(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best books about pianos

We found 1,131 Reddit comments discussing the best books about pianos. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 360 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.

42. Big Book of Beginner's Piano Classics: 83 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements (Book & Downloadable MP3) (Dover Music for Piano)

    Features:
  • Dover Publications
Big Book of Beginner's Piano Classics: 83 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements (Book & Downloadable MP3) (Dover Music for Piano)
Specs:
Height10.92 Inches
Length8.17 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateJune 2008
Weight0.743 Pounds
Width0.32 Inches
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46. Mel Bay Master Accordion Scale Book With Jazz Scale Studies

Used Book in Good Condition
Mel Bay Master Accordion Scale Book With Jazz Scale Studies
Specs:
Height11 Inches
Length8.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateJanuary 2016
Weight0.53 Pounds
Width0.19 Inches
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48. Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels

Used Book in Good Condition
Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels
Specs:
Height11 Inches
Length8.75 Inches
Number of items1
Weight0.3527396192 Pounds
Width0.25 Inches
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51. Piano Lessons, Bk 1 (Faber Edition: The Waterman / Harewood Piano Series)

    Features:
  • Faber Music Ltd
Piano Lessons, Bk 1 (Faber Edition: The Waterman / Harewood Piano Series)
Specs:
Height8.5 Inches
Length5 Inches
Number of items1
Weight0.61288508836 Pounds
Width0.5 Inches
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52. John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course Part 1

    Features:
  • BOOK
  • 40 pages
  • Size: 11" x 8-1/2"
  • Author: John Thompson
  • ISBN: 877180121
John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course Part 1
Specs:
Height11 Inches
Length8.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateNovember 2005
Weight0.28660092188493 Pounds
Width0.109 Inches
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54. Thomas "Fats" Waller : The Great Solos, 1929-1937

    Features:
  • 128 pages
  • Size: 12" x 9"
  • Arranger: Paul Posnak
  • ISBN: 793572797
Thomas "Fats" Waller : The Great Solos, 1929-1937
Specs:
Height12 Inches
Length9 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMay 1998
Weight0.9149183873 Pounds
Width0.3 Inches
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55. A Dozen a Day Book 1 (A Dozen a Day Series)

    Features:
  • 28 pages
  • Size: 12" x 9"
  • Author: Edna Mae Burnam
  • ISBN: 877180318
A Dozen a Day Book 1 (A Dozen a Day Series)
Specs:
Height12 Inches
Length9 Inches
Number of items1
Weight0.35 Pounds
Width0.142 Inches
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57. Gospel Piano: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series

    Features:
  • Softcover with CD
  • 80 pages
  • Size: 12" x 9"
  • Author: Kurt Cowling
  • ISBN: 1423412494
Gospel Piano: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series
Specs:
Height12 Inches
Length9 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2007
Weight0.7 Pounds
Width0.247 Inches
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🎓 Reddit experts on books about pianos

The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where books about pianos are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
Total score: 1,404
Number of comments: 206
Relevant subreddits: 4
Total score: 78
Number of comments: 13
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 55
Number of comments: 23
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 50
Number of comments: 13
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 36
Number of comments: 10
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 34
Number of comments: 10
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 14
Number of comments: 9
Relevant subreddits: 5
Total score: 12
Number of comments: 7
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 10
Number of comments: 7
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 8
Number of comments: 8
Relevant subreddits: 1

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Top Reddit comments about Pianos:

u/Yeargdribble · 12 pointsr/piano

Here's my obligatory write up of people in your position.

Beyond that short treatise, I figure I should touch on another thing having to do specifically with something you mentioned.

>Additionally, I do have the discipline to do scales/arpeggios.

This is great, but be careful about the approach. It's easy to get extremely technically focused as you try to "catch up" technically on a secondary instrument, to the point that you become obsessive about the scales themselves rather than their application. These also can feel very comforting and eventually... comfortable.

All to often people make the mistake of focusing on one scale to the detriment of others, say focusing on getting C major from 110 to 120 while there are other keys that are barely at 60. I suspect you know better than that, but the pitfall you're more likely to run into is trying to get all of your scales to a point... and then push that tempo rather than focusing on music.

You really need to read... a lot. You need to work on actual songs even though they will be children's songs and silly crap. At the very outset you likely won't be doing any true sightreading, but you should push to be working on that ASAP.

I think for piano more than most instruments, there's more to be learned by progressive pieces of music than with pure technical work. For monophonic (and mostly monophonic; e.g. bowed strings) instruments, you're mostly covered if you have scales, arpeggios and maybe some advanced sequences. That literally is 95% of music... fragments of scales, arpeggios, and sequences.

