Piano finger numbers and how to read them in music

Piano finger numbers name the fingers so sheet music can say which one plays a note: 1 is the thumb, 2 the index finger, 3 the middle, 4 the ring finger and 5 the little finger. The numbers are the same in both hands, so each thumb is 1. Because the hands are mirror images, the left hand's 1 sits on the right side of its five keys. A number by a note means "play this note with that finger."

On a real page, four more things matter:

• Numbers around the treble staff are usually for the right hand, and numbers by the bass staff for the left. "RH" and "LH", or m.d. and m.s., override that when a hand crosses to the other staff.
• The mirror reverses the order. With the right thumb on middle C and the left little finger on the C below, the right hand plays C, D, E, F, G with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The left hand plays the same rising notes with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
• A number covers only its own note. Editors print one where the hand moves to a new position and leave the notes that follow the obvious pattern blank. A note without a number isn't a free choice.
• Printed fingering is a suggestion, from the composer or an editor. A teacher may change it to suit a student's hand.

Each hand counts from the thumb

On the keys the thumbs face each other, so the same number lands on opposite sides. Here's C position: right thumb on middle C, left little finger on the C below. The piano notes chart shows both on the keyboard.

A beginner mistake follows from this table: told to play "1" with the left hand, a student puts down the little finger, the one on the leftmost key.

The opening of Ode to Joy in C fits the right hand's row: E E F G, G F E D, C C D E, E D D is played 3 3 4 5, 5 4 3 2, 1 1 2 3, 3 2 2. Try it with the beginner version in C on the easy piano Ode to Joy page.

A number out of order means the hand moves

Five fingers cover five keys, so a longer line needs the hand to move, and the numbers show how. In the right hand, a smaller number on a rising line means the thumb passes under; a larger number on a falling line means a finger crosses over the thumb. The left hand does the opposite. A one-octave C major scale shows both:

Going up in the right hand, the 1 on F is the thumb tucking under the middle finger after E. Coming down, the 3 on E crosses over the thumb.

The same number on two different keys in a row means lift the hand to a new position. A 1 and a 5 that span more than five white keys, say C up to A, mean stretch the hand.

Where finger numbers sit on the page

Right-hand numbers usually go above the treble staff and left-hand numbers below the bass staff, close to the notehead. Some editions put both above, so match each number to the nearest note; the guide to reading piano sheet music covers which staff is which hand.

A chord gets a stack of numbers, each belonging to the note at the same height. A right-hand C-E-G reads 5, 3, 1 from top to bottom: little finger on G, middle finger on E, thumb on C. The same chord in the left hand reads 1, 3, 5.

Two numbers on one held note, joined by a dash or a small slur, are a substitution. "4-3" means play with 4, then slide 3 onto the key without letting it up. A row such as "3 2 1" over a repeated note means a new finger on each strike.

Numbers in parentheses are usually an alternative fingering. In Henle's urtext editions, numbers in italics are the composer's own.

Some numbers on the page aren't fingering

• A number above the start of a line is the measure number.
• A 3 or 6 with a bracket or slur over a group is a triplet or sextuplet.
• The two stacked numbers after the clef and key signature are the time signature.
• 8va over notes means play them an octave higher; 8vb under them, an octave lower.
• Stacked figures under a Baroque bass line are figured bass, chords for a keyboard player to fill in.
• "1." and "2." over brackets at a repeat are first and second endings.

Older editions and other instruments count differently

Some 19th-century British editions use English fingering: the thumb is a cross (+), sometimes a 0, and the fingers are 1 to 4, so a 1 is the index finger. It faded out in the early 20th century, but free scans of those editions still reach students. Read the cross or 0 as 1 and add one to every other number.

Guitar, violin and cello number the left hand from the index finger, 1 to 4, so a student who also plays one of those may read a piano 1 as the index finger.

Use fewer numbers as the student reads more

Method books put a number on almost every note at first. Some children keep reading the numbers long after, playing by finger instead of by note. To check, cover the numbers and ask for note names, or switch to an edition with less fingering. Easy new music every day, as in the sight-reading routine, builds reading by note.

When you pencil fingering in, mark only where the hand changes: a new position, a thumb passing under, a finger crossing over, and the first note of each phrase.

Doing this in PlayableNotes

PlayableNotes doesn't write or keep finger numbers. Reading a photo or PDF leaves out printed fingering and pedal marks, and the editor has no fingering mark, so you get a clean copy to write your own on.

Print the PDF and pencil the fingering in, with a larger music size if the student needs room. Or download MusicXML and add it in your own notation software. A practice link lets the student play hands separately, loop a passage and slow it down; the fingering stays on paper.

Reading costs 1 credit per line of music, and printing, downloads and practice links are free. To get a clean copy of your own piece, upload a page to PlayableNotes; new accounts get 50 free credits.