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

by Brad Hill (Author) "If you are reading this page (and something tells me you are), you may have recently decided to start playing the piano..." (more)
Key Phrases: piano maintenance, concert benches, home keyboards, Music Speak, Key Thought, Grace Notes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Whether you are an aspiring concert pianist or just want to play keyboards in your own band, The Complete Idiot's Guide(R) to Playing Piano and Electronic Keyboards, Second Edition will give you just what you need to know. From reading music and learning chords, to understanding music notation or buying an instrument, expert author Brad Hill tells gets you started. With more music and expanded practice sessions, the new edition of this already popular book will be a necessity for the beginner. Learn posture, positionings, fingerings, notations, drills, and advice from the masters. Also, learn how to fake your way through accompaniment, stay motivated to practice and advance to the intermediate level.

About the Author

Brad Hill is a seasoned piano performer, teacher, and writer. He has written dozens of books on keyboard playing and MIDI, and has recorded several albums of original keyboard music. His newest book, Going Digital: A Musician's Guide to Technology, was published in December 2000 by Schirmer Books. He is based in Princeton, NJ.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 2 edition (August 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028641558
• ISBN-13: 978-0028641553
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #796,324 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, but poorly proofread!, January 26, 2002

By	Naniyab Izniss "LLC" (Hapiville, OR) - See all my reviews

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! :-)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is horrible, July 17, 2006

By	Charles Johnson (Escondido, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars sigh, August 26, 2007

By	Paul M. Higgins (Saint Petersburg, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Piano, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

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.