With piano, that doesn't even scratch the surface. You'd need to add cadential patterns to that list and those are almost infinite in a way that the rest are not. And that's still not even tackling the real issue... composite rhythm and the coordination issues it causes, especially when complicated by all of the other technical barriers.

Experiencing very small, approachable hurdles like these by working through lots of childish books really helps deal with these issues that are relatively unique to harmonic instruments.



It's easy to get complacent and feel like you're making progress by plopping down to run your scales and arpeggios daily, but I'd recommend strictly limiting the amount of time you allow yourself to spend on these. It's easy to feel like you're making real progress when really you're just mindlessly repeating them. Drills are comfortable for some of us. It sounds like they are for you and they definitely are for me, but we have to be careful not to let them be a means unto themselves.

It's much harder to sit down and really mentally work on simple songs that have small coordination hurdles for you, particularly when they don't feel inherently musically rewarding, especially to those of us who previously had a lot of experience being very virtuostic and musically expressive on our primary instruments. But this is the true path forward.

Resources
---

I like this book for scales. I'd strong encourage you to avoid doing all of the scale variations it has. Simple HT 2 octave in every key should be the goal long before you worry about some of the others and I'd argue that the real value isn't even in any of the variations. You'd get more out of doing single hand 3rds and 6ths than the separated versions which you'll very rarely run into in reality. They are nice coordination parlor trick, but I don't feel like they have a lot of value and like I said, you'll get more practical stuff from working on simple songs in method books than you will bashing your head against some of these. Save them for much later (like years) if at all.

Likewise, I wouldn't agonize over the dom7 arpeggios either. There are much more common and useful patterns found in all sorts of music. However, DO focus very intensely on the cadences and triad arpeggios.

I like this method book overall. I'm not even saying it's the best... it's just one and it works. I'd honestly recommend visiting a used book store and just buying a lot of beginner books of all different series. Focus less on pushing hard toward progression in on series and more on just consuming a huge volume of different music. Or, you might work through this series of Alfred books and then use other such books are sightreading practice once you start getting better.

Get this book for sightreading as a start. It's offensively easy, but it's really where most people should start and I wasted far too much time trying to poorly sightreading much harder stuff for too long because I just didn't realize the collection of small deficits that were tanking my ability to improve despite my fairly solid technical facility.

Read with a focus on keeping your eyes on the page and reading a bar ahead. You obviously know how this works from violin whether you think of it or not, but there's a lot more notes to drink in on piano. You've got to learn to know what your pace is for reading and accurately playing. Carry these concepts over to the children's books that will be more complicated than this particular book.

---

I will strongly caution you not to try to play hard music. It's such a waste of your time. Lots of people get very good at playing a handful of very hard pieces, but they are based on pure finger memory. These people have no functional skill at piano and can't prepare almost anything new with less than several weeks or months of brute forcing it into their hands.

When you let yourself jump from hard song to hard song, spending weeks or more on each, you'll eventually realize years in that you haven't actually gotten any faster at learning new material. It shouldn't be that way. I'm sure you can sightread (and would be expected to) for tons of gigs on violin. You could probably throw together some fairly advance solo rep in a week or two. Meanwhile, many pianists who've been playing for decades couldn't play an arrangement of some song they heard on the radio in less than a month. It's a sad state of affairs. It's just part of piano culture and many only end up learning maybe 5-10 pieces of new music every year.

Be mindful of the fact that much of your growth as a violinist is due largely to the ensemble experiences you've had... constantly reading tons of new music that's not at the bleeding edge of your ability. You've probably had times where you learned more music in a month that some pianists learn in an entire year, but it has made you a functional player... not someone who has to hide away and practice for 3 months to come back and have your part of the string quartet music learned.

Read! Read a ton and read easy. Your reading skill is the the specific skill that lets you be able to learn new music faster. The better you read the more music you can consume...the more you consume, the more you improve on lots of tiny thing that let you consume even more faster. Unlike almost anything else in music where improvement tapers off, with reading, you just get faster and better at it.

It's definitely a case I make for anyone wanting to make a living (or even side money) playing piano, but honestly, even just for people who want to really enjoy piano as a hobby, putting in the (fairly enormous and painful) upfront investment in good reading is what leads to a point where you can really just sit down and enjoy music.




u/HomeNucleonics · 1 pointr/musictheory

I'm in a similar position as you. I've been playing guitar for about 8 years now, and I'm currently focusing more on piano than anything. I took a few private lessons at my university, and they were a ton of help. I can show you the books my instructor recommended to me.

