Reddit mentions of First Lessons in Bach, Complete: Schirmer Library of Classics Volume 2066 For the Piano (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)

You'll hear "Get a teacher." on this sub a lot. This is great advice, but not always possible. That being said, check the FAQs for some really great resources for sheet music, online learning tools, and general tips and tricks.

I'd recommend getting a method book, such as Alfred's, a classical composer's 'beginner's' collections or notebooks, such as Bartok's Mikrokosmos or First Lessons in Bach, and then grab a book of scales such as this.

For future reference, if you do get a chance, please get a teacher, especially if you can swing it sometime in your first year, even if just for a few months. They can help prevent poor technique that may come up and can save time in the long run.

Edit: For poor hyperlinking on mobile.

It seems to me that most people are very poor judges of what is too easy. I think most people would benefit from going much easier than they think they should. It just tends to hurt their ego and so they instead spend a ton of time on one really hard thing.

The thing is, in the same amount of time you could spend working on one really hard piece, you could've probably worked on a dozen or more simpler pieces. Those pieces might not be as individually challenging, but each probably has something that challenges you a little. And it likely exposes you to a much greater variety of challenges. More rhythms, more keys, more variety period. That is going to lead to much more lasting improvement than spending a month or more on a single piece of really hard music.

The accumulation of skill will eventually make harder music easier to learn. I always say if you can't sightread it flawlessly and effortlessly with good musicality, there is something to be learned from polishing it up. That might take a few days, or it might only take 30 minutes of practice, but it's infinitely more worth your time than throwing yourself inaccurately are very difficult music and hoping to get it right.

The thing is, it doesn't feel like you're making progress because you're making huge strides. And the better you get, the more incremental your improvement will be. It takes more and more small incremental improvement to even notice you've gotten better and at some point it's basically almost impossible to notice unless you record yourself and then look back in 6 months, or maybe read something difficult and then come back to it 6 months later to see how much easier it is. Early on you are making big leaps, but it just can't continue.


It's like an RPG

Honestly, it's a lot like an RPG. You want to gain a lot of XP, so you go fight the hardest monster possible that gives 500 XP. But your party wipes... over and over... for an hour. In that same hour you could've beaten dozens of monsters that only gave 50 XP. in that same amount of time you could've gotten 3 or 4 times as much XP if you hadn't wasted your time wiping to the really hard enemy. And now that 500 XP enemy is laughably easy because you've leveled up so much. It's just that 50 XP a pop doesn't feel as good even though it's much more efficient.

And likewise, the higher level you get in most RPGs, the longer it takes to level up. Early on you'd be leveling up every 10-30 minutes, but in the end, you're only leveling up every few hours.

Finding music

This one is going to be hard depending on your goals. It seems many people only want to play music that is very personally fun to them, but that's not always the most efficient path. It's an issue if you want to get better or if you want instant (but often frustrating) gratification. It's honestly very worth it to spend some time suffering through less fun stuff and building up the skills that will eventually let you just pick up a piece of music and quickly read it or learn it in a few days. So you have to decide if you want to play something you love right now but it takes you 1-3 months every time you want to learn something new...or if you to be able to constantly pick up music you like and learn stuff you enjoy within a week or days.

The additional benefit is that once you get to that point, you'll actually accelerate your learning because you'll be able to play so much more music that you'll just exponentially increase your exposure. It will still feel slow, but you'll actually be improving a lot more.

So if you want to actually work on improving, just find anything. Don't go looking for the perfect piece at the perfect level. Just go grab tons of stuff erring on the side of offensively simple and just learn a ton of it. I like to grab song books from used book stores to use as reading/learning material. It's very cheap and I get a ton of material. Once again, if I can't sightread it, it's probably worth practicing.

You could also get various method books and work through them. Can you read everything in all 3 levels of the Alfred adult books? You could get all sorts of graduated collections of works like this series and just work through them. You could get First Lessons in Bach. Just find, learn, and read tons of material. Err on the side of short and simple.

EDIT: I'll also add that only working on overly difficult music often leads to an increased risk of developing lots of bad habits and playing with lots of tension.

If you want to learn piano, go to amazon and get these 4 books:

1.The Musician’s Way

2.First Lessons in Bach

3. Two and Three Part Inventions

And finally

4. The Well-Tempered Clavier

These books will teach you all you need to know about music. This is how I personally started playing piano. Work through the books in order, as each one builds on top of the other. Once you can play counterpoint excellently you can play pretty much anything else.

