded version of the Goldberg's, Gould would practice this method for every single variation.

I have often debated on using this technique, now I think I might give it a shot. I think I might try it for some Hanon exercises first as a sort of test.

Theodore makes some interesting points, although I am not sure you need to sit as low as Gould did (approx. 14inch off the ground) to use the pads of your fingers.

What's new there? I saw a demonstration of pure finger technique (no wrist stokes, no are weight dropping), good for fast single note playing.

So I tried it out, and what I found was that it really kind of sensitizes your fingers in a way that seems to make them super-relaxed and efficient. I actually really like this feeling. The only problem is that it is a rather time-consuming process, so I am not entirely certain how I should go about incorporating it into my practice routine.