Frankly, as long as you've got some material and some diligence, you can learn just as much. A background with guitar and music theory will also help you move along quickly! :)

The first consist of these exercises by Czerny. They're a bit redundant, but going through them to a metronome and gradually increasing speed will really help with dexterity and spacial recognition.
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Method-Beginners-Op-599/dp/0793525675/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293474093&sr=1-4

The second I began with is Easy Classics to Moderns. Simple to intermediate tunes that will help with sight reading (which I can't stress enough), fingerings, and will give you a general sense of how basic harmony works and has worked for the last few centuries on the piano.
http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Classics-Moderns-Piano-Millions/dp/0825640172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293474402&sr=8-1

This last one, also by Czerny, is my favorite. It combines the simple exercises of the first book I mentioned, with harmony and melody from the second book. So it will help with coordination and dexterity, as well as sight reading and familiarization with common chord progressions and melody.
http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Studies-Alfred-Masterwork-Editions/dp/0739015974/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293474093&sr=1-6

Also, it's interesting to convert a few exercises back to guitar, just to break down the barriers between the two instruments. Having a better understanding of both instruments from the other's perspective is pretty enlightening.

Anyway, I'm getting off to a great start with these books. Hope I've helped you out, too! The piano is a kick-ass instrument. I'm hoping to move up the ladder quickly and learn some challenging material soon. But don't slack off with guitar too much!

Cheers, dude. :)

u/awqaw123 · 2 pointsr/JazzPiano

Cool stuff man.

I started taking jazz and the piano both seriously at the beginning of this year, so definitely know how you feel. Here's what I did to help me:

  • Learn all the major scales (with correct fingering)
  • Learn the 251 progression in all keys
  • Brush up a bit on Modal theory and how to apply it to your playing.
  • Learn the basics of Jazz harmony ie chord function. Tritone substitution. The tonic-subdominant-dominant relationship. Secondary Dominants.
  • Learning about the different types of chords I could play was a big breakthrough for me. Take C Major 7 for example. You can turn that into: C maj7 sus 2/4. C maj7 half diminished/whole diminished. Cmaj7 augmented. C Dom7. Although take note you might have to make some adjustments or subtle choices in your right hand improvisation when you play these chords to help boost their total effect. Ie new scales even.

    Most especially, learning all your major scales will help you in ways you'll be thankful for later. Knowing the things mentioned above will give you more creative ability on the piano. To the point where you know how to play chords outside of the ones in the base standard (when playing that standard. Tritone substitution and secondary dominants helps with this. So does something called Modal Interchange, which I didn't mention before). And, to some extent, you'll be able to know the number of scales you can use to solo on each chord (which is a step above improvising on one scale along the whole song).

    Judging from your playing, begin just messing around and just practicing with your right hand improvising. Passing tones are a fun thing I liked to do when I first started improvising (and I still use them a lot in my playing today).

    Its great that you're starting to experiment with 2 hand voicings, so continue learning the general practices for those. Ie the function of the 3rd and 7th in the chord, and also rootless voicings.

    You said that you're also a beginner on the piano, and honestly exercises help a lot. I just got this book and its been helping me feel a lot more comfortable as I've gone through it: https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Technique-Exercises-Etudes-Building/dp/1423498151

    This book is also something that helps a lot with all round jazz knowledge: https://www.amazon.com/Jazzology-Encyclopedia-Jazz-Theory-Musicians-ebook/dp/B00FJ6BYWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504177798&sr=1-1&keywords=jazzology

    Hope that helps!

    Try to begin your practices with technique (for however long you like), then practicing over standards you know already and applying knew things you've learnt to them (if you feel comfortable), and then practicing new standards or whatever other song. At the least, thats what my usual practice routine is like.

    Hope that all helps!







u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/piano

I think after three years that seems feasible if you have a pretty good teacher to help get you there. My main advice, however, is to find lots of pieces that are easier than those two for the in between period that you love just as much.

We're very lucky to play the piano because many of the world's greatest musicians have been playing and writing for our instrument for the fast few hundred years, which means there's a huge variety of material written at lots of different levels. Books like the [Masterworks Classics] (http://www.amazon.com/Masterwork-Classics-Level-Alfred-Editions/dp/0739006770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452604892&sr=8-1&keywords=masterworks+classics) series have lots of good material at different levels and it comes with a CD so you can listen to all the pieces to decide which one you like.