In the words of Brahms: “Study Bach. There you will find everything.”

As far as a keyboard goes, I have a Yamaha P-60 and it gets the job done. Just make sure you have weighted keys and 88 and you’re good. Bach’s music doesn’t require a pedal, so you don’t even really need that.

Good luck on your musical journey! To work through all these books will take a life time.

In my opinion if you truly are a beginner Bach's inventions wouldn't likely suit your skill level just yet. ^(I'd call myself intermediate level and they still stump me.)

I like Burgmüller's Op. 100 that has 25 easy etudes and start from roughly (ABRMS) grade 2 level and go up to grade 4-5 level (generally regarded as the level of easiest Bach inventions). They're all short pieces but simple enough to learn in one or just a few sittings. I recommend this Edition Peters scan, it has good fingering.

If you want to go with Bach there are a plenty of easier pieces. One good starting place could be First lessons in Bach book that's been recommended in this subreddit before.

I'm going to teach you all the mistakes I made in hopes that you won't make them yourself, if you aren't getting a teacher. A teacher is easily the best route, no comparison, without one, you're going to have to work your ass off.

1. Make use of every piano teacher on youtube, the best ones being Lypur,and Josh Wright. Their may be others, but those are essential.
   
   
2. Watch ALL Lypur's videos on the "Learn How To Play Piano (NEW) " playlist and "LEARN FREE MUSIC THEORY". I say start with watching the first 5 of each in a week, and then 1 a week as they get more complicated. And take good notes, just like in school.
   
   3)You need to buy books. I would say to start off with Josh Thompson's first grade one and then buying other ones such as Hanon, which is a MUST, and some like this one.
   
   4)Eventually after about a few months of practice, you can buy introductory books to certain composers, such as these: Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. I wouldn't recommend the Chopin one, since his most easiest pieces can be quiet hard until you have a good 2 years of practice and playing in. And eventually Schumann's or Tchaikovsky's Album for the young, I don't know which would be better.
   
   5)This site is very good, and gives a nice breakdown of how you should spend your time practicing.
   
   6)And possibly most importantly, you have to find pieces that you like outside of books that you can learn. It's nice to learn little pieces that are in books, but the most satisfying feeling is playing a piece that you love.
   
   
   

The first thing I’d try to impress the most on you is the practice of GOOD practice. That in itself will make this whole new process less difficult for you to overcome:

— 30 minutes to an hour, 6 days a week (your brain as well as your body needs to rest). This step is really important.
Don’t practice for like, 3 days and then a month later come back. You’ll lose all of what you practiced and basically have to start over again. You want to be as consistent as possible so that you train your brain to be efficient — not your fingers.

— Keep a journal of what you practiced and how long.
Going back and looking at your progress after a month of doing so will help you to see how far you’ve come in such a short period of time and will help you gain confidence that you don’t, in fact, suck.

— Don’t play anything above your means. If you haven’t managed something like Bach’s Minuet in G than don’t try to play Flight of the Bumblebee by Korsakov. You’ll only hurt yourself and your technique and discourage yourself in the process. The later is the most dangerous.

— Learn some of your favorite pop songs. Classical music is cool and all but, you can also learn a lot from non traditional teachings of chords, harmonies and technique. Plus, you’ll look cooler at parties if you can, in fact, play Flight of the Bumblebee and then follow it up with Bohemian Rhapsody.

Here’s some books and websites that I started out with.
They’ll help to propel you in the right direction with everything that I’ve taught you thus far:

For challenging yourself/learning new pieces: https://www.amazon.com/First-Lessons-Bach-Complete-Schirmers/dp/1423421922

For sight reading practice: https://www.amazon.com/4S01-Royal-Conservatory-Sight-Reading/dp/1554407427/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543250017&sr=1-1&keywords=Four+star+sight+reading+book+1

For free scores of almost anything classically written: https://imslp.org

Here’s also a link to one of my favorite piano channel’s that talks about technique, progressing in skill and a plethora of other details that I didn’t cover: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz0PmHG0RvQHazlEsFU-4uQ

I wish you nothing but the best in your journey.
Fight against the current and make your dream a reality.


