How do you do a black key glissando on the piano?

Question

I've been playing the piano for seven years now and I've never come across a piece having to play black key glissandos until now. I asked my teacher for help and when I tried practicing it several times, my thumb started getting rashes and red bumps and it really hurt. So does any piano player out there know how to do black key glissandos without hurting the thumb too much?

Answer 1

I assume your glissando is going down and not up?
For this I always put my fingers together and "wipe" the keys. So I do not use the thumb at all. But even with the thumb it's just a matter of practice and not becoming cramped. But I would recommend the first way.

Answer 2

black key glissando? be honest i really don't know what this really is but i would assume to be an arpeggio using all black keys, if so the difficulty will depend on what the sequence of notes are and how fast you need to play it. i tried Eb then Bb in ascending and descending and it's already quite difficut to play it fast (1/4 time 120 max).

my advise is play it lightly to avoid damage to your thumb, play it in a slightly staccato manner to increase the speed , also if your other hand got nothing to do at the time, use two hands. again this will depend on the piece you are playing.

if you played piano for 7 years, you must have come across with this kind in some form, i mean when you do the arpeggio of Eb minor, it's all black key.