The small numbers above or below notes are fingering: 1 is the thumb, 2 the index finger, and so on to 5 for the little finger, the same numbering on both hands.
Fingering is not a suggestion about comfort; it is a plan for the next few bars. The reason a passage marked 1-2-3-1 works is that the thumb crossing under sets your hand up for what comes after.
Both hands use the same chart.
Number
Finger
1
thumb
2
index finger
3
middle finger
4
ring finger
5
little finger
How to spot it
Small digits 1 to 5 printed close to the note heads, usually only where the editor thought a choice mattered.
Find it in thirty seconds
Play a scale with the printed fingering, then play it using whichever fingers you like. The second one runs out of hand within an octave, which is the point.
Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each, clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Legato: Legato in piano music. Legato means play smoothly and connected, with each note lasting until the next one begins.
Staff: Staff in piano music. The staff is the set of five horizontal lines that piano music is written on. A note's vertical position on those lines and the spaces be…
More in This Section
First and Second Endings: First and Second Endings in piano music. First and second endings are the bracketed bars marked 1. and 2. Play the first ending, take the repeat, then skip it…
Flat: Flat in piano music. A flat (♭) lowers a note by one semitone, the very next key to the left, black or white.
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C Flat Major Scale (Piano): The C-flat major scale is C♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭, with seven flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭). Notes, piano fingering for both hands, key signature and chor…
E Major Scale (Piano): The E major scale is E F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯ E, with four sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯). Notes, piano fingering for both hands, key signature and chords. Play it here.
