Playing Piano with the Sustain Pedal: Sustain Notes Correctly

Playing piano with the sustain pedal – it’s the easiest thing in the world! Full-throttle on the right pedal and hammer on the keys – it’s great fun and sounds excellent. However, getting from one chord to the next takes a little skill. And pianissimo is where it gets really exciting. So how do you use the damper or sustain pedal properly? And are there any differences between a piano and a digital piano?

With the damper pedal depressed, the piano produces a beautiful, full sound. All the strings vibrate undamped, producing a diffuse but harmonious and pleasant reverb effect. This is due to string resonance, as using the damper pedal causes even the unplayed strings to vibrate. The result is a voluminous and lively sound, which simultaneously makes the damper pedal difficult to use. If you don’t use the damper pedal consciously, the notes will blend into a mush of sound – and the beautiful, full sound will be gone.

To answer the first question, yes, there are differences between an acoustic piano and a digital piano. In principle, however, digital pianos are capable of simulating the pedal sound quite well. For this purpose, there are the functions Damper Resonance, Sympathetic Resonance, and, depending on the digital piano model, Damper Noise. Without artificial string resonance, the electronically generated piano sound would lack an important means of expression.

Attention to Detail

But it’s not just the sound that makes the sustain pedal so special. As is often the case, the devil is in the details. You should also be careful when using the pedal in pianissimo, especially when playing sequences of notes and chords.

Playing the piano with the sustain pedal also means learning to use the sustain pedal in a controlled manner. This is not easy at first, as it requires a certain amount of coordination. For this reason, most beginners do not use the sustain pedal at all.

Keep the following points in mind:

1. Do not place your entire foot on the pedal! For best control of the pedal, place only the tip of your foot on the front end of the pedal. This way you can prevent, that the toe of your foot may hit the piano case and you will not be able to use the full range of the pedal.
2. Always use the pedal in a controlled manner: Try to keep the toe of your foot in contact with the pedal at all times! Especially when releasing the pedal, do not let it bounce uncontrollably and loudly.

How the Sustain Pedal Works

When you depress the damper pedal on a piano, a mechanism lifts all the dampers off the strings at once. Due to the resonant behavior of an acoustic piano, playing a single note now causes all the strings to vibrate. A digital piano needs to simulate this effect.

While digital simulation may not be as complex and layered as a real grand piano, even entry-level digital pianos mimic this behavior by artificially creating string resonances. The more expensive a digital piano, the more complex the simulation of such sound details.

Using the Sustain Pedal

Damper resonance not only makes the piano sound more complex, but also louder. The most famous effect is the build-up of sound when playing with the damper pedal – as you repeat a single note, it gains dimension. But even if you play a note and then press the damper pedal a little later, the decay will be a little louder and longer. This “amplification” is also the result of resonance.

Controlling the Sustain Pedal

Impressed by the richness of the sound, many people tend to overuse the damper pedal. However, because all the notes blend together, this results in a washed-out melody and chords, as well as an overall imprecise piano performance. While this may sometimes be the desired effect, you should always know what exactly you are doing.

It is important to remember that the sustain pedal is generally used to enhance the sound. The sound character is fundamentally different* depending on whether you play a note with the pedal already depressed or depress it later. In the first case, the undamped strings will immediately produce audible resonances – the note will sound rich and full.

The second technique helps to keep resonances in check – especially valuable if you want to use the pedal to extend individual notes in a sequence of notes. In this case, you want to avoid accentuating a single note within a melodic arc, as this would change the character of the sound too much.

*This difference in sound may not be clearly audible on an entry-level digital piano, as it requires realistic string resonance simulation. However, you will hear it immediately when playing on a beginner acoustic piano. This is important to know for anyone who wants to learn proper piano techniques.

The Half-Pedal Technique

Another important piano technique: The sustain pedal works continuously between not being depressed at all and being fully depressed. Used to add a slight resonance to individual notes, this takes advantage of a property of the damper mechanism: Partially depressing the sustain pedal will only slightly raise the piano’s dampers. The damper action is marginally reduced, allowing for a softer resonance. The harder you depress the pedal, the longer a note becomes.

For more information, see this article about half-pedaling: The Half-Pedal Technique on Acoustic and Digital Pianos

This technique also works on many digital pianos, depending on whether the instrument supports the half-pedal function. Entry-level instruments in particular differ significantly in this regard. Some instruments don’t support it at all – after all, it’s not that important for complete beginners to play the piano using the sustain pedal. Some portable pianos support the half-pedal function in principle but include only a simple on/off pedal. In this case, you can purchase a dynamic sustain pedal as you improve your technique.

Learn more: Digital Piano Pedals: Buying a Sustain Pedal

Further Reading

Discussion in the Pianoworld Forum: Chopin Prelude Pedaling

Video by PIANOO.com and music2me.de: How Does a Digital Piano Produce Sound?