Besides the "classics," there are loads of great pedagogy teachers writing music nowadays, most of which sounds very satisfying and isn't too hard. [Martha Mier] (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Rags-Blues-Elementary-Intermediate/dp/0739075284/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452605076&sr=8-2&keywords=jazz+rags+and+blues), [Dennis Alexander] (http://www.amazon.com/Splash-Color-Contemporary-Awareness-Performance/dp/0739013165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452604982&sr=8-1&keywords=splash+of+color+piano), [William Gillock] (http://www.amazon.com/Lyric-Preludes-Romantic-Style-Pieces/dp/0874876494/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452605098&sr=8-1&keywords=william+gillock)...

My point is, it's great that you have goals!! But listen around and try to find other pieces that you love just as much as those that you listed that you can play earlier. Alternatively, you can find [simplified versions] (http://makingmusicfun.net/pdf/sheet_music/clair-de-lune-piano.pdf) to hold you over until you get to the real deal.

Good luck!

u/Oomeegoolies · 1 pointr/GetMotivated

Yeah that's the one!

I'd say between 5 and 10 most weeks on Average. But some weeks I've not played at all as I've said. I try and do a little bit everyday when I can. Even if it's just a 10 minute play through of a couple of songs, just to keep my fingers nimble. On my days off I try and hit 1-2 hours though.

I won't have much chance to play for the next couple of weeks for example, I've got a lot of work, likely to get a promotion, and I'm moving house so I'll not have as much time. I'm still going to try and find 10-15 minutes each day just to keep everything ticking over.

The one great thing about Alfreds is there's a lot of people who have played through each song perfectly on Youtube for you. So if you're stuck finding the right sound, or rhythm for a song, you can go there and type in "Alfreds Chattanooga Choo Choo" or whatever and there'll be a plethora of results. Some of them go into more depth like this guy too.

If you want more songs to play, I'd recommend this book as an addition to the other Alfred one. A lot of them are simple renditions of well known songs, but playing songs you know (and perhaps really like) can be a great motivator. I learned to play A Whole New World as it's a song I love, and whilst it's an easy arrangement it's nice to just sit and play songs you enjoy.

The book also tells you what page number of Alfreds Level 1 you should be on to be able to have the skills and knowledge to play. If you have anymore questions let me know!

u/jazzyjacck · 3 pointsr/musictheory

I turned 21 a few months ago and my advice is to learn theory/harmony, practice your instrument, and listen to music as much as possible. I play guitar and piano but I didn't know any theory until I first took AP Music Theory as a senior in high school. That class was all classical music, but then I started taking jazz piano lessons and then took a semester at Berklee college of music for a summer which really helped me with all this stuff. Now I'm currently at the University of Texas at Austin and took their jazz theory classes here. If you ever get the opportunity to take a class, then go for it. Get a private teacher if you can as well. With that being said, you don't need to take classes but it definitely helps keep you on track. There are lots of musicians who have had formal training and there are lots that haven't. As long as you learn the information somehow then that's fine. What's important is the actual music and it doesn't matter where you get the knowledge from.

Lido's harmony comes mostly from gospel, soul, and R&B, so listen to a lot of that. Lido said he went to a music high school and that his dad is a gospel choir director in Norway. So he definitely learned a lot from both of those experiences. There aren't many classes that teach the theory behind gospel, soul, and R&B, but there are infinite sources that teach jazz. While they are different, they share a lot of the same qualities. There's so much out there on the internet that's it's become really easy to learn anything.

If you want to get good fast you need to be submerged in music 24/7 and practice efficiently. Surround yourself by people that know music. Listen to a lot of chord heavy music such as Bill Evans, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Babyface, Quincy Jones, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo, Take 6, Steely Dan, Norah Jones, Pat Metheny, and even the Beatles, Beach Boys, the Police etc.

Check out newer musicians like Dirty Loops, Moonchild, and Jacob Collier on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nls1HtXQe8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxST7pVcAU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1baxrxGHU

PS - this book is pretty close to explaining some theory and devices in black gospel: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1423412494?keywords=gospel%20piano&qid=1450130675&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

u/andersce · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Lots of practice! I have tiny little hands so I have a hard time playing some of the stuff I wanted. My teacher just had me practice the tricky parts over and over and eventually I learned to stretch my fingers a bit. I think honestly the biggest part of being able to play is practice- I'd get one of those warm-up books (or make your own!) because they really help you learn to move your fingers the right way and play more smoothly and such. Even in college my teacher had me warm-up with scales and different little ditties. It helps build up strength too, for sure! :) I used (and still do use them because they're kind of fun) the Dozen a Day books. They have all these little drills to do that really help you get comfortable moving your fingers certain ways and building strength :)

u/wolfanotaku · 2 pointsr/piano

Hey, I started in my late 20's about 6 years ago. So I'm almost like you from the future!

