(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best piano songbooks

While people are giving good suggestions, they're posting links to sites that overcharge. Unless you have reasons to hate Amazon, Amazon Japan sells pretty much everything that's been mentioned with zero markup and very low shipping costs.

For example, the one from japancoolbooks costs only $26.82 on Amazon.jp, shipped to California (it'll arrive in 2-3 days). If you order multiple books at once, you'll save even more.

Japan has a relatively large percentage of population that play the piano well, and from my experience, has more high quality piano arrangements for all sorts of music (including Western pop music) than the US does.

Edit: Added links to some of the books mentioned here:

Studio Ghibli Collection Easy Piano Solo Sheet Music

Joe Hisaishi Piano Collection

Ghibli Best Stories

Chopin de Ghibli

Hayao Mizayaki & Studio Ghibli Best Album

Also, I'm assuming the OP can read kanji or 漢字, since zhulin is a Chinese name. Just search for "上級 宮崎駿 ピアノ", which translates into "advanced hayao miyazaki piano".

There was a "[Composer Name] - His Greatest" set of collections for various composers that I had when I was growing up. The MacDowell one was the one that I played until it fell apart. (Still have it, though!) There was also Chopin, Haydn, Faure, Bach, Mendelssohn, etc. A lot of great works in one place for a lot of great composers. Here's the MacDowell one. Maybe this or some of the other collections in this series (or other similar collections) would be useful for you. :)

You appear to have missed several of my points, so I'm just going to roll my eyes and make some general comments and then leave it here and not come back.

I can only presume that you come from a background that has given you supportive parents (and I note here that your parents were giving you money. Mine wouldn't even let me stay for a summer in their household: very, very different situation) and friendly local companies who will offer you continuous summer work (like that bike shop, which is one of the few seasonal jobs that I could see increasing over summer drastically enough to welcome back a full-time employee). I am envious of your good luck for many reasons.

My father would not have let me, for instance, stay at his house over summer. Nor could he have provided me with any money. I survived my first 4 months of university on £50 of student loan (having picked up uncatered halls at only £90/week for my first year, due in full on day 1 of degree. It was an utter shithole (since closed, revamped, and reopened at a 30% increase in rent), but it was at least cheap enough to let me use the first of student loan to build up a buffer to prepare for the second and third year). Why? Because my father didn't even do the paperwork to get me the correct student loan for his income, because he didn't see the point. My father is completely and utterly useless and to this day we have a very strained relationship based on things like this.

It kind of seems that your university-related reading was very, very different to mine. You had correct answers. We.. didn't. Some of these things can be accounted for and probably should be (more so than they currently are under the system) and I think we can agree that obviously different degrees have different requirements just based on comments about being able to Google for answers. I wish that that was possible. It really wasn't. I tried. We don't have "right answers", we have "academic opinions". Which more often than not involve reading through another dozen books. I'd hazard a guess at 300-500 books a year on my various reading lists.

Do science degrees have the same kind of costs as a music degree? I doubt it. But I didn't do engineering so I can't be sure.

But, for example, there's half a dozen pieces of software at various price points that most musicians have to pick up somewhere between their GCSEs and their first year of professional work, combined cost of around 2-3K. Running costs of playing an instrument of any kind are several hundred pounds. Things like sheet music are far more expensive than people realise: something like this is definitive, and the equivalent "cheaper" versions that come in 12 books like this for combined cost of around £60-70 are literally not worth the paper they're printed on once you get to a certain standard (ie. you're doing music at university or at a music college). And because the people that tend to buy the decent sheet music tend to be those that are using it themselves, the only people selling it are dead or publishing. And hence the music is horribly out of date and, once again, not worth the paper it's printed on. Academia in music has changed drastically in just a couple of generations. Expensive time to be studying it.

So perhaps this kind of thing contributed to why I felt that university was more of a struggle and why £10K/year was probably not enough (though looking at my spreadsheets I could probably have managed to do it if I had sacrificed anything that wasn't directly related to eating, sleeping and studying, presuming that no accidents ever happened whatsoever over the 3 years I was there). Partly because of the 12-months thing: if I consider for 9-months instead then the numbers are much more optimistic. Around £8K would have probably made do: and partly because of professional investments I made like travelcards to get around for work, etc.

You also seem to have missed the fact that, as I keep on pointing out, I was fine with working part-time as well as living on the student loan. I was frugal, I was careful, and I budgeted extremely well. Hence why I managed to live on £10K/year + income from other things to pay for things like Sibelius and the other things that I offset as "professional investments". Things like the cheap suit and the cheap shoes (second hand, charity shop, lasted until a few months ago when they finally gave up the ghost 4 years on!) that ended up getting me the professional work in the summer. Quite a lot of these things were paid for out of savings rather than any earnings as well, and some things were picked up by various grants, loans, etc. so it gets complicated^TM . I had to explain it once to the taxman, I'd rather not go there again for another few months.

