Customer Reviews

Piano For Dummies

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was looking for an introductory book for adult piano student. Although I could do without the title "dummies," the cartoons, and the jokes, the meat of this book was the best of all the others on Amazon.

Most of the other books teach very little except simple popular ditties. This book actually had -- yes -- scales and other exercises for both the left and right hands, with fingering techniques simply applied, but fully explained.

And for those who want some tunes, there are (in addition to the standard ditties) actually some worthwhile classical adaptions, such as some of the best-known themes from the Bach cantatas.

I was quite impressed with how much basic and even intermediate material was included in the book, and explained with clarity and simplicity.

Since I read music already, I was able to skip many of the first chapters and get right into the practice and technique material, so I can't comment on how clear the music-reading chapters would be for a total beginner. However, I expect that if they are as good as the rest of the material, they should be fine for that purpose as well.

I bought this book 2 months ago and started practicing an hour from it daily. The results were shockingly great and speedy. After a week of practice I would go back and shoot through the preliminary songs as if they were child's play!

My one problem with it is the way you're presented with practice material. It's never specified how long or often you should practice something before moving on. Just be patient and ONLY MOVE ON ONCE YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH A PIECE. Do that and this minor problem won't affect you at all.

I really like the play along cd. It does help alot. Also, the humorous way in which you're presented with all of the material this book contains will have you learning great amounts of theory and technique without even realizing it. This book is great as a reference book as well.

So, although it's challenging (sight-reading in particular), you'll soon learn that with a little consistence and assiduity you'll be on your way to "tickling the ivories with the best of 'em"!

I bought several books on learning the piano at the same time. I found this book to be the least useful. As several other reviewers mentioned, the author's sense of humor is pathetic and he tries to throw in a "zinger" every other paragraph. "Thats's right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pengiums and parakeets...". Believe me. I not exaggerating on this. I cringed at almost every one of the author's attempts to be humorous. However, this was not enough to discourage me from continuing to read the book. That occurred after having to read over 50 pages before the author presented the first exercise. An excercise that it does not use a middle C hand position, requires you to move your hand, does not indicate which fingers to use for which keys, etc. After looking at this first exercise, I decided not to continue. I suspect that the author has never taught a single piano lession.

I also picked up two books called "Total Piano" and "Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course" both of which I've found quite good so far. If you have a digital piano with a MIDI interface, check out "Teach Me Piano". I've been using it for a few days now, I can't say enough good things about this piece of software.

I bought this book a few years ago before taking formal lessons. My idea was to gain some basics on reading music and piano-playing before engaging a tutor. The book started out o.k. and rather helpful but went totally downhill after something like Chapter 3. When I reached page 80, I couldn't continue reading because the chapters become totally disorganized, the lessons difficult to grasp and not suited for a beginner (especially if you have no one to guide you). The author explains something, presents a short music sheet exercise for you to play and then moves on to another lesson. If you're totally new, you won't be able to tell if you're playing the exercise given correctly (e.g. how to ensure smooth/non-"chopping" playing, observing the correct tempo, counting correctly, etc.). Not having a teacher means there's no one to correct your mistakes. The accompanying CD is not of much help if you have an untrained ear.

I was glad I "dumped" this book because it isn't worth the bother to finish. My advice if you are serious about wanting to learn the piano is to get a good and dedicated piano teacher IMMEDIATELY. No amount of reading could substitute having a real teacher. And your teacher will be able to recommend suitable reading materials. I'm into Grade 4 now (and my 2nd piano tutor whom I find a real gem) and when I think back to Blake Neely's "Piano for Dummies", I realize what a waste of time reading this book had been. What annoyed me most was that Neely tried so hard to be funny... peppering (and wasting) the pages with jokes... when the space could have been used for more useful lessons on playing the instrument.

Overall, I do not recommend this book. There are certainly better guide books in the market as I have discovered. If you're a beginner, it's perhaps useful to start with the trusted Alfred Library/Bastian/John Thompson book-series on piano theory and practice. Good luck!

As a stone cold adult beginner, I thought why not go for the book that sounded as if it was for a stone cold beginner - "Piano For Dummies"?

Well, I certainly am a 'dummy' - shelling out over $20 for this discouraging pap is the dumbest thing I've done in years.

I wrestled with it for quite a few weeks - trying to eke out hard information between the stupid humour and piano facts that I never asked for in the first place, dumb drawings and unhelpful layout. Then I called for a professional, feeling really discouraged. This book doesn't really even let you know at what point you might sit behind a piano and actually try playing? It's that bad.

So I booked myself in with a professional piano teacher who within minutes made me realise it was the book and not me. I showed her the book which she referred to as "dreadful and patronising". She won't even allow me to have it back!

She then handed me these two which are ideal for the older learner:

- Piano For Adults (Bastien) ISBN 0-8497-7300-8
- Accelerated Piano Adventures (Faber) ISBN 1-56939-132-7

The former is my slight preference but both are leagues ahead of "Piano For Dummies". Sorry if that personally offends anyone, author included, but it is truly awful. I've now progressed more in a week than I did in two months with the Dummies book.

Avoid.

Contains a wealth of music theory for the beginner, and as such it's a valuable addition to the beginning student's resources. However, it's not a really good exercise book. The CD included with the book contains blurbs of the music examples in the book, but I don't know WHERE they got the performances, which are of uneven quality and are not particularly good for the listener trying to hear a good piano line.

I have some basic knowledge on Indian classical music. I wanted to learn Electronic Keyboard and hence chose the dummies book. The first few pages were great to learn the basics. Once I crossed chapter 4 I was lost. The important thing I wanted to know was the fingerings. There is no mentioning of extending the fingerings from the basic position. I would rather prefer a lesson & practice approach. When it comes to Music (instruments), the approach must be "build one block over other". Precisely a strong foundation. The Author must emphasise more on practice sessions and most importantly the recommended No. of hours for an average beginner to get hold of the piece. I am sure the book will be really useful if I know the basics of (piano) music or if I'm a student in a music school. Last word, very nice to learn basics, misses important aspect....Fingerings....

This book is GREAT! It is helpful to have some type of background before reading it but still a very helpful book. It comes with a CD so you can hear what they are talking about in the book -very helpful for those of us who prefer to play by ear rather then read music.

The information is short and to the point - stuff, no fluff. The information made sense. I was playing so much better in just the first day of reading it.

Stick with it and read it over and over. It sinks in and makes sense - stay with it.

If you hate the title, I understand. I do too! But the bottom line is that it really is a good intro book for an adult.

If you really don't have a clue why flats and sharps have two different names, but are really the same key, this book explains all.

In reality, I am using the book to teach my children. I read, get the concept then translate.

Worth the money.

You may not like the sense of humor, the book may not cover every little nuance of proper piano technique, and yes, it has that annoying word "dummies" in its title. Agreed.

However, try this on for size: I'm learning to play the piano and I can attribute that directly to this book. I found this book more accessible than three other piano books I checked out in my library; the pace and organization are just right; and there's a helpful accompanying CD that lets one measure up to "the real thing."

I've had very little musical experience in my life, but thanks to this book I can play quite a few songs after only a month and a half and I'm confident that I'm on the road to being a pretty darn decent pianist. Assuredly, I expect that at some point I'll need a real human being to steer me along, but at this point there's no need to spend $30-$40 an hour to learn musical fundamentals that can easily be obtained in a book.

I can confidently recommend this book.