The "easy" piano books are really meant to be easy for people who play piano. The word you want to look for when buying books at this stage is "beginner" or "level 1-2". You may still find some of it tricky, but it will be closer to where you are. One book I strongly recommend is Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course Greatest Hits, Bk 1 . I bought it in my first year and it was really encouraging because I knew all of the songs and they were playable with some work. Anything in the Alfred level 1 is really solid. If by older beginner you mean the Faber series they also have a huge collection of stuff that lines up with your level. (So if you're in book 2 you can buy supplemental material all called "book 2" and they line up with your level.) You can check that out for level 1 here.

That said, there's nothing wrong with picking a piece from one of those books you already bought and plunking away at it as kind of a side project. It takes some time but be patient with yourself.

The unfortunate reality is that it the first year is an absolutely slog. You learn slow and you feel how bad you are, because you're an adult and your aware of that fact. The music you'll be playing (even in the books above) will be simplified, and the kids won't know that, but you will. But I want you to know that I can vouch for the fact that if you really slog through that first year, it's really all worth it on the other side. You're learning how to learn pieces right now, and once you have that skill you'll love being able to learn more and more pieces at your level. Keep at it, you got this!

u/thefallenwarrior · 2 pointsr/piano

I recommend this book Big Book of Beginner's Piano Classics: 83 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements.

Most pieces are 1-2 pages long. I do find it is more productive to learn little/simples pieces that you enjoy than to learn just one big piece; it's good for your memory. Given the fact that you are a beginner you will take more time to learn a piece, so by learning small pieces you will avoid getting frustrated. It's better to know 6 pieces instead of just 1. Said that, you can always have a big piece as work in progress along with the simple ones (I do).

Don't forget to warm up with some scales. I'd recommend Db Major (Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db). Oh and don't let the black keys scare you off, it's way easier than C Major. Keep the fingers in a natural position, knuckles visible and don't let your lower hand "fall bellow" the keyboard.

Learn music theory.

Although the best approach is getting a teacher (you improve much faster), here are some bad habits you may need to be aware:


  • Tensed shoulders;


  • Tensing/blocking fingers when speeding up;


  • Flat fingers;


  • Hands falling under the keyboard or playing too close to the tip of the keys;


  • Tapping your foot and nodding your head to the beat;

    Have fun ;)



    I'm just a beginner, though. I'm sure someone more experienced will pitch in and correct anything if that's the case.

u/Kalarin · 2 pointsr/piano

I'm 26 and started playing piano 2 months ago! I can't stress the impact a teacher has had on my learning!

I've been going through Alfreds Basic Adult Piano Course Music and Theory and have found it a great introduction.

This has also been supplemented with additional pieces from my tutor (I've just finished learning Motzart Minuet in F K2 and am nearly finished with Bach Minuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115 ) which I though were challenging but fun pieces to learn :)

I guess I could have picked these books up and learnt myself, but I'd say my progress would have been a lot slower. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have as I am in a similar situation?

u/foundring · 1 pointr/piano

For some reason my response to you disappeared so here it is again:

Well that's a tough question but I've spent the last 6 or 7 years practicing the music of Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and the like.

There's a bunch of books called the "Artist Transcription" series published by Hal Leonard that has great nearly note-for-note transcriptions of those artists, and I've bought and devoured almost all of them.

Here are a few examples:

Fats Waller

Art Tatum

Oscar Peterson

It's insanely difficult music, but extremely rewarding just to study.

Hope that helps!

u/AlexSitaras · 4 pointsr/piano

With the Satie piece, the left hand alternates over 2-3 octaves and for me, that's difficult to play at the same time as the right hand. Independently, they're fine however.

I've been learning short pieces from this book which has simpler compositions of songs and Bach's Prelude in C is actually the next piece I'm choosing to learn after I play their composition of Air on a G string.

Thanks for linking that list! I'll save that and reference from time to time. Should be a good way to introduce me to piano-specific pieces.

u/chesneyguerilla · 2 pointsr/Music

It's going to sound like a joke, but Piano Lessons Book 1 by Fanny Waterman is an excellent starting point. You might want to buy book one and two depending on your age (there's a lot of pretty basic stuff in book 1 but NOTHING skippable, however you may be able to get through it pretty quickly as an adult).

