## Fingering Numbers

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.


## How To Spot Fingering Numbers

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.