My point is that you can't live on just the student loan. Which I think we both agree on. You required funding from part-time work and parents. I required funding from lots of part-time work. The fact that you were paid less and received money from your parents to make up the difference is exactly how it's supposed to work. Whether or not that's fair based on your particular circumstances I can't speak for, but most of what I've seen said that - in my case - it worked as intended. My parents wouldn't and couldn't support me, so I received support from the government that covered my essential living costs whilst at university when supplemented by me pulling 60-70 hour weeks. Thank god I didn't go to Oxbridge, I suppose, as then I would have been utterly fucked.

Suffice to say, we have very different opinions that obviously lead us to have very different conclusions.

I will maintain that the current student loan is inadequate to cover living costs unless you sacrifice literally everything else. You will maintain that it is fine that you can do it if you sacrifice everything else. We will both agree that student loans require supplementation to be practical - even though universities hate the fact that part-time work has become necessary - and we can get on with our lives.

The arrangement by Robert Schultz is nice. It adheres closely to the original, and you can pretty easily skip any section(s) you're not into if time is of the essence! It's been a very long time, but I also played the Alfred arrangement years ago. As I recall, it's a more straightforward arrangement, but was also well done. Good luck!

I recommend getting books with simple songs to learn, like Fur Elise or Rondo Alla Turca. Here are some books I recall getting started with mannny years ago (I don’t recall much before these books since I was too young):

Beethoven

Mozart

Learning these pieces helped me with sight reading and skill, and eventually I was able to play harder pieces.

If not, looking online for books that contain a lesson plan you can follow may be something that can help.

Feel free to PM me and good luck in your studies !

Honestly, I think wanting to learn now as a uni student is the perfect time to learn.

Don't know music theory? Take a class in it!
Want a piano to learn on? Just go to the music building and practice on their piano!
As for getting involved in music? Join a music club or listen to some musically talented friends!

If you have the urge to learn, that's enough. I am a 23 year old currently teaching myself piano (still in school though, so I don't have to pay for a piano). I started with this book and am currently teaching myself songs from this book. I've also taken some music theory classes in the past, so the learning curve was slightly easier in the theoretical aspects.

As for the software, I don't know enough about that. It seems like many people here do though, so follow their advice on that part.

For Zelda, I bought this some years ago. And love it: http://www.amazon.ca/Legend-Zelda-Easy-Piano-Solos/dp/0739083244/ref=sr_1_1. There is also a piano version (compared to the easy piano in the link).

For christmas, look at that: http://www.amazon.ca/FunTime-Christmas-Level-Nancy-Faber/dp/1616770066/ref=sr_1_1
I don't have this book, but I have other from the FunTime line. They are all great. Be sure to check the level, there are more version of the same book for each "grade".

Have fun!

I had some ideas but they use a bit of either third or fourth position, too- sorry! You could look at the pieces from the ABRSM grade 2 syllabus, but I like the above suggestion from UseThisOne2.

From another post:
>You might like Cello Time Joggers and then Cello Time Runners. You can kind of preview people playing pieces from them on Youtube, and the publisher has a PDF preview on their site as well:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cello-time-joggers--cd-9780193220874?lang=en&cc=gb

It's a book for learning from, not pieces for performance though. The piano part is sold separately. You might like the books that the ABRSM syllabus refers to for performance: More Time Pieces Volume 2 might be good, but it covers up to grade 4 so only some of the pieces might be at the correct level.

1. Birthday: BH Cosmetics BH Party Girl
   
   
2. Book: As I Lay Dying
   
   
3. Animal: Eeyore Pillow Pal Pet
   
   
4. Purple: Nokia Lumia 920 Low Profile Covert Branded PU Leather Wallet Case (Purple)
   
   
5. Game: Cards Against Humanity
   
   
6. Guilty Pleasure: Green Tea Kit Kats
   
   
7. Tool: Nail Art Tweezers
   
   
8. From my childhood: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (The original was my first DS game :)
   
   
9. Organizational: Wristwatch Sticky Notes
   
   
10. Hobby: Mumford and Sons Sigh No More Song Book
    
    
11. Nerdy/Geeky: Barron's AP Italian Language and Culture
    
    
12. Natural: Special Teas - Loose Leaf Tea Sampler Set
    
    
13. Green: Essie Spring 2012 Nail Polish Colors
    
    
14. Wear: Giraffe Pajama Onsie
    
    
15. Funny: Futurama: Volume 7 (1999)
    
    
16. My Favorite: Fred & Friends ManaTEA Infuser
    
    I think you'll pick this as the item you'll purchase with this order
    
    Happy happy cake day

I got a piano book on Amazon that has the piano music as it appears on the albums: Queen: Note-for-Note Keyboard Transcriptions https://www.amazon.com/dp/1495010260/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_NYGUCb3J5DRDC

Both songs are there. I’ve discovered that Freddie really loved quarter notes and and writing songs in the key of E-flat major.

Also Love of My Life is fun to play.

Queen sells it on their website so I’m guessing it’s sanctioned in some way.

I bought this book-

https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Blues-Boogie-Piano/dp/1540004422/ref=sr_1_44?keywords=piano+blues&qid=1550505302&s=books&sr=1-44

For a similar reason. I've been playing guitar in blues and rock for 20 years and decided to learn piano. Teacher is classical focused and taking me through Alfreds All in One, so I bought this book to help fill out the blues side of things and my teacher thinks its pretty good.

