Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 Plastic Comb – July 1, 1994

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 for adult learners. Easy to follow.

My cousin that was a concert pianist at Carnegie Hall recommended this for my grandson who is a beginner.It’s helping him tremendously.

Perfect step by step manual to learn to read music

I’ve seen people giving the book poor reviews because it doesn’t come with the DVD anymore. You can find all the songs in a single playlist on YouTube if you search for the name of the book.I’m having a lot of fun with this book mostly because the songs are great. There are a few really fun blues riffs and some great traditional American (US) spirituals that are really fun to play. That said, I’m disappointed in its treatment of music theory.The book introduces concepts but doesn’t always explain why they’re important or how they relate to other parts of music theory. For example, there are 3 different types of minor scales - natural, harmonic, and melodic. The book introduces the types and explains how to make them in each key but it doesn’t explain WHY there are 3 different types of minor scales. The answer is super interesting and really helpful but I had to go onto YouTube to learn about it. It would be nice to have a course that you could trust was comprehensive in its explanations about theory so you could be sure you’re not missing anything.I haven’t found anything better, so I would still recommend the book for introductions to concepts. I would just suggest that you supplement the music theory component with other materials. Andrew Huang has an excellent introductory video on YouTube for those who are interested. Gracie Terzian has a more in depth playlist that I also recommend.The book also doesn’t offer much in terms of technique exercises. It offers a few but given how important technique is, especially for beginners to keep from developing poor habits, I would have liked to see more discussion of technique. If you’re looking for technique exercises, there are some wonderful channels on YouTube with really fun exercises that are great for training but also sound really beautiful. I recommend Learn Piano with Jazer Lee, for more advanced exercises and true-piano-lessons.com for beginners.

Spiral book worth it. The teaching is awesome. I am having fun relearning a lot after no lessons for 60 years!!

A nice book. It covers all the basics. As soon as I got it, I read the first 20 pages. It gives you all the information you need to understand music, the keyboard, finger placement, etc. After reading, I started playing and practicing the basic songs on pages 21-24, which teaches using both hands using only one key on each hand at a time. I had them down perfect in probably 10 minutes. The songs after that were very easy to understand and play, but they involved 2 or 3 keys being pressed simultaneously by both hands at the same time. Now that took much more practice to get my fingers co-ordinated. I spent several hours trying all the songs in the book. Most of the songs are ones I like and are very familiar melodies, and therefore easy to play at the correct tempo, speed, and timing without being expert at reading the music. The songs being familiar helped in reading and understanding the music like Quarter Notes, rests, etc. This book contains everything you need to learn to play the piano. I think this is the Must Have book. The first day and I am already playing about half a dozen songs after just a couple of hours on the keyboard. Also, You definitely want to spend the extra bucks and purchase the spiral edition.