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

Ok, first off, I actually like this book, and I actually like it a little better than 3 stars. Here's my problem: When I looked at piano books on Amazon, this manual and "Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course: The new, easy and fun way to teach yourself to play, Book & CD" both had excellent ratings. In fact AMAZON recommended them being bought together.So I bought them both.I just started them a few days ago (I thought I would use one for a few days, then use the other and decide which one I liked better to complete it before I finished the other one entirely.)This book and "Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course: The new, easy and fun way to teach yourself to play, Book & CD" are basically the SAME BOOK!This one has more "homework" exercises (writing in the manual itself, which I don't care to do.) But the progression is the same, the songs are the same, almost page for page. (At least, I'm 40 pages into each, and they're the same.)So now I have real buyer's remorse... one of these is redundant.

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.

Its been over 50 years since I last touched a piano (I’m 62). I play a little guitar, but my music reading ability had regressed to beginner status. I bought a keyboard and picked up this book based on good reviews. The first few pages looked very simple, but I decided I would read and complete every lesson, and I’m so glad I did! Having gotten half way through the first book in a week I realize I have learned things my piano teacher never did. I’m getting more comfortable reading music, and feel like as long as I stick with these books I will continue to progress. I am grateful to have found this All-In-One series.

So, as far as interactive lesson books go, this one is unbeatable!I have another Alfred's book for level one and it is about half as interactive. You can see from the pictures that there are fill-in-the-blank sections and pre-labeled sections.If you're serious about taking the necessary time to learn this instrument fully, and the music completely, I'd recommend this book over the one with the pinkish cover and more straight on view of a grand (with a flower vase on it, that version is on Amazon, too, and by the same authors). I have both, and the pinkish one progresses much faster and seems to have a bigger emphasis on chord progression/learnin by by chord, and without a single worksheet.THIS book starts you off with some physical warm-ups, then worksheets and warm ups, before giving you a short melody that incorporates the steps and bits of theory you were just working on. I'd recommend getting the spiral-bound, too. It sits flat easier.There are supposed to be accompanying CD, but I'm not sure if mine came with them or not (I'm a trucker and have taken on leaning with a keyboard and this book, wish me luck!); I wasn't home when this was delivered, and didn't think to look for it when I gathered up my stuff to hit the big road again.

I'm learning to play the piano and read music at age of 63, and this book is tremendously helpful. I work on each section for a day or two, and am pleased at just how much I'm learning. Not too difficult, not too easy.

The main issue I have with it is that it doesn't even mention that the UK and the US use totally different musical terms and the British terms are not given in this book, whereas every British book I have at least mentions the difference so beginners are aware of it. Consequently, a lot of very happy British beginners have given 5-star reviews, apparently with no idea that they have learned entirely incorrect terminology. Whereas we in Britain use 'crotchet' and 'minim' etc., this book refers only to 'quarter note' and 'half note'. More annoyingly still, a note - the kind you play as opposed to the written kind - is referred to as a 'tone'. In the UK, a 'tone' is a distance between 2 notes. So the pattern for all major scales is Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone. A semitone is half a tone. This will be very confusing later on if you have learned to refer to individual notes as tones. The Americans call a tone a 'step' and a semitone a 'half step'.If you are using other repertoire or teaching material for beginners, this book won't be compatible with most of them as a lot of methods teach starting with both thumbs on middle C and the fingers moving outwards from there. This book starts with the right thumb on middle C. But the left hand starts on the C below, with the little finger on C below middle C. This means a lot of the fingering you have learned for early tunes in other books won't apply here.I got this book as a more adult supplement to my main beginner's method, which is aimed at children, with the aim of expanding my repertoire. In this respect, it'll be fine. It starts at the beginning with each hand and teaches you how to read notes from scratch too. There's a sizeable amount of theory included and a good range of pieces, as well as some decent material on chords. The spiral-bound edition lays nice and flat but does not include the CD, not that you really need it. If you want to hear the pieces, most of them are on YouTube now.

If your wanting to teach yourself piano/keyboard at home this book is excellent, I bought a piano as I wanted to start a new hobbie and also wanted a productive distraction from my bad anxiety, I bought this book as I was struggling with leaving the house at the time so wasn’t keen on going for lessons, it’s so easy to use and learn, easy to read and understand and you really do learn so much! I’m only halfway through the book and can already read most sheet music , understand all the different symbols and their meanings and can play with two hands easily , definitely recommend

This is a review of the version ISBN 0-88284-816-6. I've made that clear because there are different versions about, with or without a CD and with different numbers of pages.This version does not have a CD (not needed in my opinion) and is 159 pages long.Before starting this book, I'd played guitar using tab, but could not play piano or read sheet music. I'm now up to page 117, so feel that I can review this through my own experience.With some determination, I have learned entirely from reading this book and have not taken any piano lessons. This book has given me all I needed in terms of knowledge and confidence.The plastic comb spine is great as the pages spread easily. The lessons are designed for adults to learn without a tutor. It's worked for me so far.The only downside is that a lot of the songs are cheesy (eg: Kum-Ba-Yah, Michael Row The Boat Ashore). However, they are OK because each song has something in it - a new challenge - that made me forget the cheesiness and focus on trying to play it properly.Helpful Hints:1. Make sure you fully understand every bit before moving on to the next page. Take your time.2. Learning takes effort. It's about the journey, rather than getting to any finish line. It's not a race!3. Make the effort to figure out how to play pieces where you don't know the tune, without help from external sources, because this really embeds the knowledge. It has done with me anyway! Then hear how it should be done by going to YouTube (see point 4), and you'll be so proud that you figured it out for yourself.4. There is a man who has made a lesson on YouTube for every tune in this version of the book. Although he seems rather weary at times, I've grown to love what he has done. If you really get stuck, seek him out.5. You don't need a CD because of point 4 above :)In conclusion:I definitely recommend this book. Hope my review helps your buying decision!

This is a very good tutorial for teenage or adult students - the writing style is engaging and there is an effort to teach some theory and familiarise the students with the various intervals, as well as just getting them playing a few simple songs.Of course it is better to get an actual teacher, but if you don't have the financial resources to pay for one or cannot fit lessons into your schedule then this book makes a reasonable substitute in my opinion.

I bought a few beginners books to try when I started to learn to play and this book by far is the best iv used. It's really easy to understand and the little exercises you get in it are brilliant for getting things to stick in your head especially when learning to read music, it also advances quickly enough so that you don't get bored. In a week iv gone from playing oh when the saints with 1 finger to playing with both hands using 3 finger chords. Definitely recommend.