Piano arpeggios chart

How to read the chart

Each arpeggio goes up two octaves, the hands an octave or two apart, and the numbers say which finger plays each note (piano finger numbers has the hands drawn). C major is C, E, G and the key note again, over and over. The jumps are wider than a scale's, so the thumb has further to pass under the hand: keep the wrist level and let the arm carry the hand along, rather than stretching the fingers. Practise each hand alone, slowly, and come back down with the same fingers in reverse.

Most arpeggios start on the thumb in the right hand. The other 11, F♯ minor, C♯ minor, G♯ minor, C♯ major, A♯ minor, B♭ major, E♭ major, A♭ major, D♭ major, B♭ minor and A♭ minor, start on a black key and on a longer finger, so the thumb can land on the white key above.

F♯ major, D♯ minor, G♭ major and E♭ minor have only black keys, so the thumb has to play one: they take C major's fingers. In the other 26 the thumb only ever plays a white key.

Arpeggios that share a fingering

The 30 arpeggios need only 5 fingerings between them. Learn one in a group and the others follow:

• RH 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 · LH 5 4 2 1 4 2 1: C major, A minor, G major, E minor, B minor, F♯ major, D♯ minor, F major, D minor, G minor, C minor, F minor, G♭ major and E♭ minor
• RH 3 1 2 4 1 2 4 · LH 2 1 4 2 1 4 2: F♯ minor, C♯ minor, G♯ minor, C♯ major, E♭ major, A♭ major, D♭ major and A♭ minor
• RH 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 · LH 5 3 2 1 3 2 1: D major, A major, E major, B major and C♭ major
• RH 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 · LH 3 2 1 3 2 1 3: A♯ minor and B♭ minor

The rest have one of their own: B♭ major (RH 2 1 2 4 1 2 4 · LH 3 2 1 3 2 1 3).

The left hand's 3rd or 4th finger

The left hand starts on the little finger in most keys, and the finger to remember is the one on the next note up, the 3rd of the chord. In 14 of them it is the 4th finger; in 5, D major, A major, E major, B major and C♭ major, it is the 3rd.