Improve your piano technique with Hanon exercises!

Improve your piano technique with Hanon exercises

Hanon piano exercises have been meticulously constructed to provide the optimum level of practice for pianists of all levels and abilities. The full series of exercises have a proven track record in improving technical skill, speed and precision stretching back well over a century.


First published in 1873, The Virtuoso Pianist by Charles Louis Hanon has become a valuable source of inspiration for piano teachers, students and performers. The original 60 Hanon exercises have now been perfected and transposed to every major key, offering participants the maximum performance training and practice available.

To gain the utmost benefits from the logical progression of Hanon exercises, it is recommended to practise these piano exercises on a daily basis. In that way, pupils will rapidly notice the difference as their fingers become stronger and far more adept at challenging works and techniques.

A key element of the piano finger exercises is the focus on the daily repetitions of strengthening hands and fingers. The primary idea is to instil independence and flexibility in the performing digits, allowing every pianist's internal virtuoso out onto the musical stage.

Through the focused and concentrated practice of these exercises, all students can attain the fundamentals of superb performance and playing.

With the strength, endurance and general proficiency that piano finger exercises can encourage, it is no surprise that the wonderfully illuminating work of Charles Louis Hanon has remained a primary text for all pianists wishing to improve their entire range of piano playing capabilities.


Charles-Louis Hanon's piano book "The Virtuoso Pianist In Sixty Exercises" - PART 1

Hanon Exercises 1 to 20 (piano exercises for beginners)

The first 20 preparatory exercises are the most widely known of these influential and constructive learning techniques. These finger exercises concentrate on improving a student's manual dexterity and strength through a series of repetitions.

These sequences are then exercised through moving up and down the octaves, improving musical aptitude and overall ability.

Piano Technique Exercise N°1 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°2 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°3 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°4 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°5 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises

Piano Technique Exercise N°6 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°7 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°8 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°9 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°10 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises

Piano Technique Exercise N°11 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°12 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°13 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°14 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°15 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises

Piano Technique Exercise N°16 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°17 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°18 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°19 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises
Piano Technique Exercise N°20 from C. L. Hanon's piano book : The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises


The Virtuoso Pianist by C. L. HANON
Part 1 transposed in all keys

PDF Format

283 pages

240 Piano exercises

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20 Hanon Variations - From the Shaak Studio


Charles-Louis Hanon's piano book "The Virtuoso Pianist In Sixty Exercises" - PART 2

Hanon Exercises 21 to 43

'Transcendent Exercises for Preparing the Fingers for the Virtuoso Exercises.

Practise the exercises in Part II, like those in Part I, with the metronome at 60; similarly practise all the following piano exercises where the tempo is not indicated, and gradually'...

>  read more


The Man Behind The Virtuoso Pianist : Charles Louis Hanon's Life and Works.

Charles Louis Hanon

By Andrew Adams and Bradley Martin    

'Though Charles Louis Hanon has been known around the world for more than a century—most notably from his last name emblazoned on the front of the Schirmer edition of his piano exercises—his life and other works have largely been ignored in the scholarly literature. As we approach the bicentenary of his birth, the time has come not only to examine Hanon’s place in piano pedagogy, but also to explore the life of this quiet, devout man'...

>  read more



Links to articles about piano technique

An efficient way to build piano technique is to play scales daily as a workout and a warm-up for your fingers, along with Hanon exercises.

Other resources

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Please enter any comments or suggestions you may have about our website.

Comments: 44
  • #44

    HB (Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:05)

    Hello - Thank you for this amazing resource. Wondering if I might receive permission to offer your Hanon transcriptions (with your website credit - as listed on the bottom of each page,) on a music education platform called, "Musicians Teach Music." Truly appreciated - and I expect when the site is fully functioning - it will bring even more audience to your site. Thank you!
    Holley

  • #43

    ANSELMO DE SOUZA PONTES (Wednesday, 04 January 2023 09:25)

    Amazing!!! The best method!!

  • #42

    Dharam (Wednesday, 09 March 2022 12:44)

    This article really helped me in leaning notations. Thank you so much. Also, you can connect and book pianists online here.

