Customer Reviews

Play Piano in a Flash!

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

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.

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.

"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.

Bought this book after seeing Scott on PBS fund raiser. Had recently taken Patrick Hardman's 1-day class "Play Instant Piano" and was exploring other books on the topic. Scott's book and video are okay as introductions to the approach, but his content (songs and techniques) is a big disappointment: more pep talk than content, more encouragement than here's-how-you-do-it. The Dummies piano book by Blake Neely proved far more useful to me, as has also Neely's book on How to Play Piano from a Fake Book. Measured against Neely and Hardman, Scott's marketing skills are superior but unfortunately he does not deliver what these other people do: Really help you play easily and smoothly.

This is a great tool for those who don't want to be a classical pianist but just want to have fun! The author gets to the point quickly with no "fluff" and tells you exactly what you need to do to sound good immediately. Although I had taken a few piano lessons as a child many years ago, I couldn't play a thing. Now I am able to play songs that I want to play, not songs my teacher wanted me to play... Will it take some effort? Yes, but now I am looking forward to playing what is fun instead of "Chopsticks"! It is also a lot cheaper than lessons...

I took piano lessons for 9 years from a classical pianist, as an adult. I had advanced to a fairly high level and could play some hard stuff - pretty well I think. But I never could sit down and just play the piano like I wanted to. It became too much like work, and I quit taking lessons about 12 years ago. But I never lost my love of music, or the desire to play. I have been searching for the perfect sheet music for years and playing off and on without any great success.

I watched his show on PBS a month ago. At first I thought "this is stupid - you are not telling me anything". But I started to think about it more and the next day I bought a fake book to give it a whirl. It has been almost a revelation for me. I was hung up on reading music and not playing it. Now I am having more fun playing piano than ever. The benefits of having played for years, or trying to play for years, are paying off. And suddenly, the "music theory" side of it is much more interesting and have started restudying some old theory books that I had from before (but were not interesting before). Maybe people who never played the piano before would benefit from taking some lessons at the same time. This might lead me to try to find a teacher who teaches using a similar approach.

The book really reflects more of a philosophy or approach to playing the piano, which is the secret. I regret that I did not see this about 25 years ago.

I saw the piano guy on pbs and since I had been dinking around with a casio keyboard, I thought maybe I should try his book and cd. I can read music since I had played trumpet in h.s. 45 yrs ago. I already knew that piano would not be easy. The best thing about Scott's book and talk is that it motivated me to try to play. Although he continually tries to simplify by pointing out lead sheets and learning a favorite song, you still have to learn those chords. So, you can only simplify to a point. I got a chord finder as suggested in his book and it's a big help. I also got 2 fake books and Hal Leonard's EKM Complete Instruction Course (It also has chord charts). Yeah, you can pick any song to try and learn, but I found it was much easier to pick one with 5 or fewer chords to start. That's a disadvantage of not learning to read the bass clef--You have to remember the chords to play at tempo. However, the piano guy does try to get you motivated and without that, you'll never even try.

I got this book the other day, read through it, and then reread it. Then I sat down with a song I had always wanted to play, practiced the chords, and played it. Good grief! I took lessons, bought theory books, practiced, practiced, practiced. And yet I never played "Bewitched" in entirety. I did last night. I must say to my ear, I sounded pretty darn good. If you want to play for your own enjoyment and don't plan on a gig at Carnegie Hall, buy this wonderful book.

I took some lessons in grade school in the 50's in violin. In two years of lessons I don't remember ever playing a song that sounded right. I bought this book and skimmed through the high lights and learned to play a song that sounded like a real song the same day. Unbelieveable, I still can't believe I am playing piano. I have learned about 5 songs now. It takes me two or three sessions of 15 to 20 minutes each to learn the melody of a new song and then a few minutes to learn the chords for the song and I am off to the races. It takes quite a few run throughs to get the timing down but when I do I can play the song and have fun doing it.

If you don't have a clue how to play piano but would like to for your own enjoyment. You have to buy this book.

"Play Piano in a Flash" covers some, but not all, of the basics you need to know in order to play piano. It also gives you some improvisational techniques that you can use when you become an intermediate player. Because this book provides an incomplete coverage of beginner topics, it should not be your primary source of instruction. It does make a good secondary piano book though.

The best thing about "Play Piano in a Flash" is that it inspires you to WANT to play the piano. Few music books do this. Scott Houston rightfully believes that people are more likely to continue learning to play an instrument if they play songs that they WANT to play, rather than songs they are TOLD to play. If you don't love classical music, for example, you will lose interest if you spend much of your time practicing classical music.

Scott Houston's writing style gets a bit annoying. The corny stuff that made his "Play Piano in a Flash" special on PBS so interesting just doesn't come across well in print. However, this isn't a novel; it's not like you're buying a piano book for its excellent prose. The way to judge a book like this is by what you get out of it. I found that I was much more interested in learning to play the piano after watching his PBS special and reading this book.

If you were to buy only one introductory piano book, I would recommend The FastTrack Keyboard Method - Book 1 by Blake Neely and Gary Meisner. But there's no reason to only buy one piano book. In fact, these two books compliment each other quite well.