166 of 170 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Put In a Little Work, This Book Delivers, December 5, 2003
I'm 43 years old and have never played piano before. That is, not until now. I got Scott's book about 2 months ago after seeing his special on PBS. The reduction from 2 staffs to a single staff with chord symbols made sense to me, so I took a chance. And boy, I'm glad that I did. As others have said, the book is very entertaining and helps build your confidence that "Hey, I can really do this." Page 36 is especially helpful in showing you how determine finger placement for all major, minor, seventh, etc. chords.
So, armed with this new-found knowledge and confidence, I made another wise decision. I ordered several "fake books" by Hal Leonard Publishing (all can be ordered through Amazon) containing the lead sheet music with chord symbols that Scott suggests. I now have "Your First Fake Book," "The Best Fake Book Ever," "The Ultimate Fake Book," "Gospel's Greatest," and "The Ultimate Christmas Fake Book."
Now, here's where I get to brag. I have learned 14 new songs in just over a month! These are the songs that I have learned in the order I learned them:
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Do-Re-Mi
When The Saints Go Marching In
Seventy-six Trombones
Blue Suede Shoes
Maria
Beauty and the Beast
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Angels we Have Heard on High
Auld Lang Syne
Away in a Manger
Frosty the Snowman
Deck the Hall
Do You Hear What I Hear
And the best part is that I have learned them all by heart now. That will leave my books free for those who want to sing along because all of the books I have mentioned come complete with the lyrics. As you can see, I'm quickly trying to learn some Christmas songs to impress my family and friends this year.
Now, here is the best part for you. I know you can do it too. I spend just one hour per night practicing. It usually takes me 2 nights (i.e., 2 hours) to completely learn a song and to start to play it reasonably well. Almost every night I spend the first part of practice playing my entire repertoire before going on to the next song. This system seems to work very well for me.
I know you can do it too. Scott is right. The best way to learn chords is by playing them in songs. Bless you, Scott, for unlocking the dream. I love the piano!
P.S. My 6-year-old son has been taking traditional lessons for 2 years now. He is currently learning a little 2-liner called "Grumpy old Troll." But I can see a little envy in his eyes when I sit down and whip out a nice version of "Beauty and the Beast." We may start to have a problem if he sees his father getting too good too soon.
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288 of 303 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS?, February 26, 2004
This review is from: Play Piano in a Flash: Play Your Favorite Songs Like a Pro -- Whether You've Had Lessons or Not! (Paperback)
Ask yourself two questions:
Question One: Do you want to play classical piano on a world stage?
Question Two: Do you want to play piano in your own home for your own entertainment?
If your answer to the first question is "yes," then this book is not for you. And Mr. Houston says as much on several occasions in both the book and the video.
It seems that those reviews that express a strong negative opinion of this work, start with the assumption that one should only answer "yes" to the first question and one should never approach music in the spirit of the second.
People considering this work should ask themselves specifically what their goal is.
If your answer to the second question is "yes," then this work will spend half of its energy overcoming any reservation you might have about your ability to play the piano for personal enjoyment.
In this work, Mr. Houston has to battle in two directions.
One, he has to overcome the "piano anxiety" that people accrue as the result of years of taking lessons in a style of teaching that prepares the student to answer "yes" to question one.
Two, once he has cleared away assumptions learned from "classical" piano lessons, he demonstrates an approach to piano playing that is easier to implement then it is to explain. I don't think one should fault Mr. Houston simply because his method is easy to implement, once you understand it.
It is true that Mr. Houston does not outline a complicated and intricate regimen that explains the many aspects of music. That is not his goal. Rather he wishes to put the individual at a keyboard with music that can be learned as rapidly as possible. And if you diligently follow his advice you will soon find yourself making music at a keyboard that most people enjoy and find fulfilling.
However, it will take effort on your part, a fact which Mr. Houston underscores several times.
I found I was very satisfied with this program. In addition to the book, I purchased the VHS version of the video (and now wish I had purchased the DVD as I would be able to read the music better and digitally zoom in on Mr. Houstons fingers at the key board).
I also purchased the "Snarling Dogs" chord finder and found it to be very helpful in figuring out such arcane symbols as "D7dim" etc.
I purchased a fake book, "Your First Fake Book" and found that I needed to work at a piece about an hour per day for two weeks before I became proficient. But I would add that I did not know any of the chords. I've also found that the chords from the first song show up with a good deal of regularity in most of the others.
Mr. Houston asks a pertinent question, "would you rather learn hundreds of chords in the abstract or would you rather learn five or six chords and play your favorite song?"
I know that this system has worked for me, given my goals and I know which way I would prefer to learn chords.
I also have a high-speed Internet connection and did not purchase the CD (which has exapmles of blues styles and other examples), but rather I downloaded the Mp3 files that Mr. Houston provides at his web site, free of charge.
If one expects to work on a daily basis for one's own entertainment, this particular package will do very nicely.
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201 of 211 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Play the piano in weeks instead of years, June 9, 2002
"Play the Piano in a Flash!" teaches how to play the piano using chords and melody lines instead of the "classical" technique. Why would you want to learn this method? Actually that is easy to answer, other than classical piano pieces, most piano players use this method and it is the easiest method to learn.
Scott Houston teaches you to play in this style and has you playing your favorite pieces in just hours of practice instead of weeks and weeks of learning to read notes and painstaking lessons. You will not learn classical concert piano techniques, but you will learn to play your favorite pieces with confidence.
If you just want to learn to play piano for the purpose of having fun or entertaining at a party or playing for a pop, rock, or similar group then this is a wonderful guide. If you want to learn classical piano then it is not what you need. Absolutely the easiest method and a lot of fun, I enjoyed the book greatly.... and can actually play a few tunes after about four hours of practice.
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