Is the video course included?

No — the 98-lesson video course (Super Fingers Essential) is not included with the ebook. The course covers all the exercises from the book and more, in seven modules across about fifteen hours of video lessons. It is included with Pro Membership, and Pro Membership is open at any time.

Can I use the book without the course?

Yes. Every exercise carries a written explanation of the technique, and the arm movements are drawn into the score for clarity. The book is designed to stand on its own.

How quickly can I expect results?

Some students finish the book in twelve months, others in twenty-four. The variable is daily consistency and care with the slow phase — not talent. Results depend on both the method and the work you put in: the more closely you follow the instructions, the better the result. Give it time.

What level do I need to be to follow the book?

The book is written for both beginners and advanced students. Beginners and advanced players both work with it because every exercise can be practised slowly or fast — what changes is the tempo, the attention, and the level of detail you bring. Wherever you start, you will finish the book a better pianist.

Will there be a follow-up series?

Yes. The full plan is four volumes — Essential (the current book), Progressive, Advanced, and Transcendental. Many exercises for Books 2 and 3 — and a few for Book 4 — are already drafted. Lars wants to see how the first volume lands with students before shaping the follow-up, so each subsequent book reflects what the first one actually taught him about how students use the material.

Super Fingers · Book 1

Super Fingers — Essential Piano Technique

Sixty exercises that train finger independence and arm technique together — written by Lars Nelissen for pianists who want their technique to catch up with the music they want to play.

Finger IndependenceArm Technique60 Exercises

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What you already know

You practise. The fingers and the arm still aren't doing what they need to do.

The fingers feel locked the moment you try to play fast. You can hear what the passage should sound like, but the hand won’t let you get there.

You have practised scales for years. They still come out mechanical — a bump at the thumb, a stiffness across the keys, a sound that never quite opens.

The forearm tightens whenever the music gets loud. Your teacher said relax, and your hand tightened anyway, because nobody explained what to relax into.

Sixty graded exercises.

Each one trains a specific coordination between finger and arm — not as two separate systems, but as one. The exercises include all twenty-four major and minor scales, organised so that what you build on page one carries into everything that follows.

A three-phase practice strategy.

Every exercise is worked in three phases: slow and hands-separate, hands-together with arm movement, then continuous play with gradual speed. The same strategy applies across the whole book, so each exercise becomes a small technical study rather than a finger drill.

Written instructions on every page.

Each exercise carries a clear explanation of the technique, with the arm movements drawn into the score for clarity. You can work through the method without the video course — that is how the book is designed.

A real student, on video

A student on what the book actually changed.

“For over two years, I’ve been taking piano lessons with Lars. He also introduced me to his own lesson book: Super Fingers. This book challenges me with finger exercises, helps me build speed, improves coordination in my “difficult” fingers, and warms up my hands. A demanding book, with solid exercises and clear explanations. Highly recommended!”

Jasmijn Leijser

Piano Student

“It is quite an interesting and fresh look at the old problem. Whatever you think or believe in, there is no escape from humble practicing. I think this book provides ways of building strength and accuracy that I would call this very foundation indeed. Do I recommend the book? Definitely yes!!”

Michael

Piano Student

Why this method

No other method goes into detail about arm technique as this method does.

Most collections of exercises train the fingers and leave the arm out. Super Fingers trains both, together, from the first exercise — with the arm movement drawn into the score, the practice strategy spelled out on every page, and the coordination treated as the point rather than a footnote.

A student practising at the piano using the Super Fingers method — the Super Fingers book is visible on the music desk

The teacher behind the book

A direct line from Rubinstein. And a long search of his own.

Three names, one chain — and a teacher who spent decades figuring out what to do with what he was given.

Lars Nelissen studied for seven years with Avi Schönfeld — himself a direct student of Arthur Rubinstein. Twenty-five years of teaching since, most of them spent on a single technical problem: how the fingers and the forearm actually coordinate at speed, and why training the fingers alone leaves a ceiling no amount of practice gets you past. Super Fingers is what that work settled into — sixty exercises, trained as one coordinated system.

The book is the result. Sixty fundamental exercises, and a way of practising them that finally treats finger independence and arm technique as one piece of work.

Lars Nelissen in Moscow — piano teacher and author of Super Fingers

Endorsement from Lars’s teacher

“Lars has been a student in my piano class at the conservatory for several years. I highly appreciate his musicality, artistic qualities and imagination. His creativity gives me the feeling he’ll be an excellent teacher, therefore I recommend him warmly.”

Avi SchönfeldPiano Professor & Composer

The book