Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course, Book 1: Learn How to Play Piano with Lesson, Theory and Technic (Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course) [Print Replica] Kindle Edition

As an Adult relearning the piano after 30+ years, I purchased 4 different Piano instruction books from Amazon to get me going. This was by far the best. The book is spiral bound, so it lays flat on the piano music sheet holder which is really important. The book introduces a bit of music theory and knowledge on every other page or so - which helps a lot in understanding the other parts of the music besides learning notes. There is a wide range of music to learn (classical, popular, blues, etc) at just the right level at the right time, getting progressively more difficult as you work through the book. It took me about 1 1/2 months to work through the book and I rate it as excellent instruction for anyone wanting to learn or re-learn the piano.

A little background before I get into the real review: My 14 y/o trumpet player daughter has been wanting to learn the piano for years. Because she has C.P. we had been putting it off thinking that trying to coordinate both hands at once and read music would be too frustrating for her. Her trumpet teacher disagreed and recommended she start with the Suzuki method as she has and incredibly good ear and quite a bit of natural musical talent. From my understanding of Suzuki, there is quite a bit of parent involvement required. This is a problem for me given I have limited experience playing an instrument (flute. I really should have listened when my mom said I'd regret giving it up) and absolutely none with the piano. I bought this book to help rectify that, knowing that I'll be sitting in on her weekly lessons and absorbing a lot of information there.

Having only had the book a couple of days, I love it already. The book assumes you are coming to the piano with no prior musical experience and starts from the very beginning. It introduces the musical alphabet and shows where each note falls on the keyboard. When reading from the staff is introduced, the note names are printed right in the note so your eyes are traveling along the staff instead of looking elsewhere. With each lesson on theory you are given exercises and practice tunes that reinforce the lesson. There are also written exercises to really help make those connections solid. You move along fairly quickly, playing simple melodies with each hand separately to playing with both hands. Once harmonic intervals are introduced (pg.26) and you start playing the melody with one hand and harmonics with the other, you really feel like you're making music! It's pretty exciting to go from not knowing where middle C is located to playing Jingle Bells with a bit of harmony in 2 days! I can't wait to continue to grow with this book.

I do plan on adding scales and such to my practice sessions, as these are truly the things that will help you progress and give you a more fundamental understanding of how music is put together. Playing scales and arpeggios are just as important to a musician as stretching is to a runner. They may not be the most fun, but they are essential, which my daughter hates to hear.

Some have said that the song selection leaves a bit to be desired. While I don't disagree that songs like "Tisket, A Tasket", "Lightly Row", and "Aunt Rhody" are juvenile, (these are the songs all young musicians start with. The Good Lord knows I've sat through many a squeaky beginning band performance of them!) they are the type of song that build that foundation for the great things to come. By the time you finish this book you should be able to play songs like "Over the Rainbow" and "Singin' in the Rain". You can also find loads of simple piano music online for free and there's always the option of purchasing books of beginner music if you find that you're board by the selections provided.

Also be aware that this book does not come with the c.d. Not really a problem as there are loads of nice folks who have uploaded videos to youtube of all the songs. Just search for Alfred's Basic Adult Piano and you'll have your pick.

All in all, I really am enjoying learning with this book. I feel like I'm able to grasp the concepts that are introduced and will be able to help my daughter along once her lessons start in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to finishing this book, which I hope will come sooner rather than later, and starting on the next one.

Good book. No CD, but Youtube is better than the CD anyway. Kindly people who play well have put all these pieces on Youtube, labelled, in order, corresponding to the book, played on a real piano, with no other instruments in the background. See for example those by Chanel Harris. You can buy the CD on Amazon, but reviews are not great. Apparently the CD is not a real piano and has synthesized other instruments accompanying and its confusing. Get the book. Use it with Youtube.

I'm in my 40s and wanted to start playing again after about 25 years away from the piano. The course is great and logically builds on itself as you proceed. I actually wish I had this when I played as a kid. Would have progressed much faster. I strongly recommend as someone with a little experience coming back to the piano.

 We bought a piano (Yamaha C2) when our youngest daughter Lia expressed interest in playing the piano in 2009. I turned 50 that year and decided that I wanted to learn to play as well as I always had an interest. I played musical instruments while growing up but never that seriously (no marching band, etc.) so I knew how to read music but never a keyboard based instrument that required two sets of staffs (melody and chord) to be read simultaneously (sometimes the left and the right hands go in opposite directions and mostly at different beats!). So I started with Alfred's All-In-One Course Book 1, then 2, teaching myself how to play (also purchased Book 3 but have only peruse through it but haven't started it yet). Once I learned the basics though, I figured that "Life's too short" and that Alfred's taught me enough fundamentals that I should just start playing music I enjoy for self entertainment. In this video, I play short snippets here and there from Andrew Lloyd Weber's "The Music of The Night" from Phantom of the Opera. I thought it was impossible at first (so many sharps/flats) but you soon realize that you just play on the black keys instead of on the white ones. I wrote the keys and fingers used to play the key (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 convention starting with your thumb) on the notes to simplify and eventually learned to play the whole song. Like most compositions, there are several pages of music but only a fraction of it is unique and the rest are variations on the same theme. I play the only the unique snippets here and there to try to fit the video within the acceptable limit for Amazon Video Review. Anyway, I hope you also tell yourself that "I can do it" and after learning the fundamentals, just start playing like I did as it is quite rewarding (much better than singing since the piano does the heavy lifting). Hope you enjoy! Yes, "you can teach an old dog a new trick."