Adult All-in-One Course: Lesson, Theory, Technique Level 1 (Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course) Plastic Comb – 1 Jan. 2007

I just got it today and burned through first 4 chapters. For full disclosure - I played a piano for like 6 months when I was a kid and I have basics in music reading, but even if I didn't have these essentials, this book literally delivers new concepts with such ease, that my only regret is not discovering it sooner!I am trying to find the access to the videos which go along the book, as CD nowadays is unfortunately useless - I have no CD player, nor the laptop, nor the desctop has one.There is one review comment here which downmarks this book and learning system because the terminology in American English. I am sorry but that's ridiculous, especially in this day and age with all the tech around. I was 25 when I came to the UK nearly 22 years ago, and I could barely string a sentence in English, and without curent tech I had to rely on huge paper dictionaries. If I, a foreigner, for whom English is a 3rd language managing to understand the US terninology, with the help of Google, then I am struggling to understand how a native English speaker cannot survive without Alfred's text books 'translated' from English language to English language - all you have to do, if it is confusing to you, is to pencil in the meaning in UK terminology in the book, or make flashcard dictionary to later refer to. For example when learning about time signatures a word 'measure' came up. So taking into consideration that the author spoke about the total number of beat in 1 measure I deduced that the measure is a bar in UK's terms, and Googled confirmed this. Despite trying many different techniques over the years I was unable to move from the Do-Re-Mi system to C-D-E no matter how much I tried (I do-re-mi'ed from the age of 6 for 10 years of 3 rehearsals per week 2.5 hours per rehearsal. So Do-Re-Mi is like my native mother tongue which is inbeded at the deepest level. What I do to deal with it, is by translating the notes. So if there are people who are not happy about crocthet being called a quarter, which what it actually is, please remember that there are some who have to translate not just notes, but also chords, various scales etc. Actually I have to translate most of this book, because the language in the book is subject specific, and I welcome the challenge - the very reason I decided to play was to challenge myself, and it would be equally challenging had I had the UK English version of this same book!

I started to learn how to play piano around 5 months ago and this was the book my teacher asked me to buy so we could have lessons based on it. I did not know anything about piano.Even though I have been having lessons with a teacher, this book could easily be used by an autodidact as it is really easy to follow. I usually work on the book by myself as it is very clear and self-explanatory.If you already have where to practice piano, I highly recommend this book.There is theory, exercises to do, and songs to practice what was taught so you can put the theory into practice.It is really rewarding the feeling of improvement when the songs get more complex and have a better melody. I intend to buy the next volume when I finish this one. I cannot wait!

The main issue I have with it is that it doesn't even mention that the UK and the US use totally different musical terms and the British terms are not given in this book, whereas every British book I have at least mentions the difference so beginners are aware of it. Consequently, a lot of very happy British beginners have given 5-star reviews, apparently with no idea that they have learned entirely incorrect terminology. Whereas we in Britain use 'crotchet' and 'minim' etc., this book refers only to 'quarter note' and 'half note'. More annoyingly still, a note - the kind you play as opposed to the written kind - is referred to as a 'tone'. In the UK, a 'tone' is a distance between 2 notes. So the pattern for all major scales is Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone. A semitone is half a tone. This will be very confusing later on if you have learned to refer to individual notes as tones. The Americans call a tone a 'step' and a semitone a 'half step'.If you are using other repertoire or teaching material for beginners, this book won't be compatible with most of them as a lot of methods teach starting with both thumbs on middle C and the fingers moving outwards from there. This book starts with the right thumb on middle C. But the left hand starts on the C below, with the little finger on C below middle C. This means a lot of the fingering you have learned for early tunes in other books won't apply here.I got this book as a more adult supplement to my main beginner's method, which is aimed at children, with the aim of expanding my repertoire. In this respect, it'll be fine. It starts at the beginning with each hand and teaches you how to read notes from scratch too. There's a sizeable amount of theory included and a good range of pieces, as well as some decent material on chords. The spiral-bound edition lays nice and flat but does not include the CD, not that you really need it. If you want to hear the pieces, most of them are on YouTube now.

Arrived promptly, before the due date. The book is good value for money and easy to follow. It starts very simply but soon moved it on so you started to play a little tune very early on. I could read music already, but could not play the piano at all, and I found that I got through the first 30 pages or so quite quickly. I have had it now for about a month and am now on page 80 where it is starting to get a bit more difficult, so I try to do a double page per session, and go back and revisit earlier tunes as a recap. I quite like the little tunes that are in the book and I have found it motivating, a good level of challenge, and easy to follow. Highly recommended.