Edit Source: It's how I started out when I was 7 and it set me on the right path for a lifetime of learning with the piano.

u/jthanson · 3 pointsr/Accordion

Right hand accordion notation is always written in reference to the keyboard, not the sounding pitch. The standard range is always the F below middle C up to the A three octaves above. It's always written in treble clef. The octave of sounding pitch is dictated by the switch indicated in the score. For an octave below written pitch, the bassoon switch would be indicated. Music played at written pitch would be indicated by a switch with reeds sounding at that pitch like clarinet or violin. Music played an octave above written pitch would be indicated by the piccolo switch.

In many cases the sounding pitch is of less of a concern than the particular timbre called for since accordions usually sound pitches in multiple octaves at the same time. If you want a good reference for how accordion scales are written out I recommend Gary Dahl's Master Accordion Scale Book published by Mel Bay. It gives a very good overview of various scales for accordion and their proper fingerings.

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Accordion-Scale-Book-Studies/dp/0786667087

u/SolarSurfer7 · 2 pointsr/piano

I'm about a year into lessons (adult) and I have a pretty decent repertoire of songs that I can play across a wide variety of musical styles: jazz, pop, irish music, disney, and classical.

Recently I've been learning songs from this book (Jazz, Rags, and Blues by Martha Mier):

https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Alfreds-Basic-Piano-Library/dp/073900963X/ref=asc_df_073900963X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312166025508&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7555921416407315017&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008162&hvtargid=pla-454735240513&psc=1

It's a fun book and it takes me about a week to learn a new song from it (practicing the song about 20 minutes a day).

I practice 4 or 5 times a week for an hour each time, so not the most practice, but still I do sit down and dedicate myself to practicing technique and new songs. My question is: do you think this is decent progress for a year of lessons? I still feel like I am really bad at playing piano, lol. How far would you expect an adult piano player to progress after one year?

u/FishWheels · 2 pointsr/Accordion

I recently got Hanon for Accordion, i agree that it is really good. I also have a really good one called Jazz Scales for Accordion.

When I practice I basically try to spend as much time as I can doing scales, exercises, arpeggios, etc. and then after that just try to have fun with it so I don't get burnt out.

You can actually just learn whatever song you want (as song as its not absolutely insane) just make sure you use a metronome and practice it very slowly(like learning any other instrument really). I think that the Mel Bay and Palmer-Hughes books have such uninspiring songs that it actually makes me not want to play.

The books I mentioned have fingering in the notation, and as far as very basic technique stuff I would just read websites, there are tons of good resources.

u/TheJewFro94 · 1 pointr/piano

I have about ten years of piano under my belt. Reading music definitely just comes with time. You should grab some piano books like this and work your way through them. It takes time and practice to start reading the language, but you'll notice improvement.

If you've shown four years of dedication to the art, you might want to consider investing in a thirty minute lesson a week to help with some guidance. A decent instructor will run around $20-$30 a half hour lesson depending on your area but will help you learn quick!

u/pianoboy · 5 pointsr/piano

As was mentioned before when you asked about this, this is a very common jazz piano standard. But I guess no-one gave you any actual links and you still weren't able to find it yourself. See below for links to purchase sheet music for this piece.

Please note that each transcription can vary considerably -- some will be simplified, some will be advanced, some will try to stay true to a certain recording, some will try to optimize it for a piano solo (vs. a jazz band, e.g. where the sax may play most of the lead and the piano accompanies), etc. And unfortunately, you often can't preview the sheet music so you may not know exactly what you're going to get.

If you're actually wanting a transcription specifically of the exact interpretation done by the performer in your youtube link, I'll do it for $200 :) ... but you're probably better off paying $3-$20 for the sheets/books below :)

On Musicnotes.com:

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdVPE.asp?ppn=MN0042852

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/book.asp?ppn=BKWB0158TSMX&

On Amazon.com:

(Remember to read reviews to get a sense of what these are like)

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Out-Dave-Brubeck-Quartet/dp/0739062336/

http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Brubeck-Anthology-Piano-Solos/dp/0757938213/

http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Brubeck-Music-Dave-Classics/dp/0739044966/ (slightly simplified version)

http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Dave-Brubeck-Book-Piano/dp/0769202675/

u/pianolit · 1 pointr/piano

Unfortunately this one is not on public domain, the composer was alive until 1993. Here is the album on amazon

Lyric Preludes in Romantic Style: 24 Short Piano Pieces in All Keys https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874876494/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_udhXCbGWXFS53

Most pieces in this album are great, worth getting it if you like the style! Here is another really cool one

https://youtu.be/CV17BV-GNvw

u/puzzleheaded_glass · 1 pointr/musictheory

Yeah, so when they say "can read music" they probably mean "can play 'three blind mice' on the piano from a written staff with a minute to practice". They'll teach you all you need to know about chords, intervals, scales, etc.

