How to use the sustain pedal on piano

What the sustain pedal does

On an acoustic piano, every key has a damper: a felt pad that rests on its strings and stops them sounding when you let go of the key. The sustain pedal, the one on the right, lifts all the dampers at once. While it’s down, every note you play keeps ringing after your fingers leave the keys, and the other strings vibrate a little in sympathy, which gives the sound its fuller, warmer colour.

A digital piano copies this. Its pedal sends a message, MIDI control change 64, that tells the sound to keep notes ringing. It’s the same message any MIDI keyboard sends to a computer, which is how Pianomi can read your sustain pedal along with your notes.

How to press the pedal

• Heel on the floor. Rest your right heel on the floor, slightly in front of the pedal, so the ankle does the work.
• Ball of the foot on the pedal. Not your toes, and not the arch: the ball of the foot, roughly over the end of the pedal.
• Stay in contact. Your foot rests on the pedal all the time, even when it’s up. Lifting the foot off and stamping back down makes a thump and is hard to time.
• Press smoothly and fully, from the ankle, as if pressing a car’s accelerator gently.

If you can’t reach comfortably without stretching, check your seat (see piano hand position): your right foot should fall near the pedal naturally.

How to read piano pedal markings

Pedalling is written under the bass staff, in one of two ways. The older way is “Ped.” where you press and a star-like sign (✱) where you lift. The newer way is a line: it starts where you press, runs along while the pedal stays down, has a small notch or peak where you lift and press again, and ends where you let go.

Much music marks the pedal only here and there, or not at all, and leaves it to the player. In that case you decide, using the same rules as below: change with the harmony, and listen.

Legato pedalling, step by step

The main pedal technique is called legato or syncopated pedalling, because the foot moves just after the hands rather than with them. It joins chords seamlessly without blurring one into the next.

1. Play the first chord with the pedal up.
2. Press the pedal just after the chord sounds. The chord now rings even if you let go.
3. Move your hand to the next chord. The pedal keeps the first one sounding, so there’s no gap.
4. Play the next chord and lift the pedal at that same moment. The dampers fall and stop the old chord, while your fingers hold the new one.
5. Press the pedal again straight after, so the new chord is caught. Then repeat from step 3.

The key idea is that the change comes just after the new notes, not before them. If you lift before playing, there’s a gap. If you press again at the same moment as you play, the old chord is still caught and the two blur. Say it as you play: “chord, foot up, foot down”, with the up and down close together. It feels backwards for the first few days, then becomes natural.

Pedal exercises

1. One chord per bar. Play C, F, G and C major chords in the left hand, one per bar of four slow beats, changing the pedal on each. Listen: each chord should be clear, with no trace of the last, and no silence between. See our chord pages or left-hand chords if you need the shapes.
2. Two chords per bar. The same chords, two beats each. The foot has to move faster but the timing is the same.
3. A melody over chords. Hold a chord in the left hand and play a simple melody above it, changing the pedal at each new chord, as in the picture above. Now the pedal has to keep the bass ringing while the melody moves.

When to change the pedal

Two signals tell you it’s time. The first is a change of harmony: when the chord underneath changes, the old notes clash with the new, so change. The second is the melody: notes that move by step blur into each other when held together, even over one chord. If a melody starts to sound smudged, change more often, perhaps every beat.

Your ears are the final judge. A low register blurs much more than a high one, and a large room or a bright piano blurs more than a small one, so the same marking can need more frequent changes on a different instrument.

When not to use it

• Fast scale passages, where the notes would pile up into a smear.
• Staccato, since the pedal holds on to notes that are meant to be short.
• While you’re learning a passage. Learn it with joined fingers first. The pedal hides gaps in your finger legato, and you want to hear them while you can still fix them.

Half-pedalling

You don’t have to press the pedal all the way. Pressing it partly lifts the dampers only a little, so notes ring on more faintly. Half-pedalling, and quick partial changes, let you keep a bass note sounding while clearing some of the blur above it. It works on acoustic pianos and on many digital pianos, as long as the pedal is a continuous one. It’s an advanced skill: get clean full changes first.

Pedals for digital keyboards

Keyboards usually come with, or take, one of two kinds of pedal. A switch pedal, often a small box, is simply on or off. A continuous pedal reports how far it’s pressed, which allows half-pedalling. A piano-style pedal, heavier and shaped like the real thing, also stays put on the floor better than a small switch, which tends to slide away.

If your pedal seems to work backwards, sustaining when it’s up and stopping when it’s pressed, the keyboard has read it the wrong way round. Many keyboards check the pedal’s polarity when they’re switched on. Turn the keyboard off, make sure the pedal is plugged in, and turn it on again with your foot off the pedal. Some pedals also have a polarity switch.

Questions

When should a beginner start using the sustain pedal?

Many teachers bring it in once you can play a piece evenly without it, with joined fingers and a steady beat, often starting with simple pieces of one chord per bar. Learning finger legato first means the pedal adds to your playing instead of hiding gaps in it.

Why is my sustain pedal working backwards?

Many digital keyboards check which way the pedal works when they’re switched on, and take its position at that moment as “up”. If the pedal was unplugged or pressed at power-up, it ends up reversed: notes ring when you lift your foot and stop when you press. Plug the pedal in before turning the keyboard on, and keep your foot off it while it starts. Some pedals also have a polarity switch.

Where is the pedal marked in sheet music?

Under the bass staff. Older editions write “Ped.” where you press and a star-like sign (✱) where you lift. Many modern editions use a line instead: it starts where you press, a notch means lift and press again, and it ends where you let go. Plenty of music doesn’t mark the pedal at all and leaves it to the player.