I'm not very far in yet (because i've only been playing a month), but in the beginning at least it has a heavy emphasis on blues base line in left hand, and throwing different inversions for each bar a chord is held in the right.

I'm sure it goes a bit deeper, but for a complete beginner just changing between the inversions while keeping the base lines going has been plenty challenging.

I am in the middle of taking lessons as we speak, and my teacher started me off with three different books that I work through once a week. There's these two little ones that are kind of important:

Scale Skills teaches each major chord, scale, progression (with tonic/dominiant/dom 7) and arpeggios. For a long time I thought the point of this was mainly music theory (since my teacher explains all the theory behind why one chord follows another and what a tonic/dominant is, etc) but as I started progressing with my song learning I realized that I was actually starting to use these chords that would have been really tricky and difficult for me to get used to if I hadn't already practiced them extensively through this book.

The other little one I have is Etudes, it's probably not nearly as important as the scales one, but it has helped a lot with just practicing new ways of playing. It's a little song book, each song gets progressively harder and also teaches some kind of concept. The first song is merely learning how to play with both hands, then 8th notes, then learning how to play legato with one hand but staccato with the other, etc. It's all really good practice using dorky little songs, so that when I'm sitting down to learn a real song, I'm not so overwhelmed by unexpected concepts.

Sorry, I hope that wasn't too long winded. I'm not expert yet, obviously, but I just thought I'd share what you might be using/learning if you were taking formal lessons.

Some youtube channels that might be helpful:


Bill Hilton (beginner exercises, scales etc)

Mangold Project (discusses everything related to pianos, lots of beginner tutorials)

Weekly Piano (has a nice video on how to setup a practice schedule, some videos for beginners but mostly stuff for experienced players)

Walk That Bass (focuses on jazz)

edit: Dont get hung up too much on theory or you will make the progress harder, give it time

I made that mistake at the beginning where I've spent more time reading books and watching tutorials instead of doing the thing

Stay away from synthesia or you will be stuck playing pop songs forever lol, learn on how to read sheet music

This workbook was quite nice for me at the beginning, totally worth the 6 bucks
Might be available in your country

This has a bunch of easy standard tunes with everything, including the bass, written out:

http://www.shermusic.com/new/1883217156.shtml

Plus it'll give you scales and arpeggios for all the chords for each tune.

Here's a sample:

http://www.shermusic.com/samples/cold-duck-time.pdf

It's great for getting a handle on how Jazz works and also for starting up a combo.

Also, Ed Friedland's excellent book can help you:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049

It's a book full of leadsheets, which s a simplified form of sheet music. For each song, it shows the lyrics, chord symbols and the vocal melody on the treble clef. It's also good practice for getting comfortable reading sheet music. If you're into 90's music, I'd recommend the book in the link below; it's got all sorts of great 90's songs for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Nineties-Fake-Book-Songbook/dp/B004DDFSIO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1537454505&sr=8-2&keywords=90s+fake+book

Try getting hold of Melanie Spanswick's Play It Again piano course. This is aimed at people coming back after a break and refreshes your memory nicely. Book 1 starts right back at beginner, book 2 more intermediate and then book 3 for late advanced. The advantage is that they give you a set of pieces that get progressively more difficult and cover different bits of piano technique - really useful as a refresher. There is also a wide choice of music - mostly classical but also some more modern pieces - including ragtime.

I bought Book 2 and have been very impressed. I did a video review of it that you might find helpful.

I have a copy of Jerald Simons 100 left hand patterns, teaches out to play lead sheets with literally 100 different left hand patterns with simple improv ideas and encourages learning all keys. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948274027/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_maHZDb4XB4594

http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Galway-Phil-Coulter-Legends/dp/0793580684

Pretty sure it's in this book. No idea where to get it free, still under copyright. maybe ask someone nicely who has it to scan it for you.

Check out the Concert and Contest Collection, as well as the Classic Festival Solo Books, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Those three books are great for advanced elementary through middle school kids. NJ uses music from the Concert and Contest Collection book for their intermediate (junior high) region band audition pieces.

There's also a book from the Everybody's Favorite series. It's out of print now, but Amazon seems to have some sellers that have some copies of it. It's a bit more on the "poppy" side (as popular as classical music gets, anyway), but will do for the skill level you're specifying.

Sure thing. It was stuff like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Really-Easy-Piano/dp/154004811X

There's all sorts of other stuff if Queen doesn't appeal. Musescore might have simple songs, but I've visited that site maybe twice. No idea if you can sort by skill level.

I get bored with the simple stuff in the book too, yeah. It's easy to play a song I don't like once and then skip on ahead. I'm frozen in the middle of the book because I moved too fast and it suddenly started going past what I had learned before, so I'm getting bored too. Keep plodding. Basic chords and eighth notes and dotted quarters, eyep.

Maybe do what I finally had to do. I do the boring stuff first, then give myself a while to play the harder song I'm learning as a reward. Just not waste my time struggling with it for an hour, lol. Use an egg timer.

What's moderation? Don't ask me!