If you have access to a piano, get yourself a basics book or the first chapter or two of a comprehensive book and you'll be golden (I like this one for basics with goofy cartoons and this one for comprehensive adult learning). Piano is definitely the best instrument for visualizing music theory and learning staff notation, because the staff notation translates very directly to the keyboard.

u/azural · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

As a classically trained pianist I enjoyed playing Brubeck solos: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dave-Brubeck-Anthology-Piano/dp/0757938213

My advice about jazz would be read theory but also experiment, record yourself often so you get a much better picture of how good your improvising/playing actually is, be very careful about not losing rhythm, look up high rated jazz piano tutorial videos if you can't find a decent teacher.

u/davidcelis · 1 pointr/piano

This was one of the first songs I taught myself as well. Take my advice and don't half-ass it. If you have a good ear, by all means, you can try to learn it that way. However, you can get the songbook here or, if you're more of a beginner, there is a beginner's version. Both are official and I still consider the advanced book one of the best purchases I've made. Christmas Time is Here is a great song, but so is every other song in that book. All of them are a lot of fun to play.

The beginner's book is the one with the red stripe. Some asshole reviewers gave a 1-star review for the book just because they ordered the wrong version. Don't make the same mistake :)

u/lushprojects · 1 pointr/piano

I would agree with this assessment.


Czerny is rather dry and dense and very much in a kind of "classical music by numbers" style. But, you can learn stuff from it. Modern courses are more progressively paced and have more fun and variety of music, but can be a bit babyish esp. at the beginning.


In the UK this series might be a half-way house. It is still very oriented to the baroque and classical, but with more interesting pieces than Czerny and more agressive pace that modern courses. It doesn't seem to have ever been popular in the US though:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Piano-Lessons-Book-Waterman-Harewood/dp/0571500242

u/jaVus · 2 pointsr/piano

I would second getting a teacher, because even if you manage to learn how to read/sightread music well, you will 100% have mistakes in your technique that will become very difficult to correct later and can cause long-term damage to your hands if you don't.

A good option is to get a teacher for ~3 months to teach you the basics and ensure proper technique. After that you can stop the lessons and move onto following this guide. This is one of the best guides I've seen (shoutout to u/clarinetist001) and really helped improve my sightreading.

I would also recommend checking out [this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Super-Sight-Reading-Secrets-Step-Step/dp/0961596309) which you can read online, if only to get an idea of the mindset you want to be in when sightreading, as well as some basic drills to get you familiar with the keyboard.

TLDR: Teacher for 3 months, follow this guide, enjoy being able to sightread well.

u/DontNeglectTheBalls · 4 pointsr/piano

I'd put good money on this one being accurate., but if the solos aren't perfectly accurate then it's likely that some of it is improvised, which you likely won't find anywhere I'm afraid. Good luck!

u/ketchum7 · 5 pointsr/musictheory

If you are confronted by a mode, run away. Learn the way the greats actually learned back in the day:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDdKVro-7hS8cMjBrcqaAMQ/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid

Unless you only care about post "kind of blue" Jazz, Levine's Jazz theory is a detrimental distraction:

http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.00.6.1/mto.00.6.1.rawlins.html?q=mto/issues/mto.00.6.1/mto.00.6.1.rawlins.html

It's hard to imagine a work which thrown so much real jazz and so many great players under the bus.

This looks alot less harmful:

https://www.amazon.com/Jazzology-Encyclopedia-Jazz-Theory-Musicians/dp/0634086782

poor guy still needs modes though. My favorite theory book, which since you know piano, might be interesting. It's a great supplement to Barry Harris Jazz theory.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1423412494/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/MILKandNIPPLES · 1 pointr/piano
  1. There was nothing else to sit on, haha. I ended up pulling a couch from the middle of the room (I was playing in one of Steinway Hall's showrooms), which was lower than ideal, but better than nothing!

  2. You can find the transcriptions of Smashing Thirds and other Fats Waller solo pieces in this book by Paul Posnak.
u/BlueInt32 · 1 pointr/piano

I spent many years without being able to sight read at even 20% the speed required on most of the pieces I learnt.