  • #41

    Luana Cottar saldanha (Wednesday, 05 January 2022 05:28)

    Agradeço muito pela ajuda e pela soliedariedade de nos ter conseguido toda essa riqueza de informaçoes gratuitas.obrigada

  • #40

    Antonio Diana (Sunday, 12 December 2021 16:16)

    With gratitude and joy, I found this site.
    Thanks to people full of kindness in their hearts, who in the attitude of sharing their knowledge and willingness to help others, build sites like this. So, for me, who is 67 years old and starts piano studies alone at home, people, and sites like this one are like an oasis in the middle of the desert, where travelers can refuel and continue with energy their journey of learning music and piano.
    Thank you very much and may God enlighten you and give you more and more strength to help other beings.

  • #39

    Judy (Saturday, 08 May 2021)

    Do you have Hanon exercises for chromatic accordion, in particular, b-griff?
    Thank you.

  • #38

    yan Ho (Sunday, 11 October 2020 09:13)

    Thanks for sharing!

  • #37

    mark bassel (Sunday, 04 October 2020 03:57)

    Hi- do you have these exercises for guitar?

  • #36

    C M N MURTHY (Tuesday, 01 September 2020 10:12)

    This book is awesome for beginners to advanced players

  • #35

    Trinh Nguyen Ba (Sunday, 12 July 2020 05:23)

    Thank you for your help!

  • #34

    Dong Yiyi (Monday, 15 June 2020 13:36)

    It has high quality of music and it is very good.

  • #33

    Marcelo Keyboard's (Tuesday, 03 March 2020 12:04)

    Very Good, Thanks

  • #32

    Marine (Friday, 18 January 2019 08:23)

    Pianists constantly make different moves with each hand. For example, one hand might play legato (connecting one tone to another) while the other hand playing staccato (short). Often also appearing with mutually displacing movements, especially in appearance for advanced piano playing. Not only do pianists have to be able to use both the right and left hands simultaneously, but also have to use their feet on the pedals. clavis.nl

  • #31

    Daniel Tsokonn Emlyn Jones (Thursday, 17 January 2019 19:45)

    Hanon were used in the great Russian conservatories of the late 19th century. Rachmaninoff learnt them, and one of the examinations was to play Hanon in every key at fast speeds. It didn't do him any harm!

  • #30

    Sinta Wiranata (Tuesday, 08 January 2019 12:16)

    I have downloaded the song from your website. Thank you for sharing at beginner as me. It easily to understand and following the rules. Thank you so much. A lot!!. clavis.nl

  • #29

    Ogunleye Eunice (Thursday, 23 August 2018 00:57)

    Thanks for the composition and arrangements, it really help to improve in all keys.

  • #28

    Aris (Thursday, 19 July 2018 23:59)

    I spent years practicing and learning all of the Hanon exercises as a child. Once I learned them, my piano teacher had me to play all of the exercises from the first exercise to the last non stop, of course, at a fast tempo.
    These are great exercises for developing good technique, regardless of the style you want to play -- pop, jazz, blues or classical.

  • #27

    GP Trooper (Tuesday, 13 February 2018 23:59)

    I can't wait to learn ALL these drills.

  • #26

    Justin (Friday, 02 February 2018 15:50)

    Please ignore the advice about playing without notation. Only do that if you just want to play pop/rock whatever and don’t wish to be a great technical player. To really learn the piano you need to learn theory, notation and you need to practise techniques and scales. That’s just the way it is. No one got great playing along to Taylor Swift.

  • #25

    Renny (Friday, 26 January 2018 15:38)

    One way to improve the piano playing is to play without notation. In other words, just rely on hearing. Try playing familiar songs without any notation. Music essentially relies heavily on hearing. some information about the piano, there are places that rent out digital pianos and they also have a quality piano for you who will buy the piano. please visit the site here clavis.nl/piano-huren

  • #24

    Sam (Monday, 31 July 2017 20:55)

    Thanks a lot for the free exercises along with the audio guides!

  • #23

    Hajira (Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:58)

    Nice

  • #22

    diaz (Thursday, 19 May 2016 14:54)

    it's magnificat

  • #21

    Rushabh Trivedy (Sunday, 01 March 2015 22:08)

    Love this. Thanks. Cheers!

