How to exercise my fingers in extreme bending when playing piano?
I am learning a song on piano which has the following notes played simultaneously with the right hand: C Eb G C (my fingering: 1 2 3 5)
If it was E instead of Eb I could pull it off without a problem, but the way it is now I am unable to play either of C or Eb. When I take it very, very slowly and bend my wrist I can do it. I figure out it's a matter of my fingers being untrained in handling this - I tried to change the fingering and it wasn't better.
What exercises can I do to make it easier/possible for me to play chords like this?
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I'd recommend starting to practice the chords as arpeggios.
Here are some exercises that can help getting familiar with chord fingerings using an octave.
As long as you practice these with only white keys I recommend playing those exercises in different modes by moving up or down one step.
As soon as you start getting pretty fluent change the E to E? as asked in your question. I'm pretty sure that once you are practicing this you will come up with other variations. Just make sure that if you start swapping hands and practice the arpeggios with the left hand I'd recommend a fingering 5-4-3-1 as suggested in the left hand of Nr.4.
so your thumb and pinky can't reach an octave?
might just be that you'll have to roll chords like that if your hand span just ain't too wide.
hit the first 3 with the hold pedal down and get to the top c as quick as you can.
The most likely problem is your hand position. A one-octave C-major chord should not require twisting or bending the wrist. (This answer deals with twisting, but the same solutios/ideas apply to a bend wrist, which should be kept neutral -- the way it would be if your arm was hanging relaxed at your side.)
Fingers over-curled
It's possible that you are playing too much on the tips of your fingers. This will force a wider stretch between fingers 2 and 3. (See Photo #1 and #2 , below)
Flatten out your hand so you can take advantage of the length of finger 2 to help read the Eb.
Hand too close to the edge of the keys
When playing white-keys only, it's good to play close to the edge of the keys, because it afford better leverage/control. However, when playing black keys, the best strategy is to shift the hand toward the back of the keyboard (away from the body) to bring the fingers closer to the black keys. (See photo #2 , below)
Don't twist
Twisting the hand should be avoided to the greatest degree possible. It leads to inefficient movement and is a common cause of injury to pianists. Leaving aside the rare exceptional case, use in/out movement, not twisting.
Correct hand position
See photo #3 below. Keep the hand more flat, shift toward the back of the keys, and keep your write neutral.
Illustrations
Photo #1: over-curled fingers create difficulty reaching black keys.
Photo #2: over-curling also increases the angle (stretch) between fingers.
Photo #3: flatter hand in forward position allows for no twist and least stretch between fingers.
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