A. B. Martin
Live Alive With A. B. Martin — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyPSSMyYUS_KT8xcg7OsbBQ

I have a similar background, and just recently started again. I started out with some more basic songs.
There are tons of theories out there on practicing and playing. Hanon is good to get your fingers trained again, but musically it's not as much fun.
I would suggest finding some easier pieces and work on playing those well. That way you can build up your confidence, enjoy yourself, and work your way up to trickier compositions.

Personally I started with 'first lessons in Bach':
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1423421922/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And album for the young by Schumann. These pieces are really fun and quite varied as well:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793529948/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then for some great advice which I picked up on the pianoworld forums:

• Don't try to rush through a song and make the same mistakes every time. This way you're training yourself to play the wrong notes, and it becomes harder each time to unlearn it.
  
• Instead, start playing very slow and make sure to get the fingers and notes correct from the beginning. Once you play it right at the slow tempo, start playing faster.
  
• Instead of playing through a piece from beginning to end and glossing over the few hard sections, mark those... and then practice them until they're easy. Break down in very small sections and practice until you get it right!
  
  This has really proven beneficial for me, and allowed me to learn pieces quicker! Currently I'm working on Schubert Impromptu Op 90 No 3. It's so beautiful.
  Good luck in your learning. You'll most likely get frustrated, which is normal. Learning the piano is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be days where you can't hit a right note, but other days where you surprise yourself.

Get First lessons in Bach or The notebook for Anna Magdalena if you are feeling more adventurous.

Sorry, I meant this book. The other one is just a subset. These pieces range from simple to advanced beginner. They will keep you busy for a long, long time.

Buy this book and start working through it. By the time you get to the end, you'll be at least decent! Bach is an amazing place for beginners to start.

Also, get a teacher if you can. At least for a few lessons to make sure you don't develop any bad habits. As a self-taught guitarist of many years, I understand the feeling that you can teach yourself without any help. I made this mistake of playing for about a month before seeking a teacher, and although I made a large amount of progress, I also ingrained a few very bad habits that were hard to shake.

Good luck!

I'm not too familiar with Handel's works, but progressing through Baroque music can be fairly straightforward and programmatic. This is especially true when it comes to Bach, who happens to be excellent for developing hand independence! I would recommend going starting with this book, then his Little Preludes, then his two- and three-part inventions, and then WTC I and II. The progression in difficulty isn't completely linear, as you'll find there will be a couple of pieces here and there (like the WTC I Prelude in C you learned) that are easier than the pieces from the book before. For the most part though, the pieces do get progressively harder. You probably won't find a lot of hand independence exercises until you get to the inventions, but there's plenty of great material to start with from the first two books alone that will prepare you. The inventions require you to voice multiple independent melodies, which can be pretty difficult for any beginner pianist.

I also agree with the other poster, keep practicing your scales! There's a lot of different ways to improve your technique from playing scales alone. Learn all your major and harmonic/melodic minor scales. Learn to play them across multiple octaves, in parallel and contrary motion, starting from any key, in thirds, sixths, and tenths. Mix them up and play different scales in each hand at the same time. Play one scale in one hand at half the speed of the other hand. Play them at different dynamics, play them legato/staccato. The variety of ways you can improve your technique from just scales is staggering, not to mention it will be of immense benefit for improving your music theory and will help you run through scales much more quickly when you encounter them in a piece later on :)

You could practice just tapping out rhythms with your fingers on the desk to start with, in time to a metronome or drum beat. Accent the first beat, then practice accenting different beats. Obviously, you have to continuously listen to the metronome, and correct your tapping if you get out of time. Being able to get back into time is something you need to practice and improve.

Don't worry about forgetting pieces you've learnt - it's a fact of life. Once you have a piece as good as it'll get, make a recording for posterity and move on. You can keep pieces as part of your "repertoire" if you want, but you'll still need to work on them from time to time, and to be honest it gets boring keeping pieces you've already learnt in maintenance mode. So learn new stuff.

It's hard to recommend pieces since I don't really know your level, I started a long time ago, and I'm not a teacher. Like I mentioned, Hanon Part I is good as an exercise (kind of alternative to scales - use for warming up). Something like First Lessons in Bach seems to have good reviews. If you just want an individual piece, try "Prelude in C Major" - you should recognize it. Good luck.

Add this on your list:

* Bach Minuet in G Major 116

Very simple once you get the arpeggio's correct.

In fact, just buy First Lessons in Bach. OnaZ suggested it to me a while back, and I love it!