Adult All-in-One Course: Lesson, Theory, Technique Level 1 (Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course)

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!

As a child, many moons and summers ago, I wanted to play piano, but was very impatient and gave up. Now when I see people playing beautiful music on public pianos, I admire them and wish to be able to do that. I stopped wishing, and started planning, and got myself a piano teacher. They were good for the first 8 weeks, but I felt I wasn't being taught in the way I needed to learn. I decided to get this book instead and focus on teaching myself, plus it was more cost effective. In the 3 times I've opened this book, I have learnt more than i did with a teacher, in terms of reading sheet music and being able to play with both hands while reading the sheet. I'm grateful for the tutorials on video sharing sites that allow me to hear what the music is supposed to sound like to make sure im doing it right . But apart from that, I am glad I got this book and decided to learn from it. I only see myself getting better, and I am already looking to get the 2nd and 3rd book. The only thing I would add are the major, minor and other scales in colourful diagrams to make learning easier. Apart from that I'm very happy and would definitely recommend.

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.