But for what it's worth, I recently spent a month or two on the book "Super Sight-Reading secrets" (don't bother the catchy title) and I made tremendous progress in sight reading. After some really basic lessons to recognize the notes, the drills are separated in "keyboard orientation" drills and "visual perception" drills. Those former ones really made me improve ; and what is really weird is that the most progress I made was only by working several hours on one single sheet full of smartly positionned notes on 4 lines of piano staff. My level was really bad though, and I guess at higher level this book does not help much.

Bach chorales for piano are also advised in the book.

My teacher told me to try out Czerny's pieces too.

edit: add link

u/aeropagitica · 1 pointr/piano

John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course is as good a place as any. Edna Mae Burnam's A Dozen A Day books are also worth using.

u/distant_earth · 1 pointr/piano

These come highly recommended. You might need some prior experience and ability though as jazz specialisation starts around early intermediate. Before that you are learning the fundamentals that all styles are built upon. Check the FAQ for good beginner book recommendations. Alfred's all in one introduces 12 bar blues fairly early i think.

u/adi_piano · 2 pointsr/piano

There's nothing wrong with your motor skills. If you can wait I'll be addressing exactly this problem in my sight-reading series but for now a short version of the answer: the problem is that, even when you're playing without looking at your hands, you're still going through the works in your brain as if you are looking at your hands. That's why, despite practice, you're only seeing marginal improvements at best.

Playing without looking is not just doing the same thing blindly, there's a whole other mechanism that triggers the movements. This doesn't matter when you're only sight-reading simple melodies but it becomes an increasing hurdle as the music gets more complex. That's why so many pianists wrongly conclude they just lack the "natural" skill to sight-read. They got this far and, even with practice, can't seem to go further.

For now, I suggest you check out this book to get you started. Few things to note though: 1) It's akwardly structured and can get frustrating to work with and 2) I don't think he really understands the problem I described above and would personally suggest taking it a lot further than he does and practice his exercises in a different way.
But it's, for now, the best place to start. Oh and be patient. He says himself it takes anywhere between a few months and a few years. I would give it at least 6 months.

u/ninja36036 · 2 pointsr/piano

I have Bastian: Piano for Adults.

Lots of recognizable songs and has a bit by bit learning speed. Does a great job of teaching Technic and Sight Reading, with a little Theory mixed. Over all, not a bad book to start with.

u/Joename · 4 pointsr/piano

I use Czerny pieces from this book as warmups. Their length is right in the 8-16 bar sweet spot and there's a ton of them. https://www.amazon.com/Czerny-Selected-Studies-Alfred-Masterwork/dp/0739015974/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302496&sr=8-4&keywords=czerny

u/ExtraTerrestriaI · 1 pointr/piano

I'm going to give you advice in the voice of my Piano teacher who's RCM-certified and a wonderful lady:

https://www.amazon.com/John-Thompsons-Easiest-Piano-Course/dp/0877180121/

u/Lenny_and_Carl · 2 pointsr/tampa

Based on your previous expierience in music you may want to consider teaching yourself the basics. I've used the [Bastien Adult Method] (http://www.amazon.com/KP1B-Bastien-Beginning-Lessons-Technic/dp/0849773024) a lot before when I used to teach with very good results.

u/evilrottengrape · 1 pointr/piano

So from what I could tell, I need to switch to a different method because this was caused by the "C position" mentality of the Alfred method. So I ordered the following books:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0849773024/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616773022/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

Will see which one is better for me...

u/johnnyplatanos · 1 pointr/piano

Okay this is an offshoot of the other question I asked in this thread, now that I have that info.

If I break my practice up into 2-20 or 30 minute sessions, does it make sense to work on scales & chords in the first session and whatever pieces I'm working on in the next session? Or should I be doing a little bit of everything in each session?

Also, this is the book I use for scales & chords. If I'm going through let's say C Major, should I work on all forms of the scales, and the chords, cadences, arpeggios etc. in the one session? Or let's say, scales today, arpeggios tomorrow, etc.

Finally, how long do you usually focus on a scale and the chords in that scale? Until you have them memorized? One week and then move on to the next? A new scale every day?

u/Esoteric_Drifter · 1 pointr/piano

Check out the William Gillock lyric pieces.

https://www.amazon.com/Lyric-Preludes-Romantic-Style-Pieces/dp/0874876494

I play Midnight Mood and Soaring almost every day. Lots of goodies in here and not too difficult.