Tips to Strengthen Your "Weak" Hand for Handpan Playing

When you start studying and practicing handpan, you may notice a difference in agility, strength, and overall performance between your right and left hands and arms. Sometimes it feels more natural to play and express yourself with one hand, while the other seems weaker, less coordinated, or slower to respond.

Don’t worry, this is much more common than it seems. Developing skill and coordination on both sides of the body is part of the learning journey with the handpan.

In this article, we’ll share some suggestions on how to approach these natural physical differences and turn your handpan practice into an exercise in coordination and motor development, without losing the musical, relaxing, and enjoyable side of playing.

Differences Between Both Sides of the Body Are Normal — But They Can Be Reduced

All of us have differences between the right and left sides of our bodies. Whether we are right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous, naturally asymmetrical, dealing with physical limitations, or simply used to favoring one side over the other, our muscles and posture adapt over time. Usually, this doesn’t cause problems in everyday life.

However, when playing the handpan, it’s beneficial for both arms and hands to become as equally skilled as possible.

Reducing the performance gap between one side and the other can help you reach a higher level in your interaction with the instrument, allowing for quicker posture changes, playing multiple handpans at once, and switching hands more naturally depending on the musical phrase or composition.

Unlike other instruments, such as string instruments, the handpan requires both hands to perform essentially the same task: gently striking the notes to produce the clearest and most beautiful sound possible.

On a guitar, for example, it’s perfectly normal for one hand to specialize in a specific type of movement, like forming chords, without ever needing to learn the role of the other hand, such as fingerpicking.

With the handpan, however, both hands usually need to perform very similar movements. And when they move together, you’ll definitely notice the differences between them.

As mentioned above, these differences come from body lateralization and muscle conditioning, so improving the weaker or less agile hand is not something that happens overnight. Any type of learning takes time, especially when it involves both physical conditioning and neurological adaptation.

Understand Your Difficulties

It’s natural to begin your handpan journey dreaming about playing beautiful songs, composing music, and relaxing with the sound of the instrument. But in the beginning, many players struggle to achieve the sound they want because of the difference in ability between their hands.

Still, practicing handpan isn’t only about playing beautiful melodies. To develop balanced skills on both sides of the body, technical and focused exercises are an essential part of the journey toward becoming a more confident and well-rounded player. 

Through these exercises (which may feel repetitive or even physically challenging at first) you’ll be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses, understand which movements or habits need refinement, and track your progress as you work toward balancing both hands.

You can find handpan exercises focused on movement and technique through videos, online courses, or more personalized guidance from a teacher, either in person or online.

Practice, But Don’t Overpractice

It may sound counterintuitive, but it’s not a good idea to train only your weaker hand. This matters for two important reasons.

First, you want to avoid creating physical imbalance by exhausting the less prepared side of your body, which can actually make movements less precise and more prone to mistakes.

Second, both sides of the body need to continue developing together. Coordinated training between both hands is essential for getting the best sound and control from the handpan.

A good strategy is to begin your practice session with a few minutes of exercises involving both hands, take a short break, and then spend a few minutes focusing specifically on the weaker hand. To finish the session, return to exercises that use both hands together.

Another effective approach — one that avoids frustration and physical stress — is to simply double the repetitions on the weaker side during short study sessions. In other words, if you practice a movement once with your stronger hand, repeat it twice with the weaker one.

For students taking lessons, whether live or through recorded online courses, there are often specific exercises designed to strengthen hand coordination and technique before moving on to full songs.

And it’s worth repeating: avoid dedicating an entire practice session only to the weaker hand or only to the most difficult movements. That approach can become discouraging very quickly, since the temporary lack of ability naturally creates more mistakes and frustration, which can make your relationship with the handpan less enjoyable.

Observe and Repeat

Many times, we notice a performance difference between one side of the body and the other, but we can’t clearly identify exactly what’s causing it.

That’s why carefully observing your hands and arms during practice can be extremely valuable. Pay attention to the movements, positions, and small details that make your stronger hand feel more natural and efficient.

Then, try to reproduce those same movements with the weaker hand, but more slowly.

By practicing in a slower and more controlled way, you gradually teach the less conditioned muscles how they should move by copying the stronger side. Over time, with consistent and coordinated practice with both sides, the weaker hand will naturally develop more speed, agility, and precision.

For some players, recording practice sessions with the camera focused on the hands and instrument can be incredibly useful. Watching yourself play helps identify specific difficulties and makes it easier to track progress in speed, accuracy, coordination, and sound quality.

Another excellent method, especially for students following online handpan courses, is slowing down the playback speed of difficult sections in instructional videos. This allows you to carefully observe the movements and repeat them at a comfortable pace until you can eventually play them smoothly at full speed.

Structuring an Effective Practice Session

As mentioned earlier, an enjoyable and productive practice session should include exercises for both hands, moments of free and expressive playing, and specific training focused on strengthening the weaker side.

Here’s an example of how a practice session might be structured to help balance both hands. But remember: every student is unique. These are not strict rules, and you should adapt them to your own needs, or work with a teacher who can guide you personally.

To practice effectively, you first need to know exactly what exercise, technique, or song you want to work on.

Let’s imagine that a student is struggling with a specific finger technique in the left hand during a section of a song.

The session could begin by playing the entire piece and identifying the exact source of the difficulty: is it the speed, the movement itself, or the accuracy of the strike?

Next, the student can analyze how the right hand (the stronger hand in this example) performs the technique, and then try to imitate it with the left hand at a much slower pace, even if it feels extremely slow at first.

During the same session, both hands should also practice the movement together at a reduced speed so they continue developing in coordination.

Gradually, the speed can increase over time. But it’s important to remember that the weaker hand will not suddenly reach the same level as the stronger one in a single practice session. Improvement is gradual.

Sometimes, simply slowing down isn’t enough. You may need to break difficult sections into smaller parts and create very short, focused exercises for the weaker hand.

When doing this, remember to alternate isolated exercises for one hand with coordinated exercises involving both hands, especially for movements that are physically demanding or technically challenging.

Study and Enjoy Your Handpan

As you continue developing your handpan skills and learning new techniques, it’s essential to remember one thing: practice and enjoyment should always go hand in hand.

Even if you still face challenges because one hand is less developed, or if certain songs feel difficult because of coordination issues, the handpan exists to bring satisfaction, creativity, relaxation, and emotional expression.

So while you improve your technique, don’t forget to play with feeling and emotion, allowing your own personality and musicality to shine through your practice.