  • #20

    Andreas (Thursday, 15 January 2015 10:59)

    Great site! Thank you very much! And even more for offering most of them for free!
    I just started learning piano but my teacher showed me the first exercise and that's why I searched online for Hanon.
    Andreas

  • #19

    Deon Govender (Monday, 18 August 2014 11:12)

    Thank you for the lessons. Excellent

  • #18

    tangram-channel (Wednesday, 30 April 2014 19:26)

    Great resource for piano teachers. Thank you!

  • #17

    Cedric (Sunday, 10 November 2013 00:08)

    First of all, THANK YOU for this site. It is a wonderful source for an aspiring pianist, and I look forward to diving in and improving my strength, flexibility, speed and precision. Question though in terms of practicing in different keys... Is one meant to practice Exercise #1 in the key of C and then move on to Exercise 2, 3, etc all in the key of C? Or should one practice and master Exercise #1 in all keys before moving on to Exercise #2?

  • #16

    sarath (Thursday, 19 September 2013 18:50)

    Thanks a lot for this website..and making the contents available for free

  • #15

    David Roland Marsilia (Tuesday, 10 July 2012 11:02)

    Thank you for these exercises! I am just beginning to study the piano seriously, and I play better by ear than by sight at this point, so your audio files really help. I wonder, have you guys abandoned the second two sections? Maybe by the time I have mastered the first section, you will have published more. Or maybe I will be proficient enough by then to buy his book and read them myself. At any rate, thanks and I hope y'all are still around! :)

  • #14

    anonymous anon (Friday, 06 July 2012 02:22)

    I remember when my piano teacher first made me start practicing scales with Hanon, I was in the fifth grade. I hated it instantly, but now I realize how valuable the exercises are. Bravo!

  • #13

    all-piano-scales (Saturday, 26 May 2012 12:09)

    Great exercises for piano!!! Very usefull

  • #12

    Squid (Wednesday, 07 December 2011 09:57)

    Thank you for your time and effort on this site. I'm enjoying the exercises very much.

  • #11

    Arup Banerjee (Monday, 01 August 2011 01:46)

    thank you sir! i got a great help from your site. i hv downloaded all d hanon exercises and realy greatful to you. i will always remember your help. my best regards to you.a musician from INDIA

  • #10

    Andria Tyler (Thursday, 31 March 2011 19:26)

    I love hanons' musical pieces and alos his many talents!!!!!!!

  • #9

    Linda Calhoun (Friday, 25 February 2011 19:12)

    Wonderful. Thank you very much.

  • #8

    Craig (Wednesday, 12 January 2011 04:39)

    This web site is fantastic! Before finding this I tried to order Hu F'lhong Dong's recording, Constance Keene's 1959 recording, & Steven Mayer's 1999 Mannes College Summer Piano Institute recording of C.L. Hanon The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, all to no avail! I just wanted to hear what they are "supposed" to sound like. Then I just happened to stumble apon this. Amazing! This web site will be a great aid to my practice! I look forward to parts II & III. Thank you so much!

  • #7

    beverley (Saturday, 08 January 2011 07:28)

    Thank you so much for this web site . these exercises will be a great help to me

  • #6

    Terry (Wednesday, 08 December 2010 01:24)

    My organ teacher recommended the Hanon exercises to me. I am her only Yamaha & Kimball organ student now. Other students are into electric pianos and keyboards. I still appreciate the organ and wish the local roller rink would go back to waltzes and organ music.

    Thanks for setting up the website. The play-along tracks in all keys are a great idea.

    Estoy de acuerdo con Mariano - buenos ejercicios para los dedos- y añado - el seso también-. (Calgary, Alberta Canada)

  • #5

    Karl (Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:15)

    Thanks a lot, I hope parts II and III will follow soon!

  • #4

    John Griffiths (Saturday, 16 October 2010 00:06)

    Glad to join this Hanon tribute to his outstanding and inspirational work.

  • #3

    Katie (Saturday, 11 September 2010 01:08)

    Great resource for teachers and students! Thank you for putting this together!

  • #2

    Pavle (Wednesday, 08 September 2010 03:01)

    Love the site, good luck, cheers!

  • #1

    denice - antibes (Monday, 06 September 2010 07:39)

    Good luck guys and good job for this promising website. I like it.

Thank you - hanon virtuoso pianist