Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Piano (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

THE VERDICT: Although otherwise well-written, the 2002 edition has errors. Perhaps a corrected edition (or at least a page of addenda & corrections) will be published soon?

This book is very informative, and written in a style that is accessible to the beginner. The main body of the text explains things clearly and directly, and the background information is mostly presented in sidebars so that it is possible to read the text without getting bogged down in tangential details, but those details are there if you want them. It's an enjoyable, fun book.

UNFORTUNATELY, the actual musical notation is full of errors! The book has text explaining music and the piano, and this text is accompanied by music in the familiar form of notes on the musical staff. But the staff has errors, either in the notation or in that it depicts a different song than is described in the text! For example, on page 97, "Here Comes The Bride" has dotted-quarter notes that should be dotted-eigth notes. On page 116, the text describes the song "My Favorite Things", but the song depicted on the staff is "Greensleeves". There are other errors as well.

If you have some musical background already, you can recover from these errors and figure out what is supposed to be happening, but this book might cause excessive confusion in a younger student who is already not quite so enthusiastic with their piano lessons! :-)

Aggressively unhelpful; meandering, rambling style with terrible jokes, terrible prose, and worst of all, a dearth of actual practice lessons. The majority of the book is taken up with third-rate 'scholarship' about the history of piano-related instruments, or with minutiae about electronic keyboards. Avoid at all costs.

The book is great!!! I have limited musical knowledge (what I learned in grammar school) and this book helped me regain what I had previously learned and allowed me to build on it by creating a fun, relaxed atmosphere and always with humour. Thanks.

I don't particularly care for the Idiots and Dummies boks because the title alone speaks down to you, but this book is the crown jewel of bad.
Every paragraph, and I do mean every pragraph contains some lame joke, for what reason? I don't know.
And I could only find a few places where he actually told you which finger to put on which key. Isn't that the point of a book on how to play the piano?
Take my advice, don't waste your money on this book.

I've ben playng piano for over 40 years. I teach piano and also playa few other instruments, and I like to purchase different books to try to find new ideas and knowledge.

This book covers a lot of material that a person taking traditional lessons might not learn, such as history of keyboard instruments, how to chose a piano, using keyboards, etc. This is great material that can help in educating someone about their instrument. Of course, it doesn't necessarily make you a better pianist.

I agree with others that 99% of the jokes should have been left out and were actually distracting.

The material tries to cover the basics. I've yet to find one all inclusive book on how to play the piano. Piano isn't something that is possible to learn really quickly or overnight. Someone can learn to "play" something that sounds okay, but to learn all of the nuances takes years and you never really can learn everything. Playing piano is physical, mental, and coordination of the two and so many things that take years to develop--like an athlete but even more so.

So, this book, along with using some other beginning books and the necessary time put in reading and practice, can help a newbie learn to play. But, being a teacher, I do always recommend lessons. A teacher can help a beginner with technique, to stop bad habits before they become habits, and to learn to listen to what they are playing--these are very hard skills for a beginner to acquire on their own.

When I purchased this book, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I'm pleased with my purchase. I'm new to the music scene and decided to start my self lessons with the Hal Leonard series. Even though I've enjoyed the Hal Leonard series, I felt that something was still missing. So I purchased this book, it is informative, user friendly and easy to understand. I have used this book as a reference on many occasions.

It's not going to make you a pro but it's a nice step towards being able to play.

I refer to this and use this as a piano teacher. Its like a dictionary for piano learning.

The book was brand new, pretty much. Just like I expected it to be. I look forward to continue purchasing items in such great shape.

Yes, the title says it all!

Trust me!