Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course: The new, easy and fun way to teach yourself to play, Book & Online Audio Paperback – May 1, 2008

I am an absolute beginner in both playing the piano and learning music theory. At last, fulfilling a life time dream meant I really had to start learning to play. First all, I found that each chapter takes you through a couple of learning points: playing new notes, a little theory and then practice with a piece with the appropriate number of bars for the level that you are at. I found myself, within one week, learning to play with both hands, three chords! I have been practicing a minimum of 2 hours a day. What I love about this method is that there are enough new things to learn on every page and then when you just got to a little plateau of a 'comfort zone', you are suddenly learning a whole new technique to shift you back to basic, but not quiet as you will have gained quite a bit of confidence in the meantime.I have to admit, unless I have played the piano in a previous life, I have found this teaching book an excellent source and has built my confidence such that I am challenging msyelf on some tougher peices. This book is so similar to the Alfred's all in one adult book 1: end up playing the same pieces like the entertainer, greensleeve,etc. Like all students, one should try other pieces to play in addition to the teaching material. I found the CD was okay for some of the peices where you could actually pick up the piano notes; but it is useful to hear the rhymthm of the score as a guide as to whether you are playing too slowly (a condition that exists for all novices).If you are a beginner, I would also recommend you log onto pianoworld.com and search for alfred's adult all in one discussion thread. I found this very useful as I do not plan to get any lessons and with the forum, there are a lot of useful tips of what beginners are experiencing in their lessons. Hence, I have bought a few level 1 music books that I have started to work on (very slow as it does assume a higher level of experience than my first 60 pages, but not impossible!).

I am a beginning piano player. I had already learned some basics from another book but it was not as in depth as this one. The other book I learned from was simplified, didn't get too much into the black keys, or pedals. This book has 191 pages, so it does cover that. It looks daunting, but it explains it in easy to understand language and you work up to the more complicated stuff as you go. Like all teach yourself books, you can go at your own pace and tackle a new item when you are ready to move on.It also includes many popular songs from many genres from waltzes, to rag time. So that is nice too.It includes a CD of all the song examples so you can hear the speed and rhythm of each of the song tracks. Over sixty in all. However my main complaint is about the CD itself.It's more of a full orchestra accompaniment. So while you get the general idea of the practice piece, some of the tracks are just the background accompaniment, and you have to try to follow along and figure out where the notes belong. I got lost several times. The book gives background on the songs provided, and tells you how to play them, but I would prefer the pieces on the CD be strictly piano, since after all, this is a book about self-taught piano lessons. I want to hear what these pieces sound like being played on a piano, not with a violin, or a steel guitar, or horns. It is nice though. Also the CD tracks sound like the song bank on an electric keyboard, and my instrument of choice is the acoustic piano.I was also bothered by the fact that "The Entertainer" wasn't the complete song. So to learn how to play it, at some point I will try to find the complete sheet music to it.On the other hand, the book has a great selection of songs to choose from, and with careful study, I am convinced just about anyone can learn to play with patience and lots of practice after studying this book.

The instruction book is fine except I wish it was spiral bound. While trying to use it, the pages flip because of the binding. This is not a fault of the instructional material simply the binding.

Here I am, 40 years old and learning to play the piano. I took lessons very very briefly several years ago and have some background in reading music from my junior high band years, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with music in general - but I might as well be.The book is excellent at covering the most basic rudiments of the piano, from posture to finger position to basic note reading in both clefs. I didn't utilize the included CD, mostly because I don't have a CD player, but I did go out to youtube to listen to a few of the songs so I could get an idea of how they should sound (which is often very different from how I play them initially).The earliest songs in the book were pretty easy for me to play and I got bored and worked ahead ... and then stalled. Like learning anything, focusing on the basics before you move on is essential. I'm going back now and spending quality time with each piece to reinforce everything I've learned before I move on to another book.This book includes explanatory text with each page, written exercises you can do right in the book to reinforce note reading and chord determination as well as a mountain of songs. Some of the songs are hokey beginner songs, but the later songs are delightful and I'm tickled I can now play some of them.It's a worthwhile investment for someone thinking of taking on the piano. This will give you a good start to determine if the instrument is really for you, or to brush up if you've been away from it for many moons. I am not convinced it will replace a good teacher, but it will certainly help you determine if you are interested in making a larger investment.