Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1

I've made it up to page 49. Sometimes I feel like there are too many finger numbers and I want to go in and white out some of them.

Anyway, I really enjoy the feel of the keys under my fingers. I find I struggle at first trying to get my fingers to play correctly, but the next day things seem much easier. I've been practicing 2-3 times a day for about 30 minutes each. Sometimes I might play an hour and other times for 15 minutes though.

I have 2 other books (Bastien and The Adult Piano Method Play By Choice) that I'm working through at the same time. More practice pieces and small differences that keep me going. I also like practicing different songs at a time like mooshinator mentioned.

It's exciting to see progress already. And for the record, I don't like Jingle Bells.

So my privia px330 came in and I have to say...

I think shes a keeper... Lol

Nice going, Gracie. I didn't like "Jingle Bells" either. At least, not the version in the Alfred Adult book. But it was a good exercise in using both hands. Using more than one book is good in the beginning, so that you can get more practice under your belt before learning something totally new. I'm not familiar with Play by Choice, but I did use some Bastien kids books as supplements. Their Christmas Favorites primer and book 1 are good ones. In fact, I probably overloaded myself with supplementary books, which probably slowed my Alfred work down a bit, but it made me feel more confident so that was a good thing. You will probably find a few more songs that you just don't like, but try to get through them, as they do have a technique to teach you, and they do help made the next song easier.

christmas songs are nice, but only very seasonal.. I rather learn songs of which I can play during the year.. Silent Night and O holy night are enough for me heh

Great to hear you enjoy and making progress. Keep it up.

Fanatik, Congratulations on your new Digital. It'll keep you busy. Enjoy.

Mom3gram, how are you doing?

Metusion, been practicing those songs I sent you? Need to post more often (just joking).

Just stop by and say "hi". Good day everyone.

It snowed here! So, we have a white day today, pity is not Christmas yet, as it would have been perfect!

Right, "Raisins and Almonds" sounds good now! Even my husband came into the room to say that it was really good! (But that was with two mistakes...) I am not giving a tick to it yet, but I don't think it will take any longer than Monday to get it.

But those arpeggios - they are not sounding any better as the times goes by...

By the way, does anyone else think that "He's got..." is a bit like "Why am I blue"?

You mean banging the same chord over and over again while you make the right hand keep time with it? Yes! Not my favorite style of playing. LOL I had forgotten about "Why am I Blue".

Congrats on "Raisins and Almonds". Mine is still a little shaky at times but it's coming along.

That is exactly what I mean! It made me laugh your response Very good description!

I find I can really concentrate and focus for about 20-30 minutes at sitting. Then I have to break. Otherwise I drift and don't accomplish much. I will total 1.5 - 3.0 hours a day, depending on non-piano influences. Being such a beginner, it really shows up in my play when I get more hours in a week. Improvement seems to happen in spurts like that. I am not at all concerned about pace of developemnt, as long as I am detecting some sort of progress. I don't expect to jump from raw beginner to accomplished master. Nor do I hold to any set time line or goals. I just try to get better. Fortunately I can easily control that right now, simple as putting in the appropriate practise time.

I finally did a decent job with Beautiful Brown Eyes. Over three weeks on that one song. I am now passed or progressed past everything up to Hanon. There is a two week break for holiday before another lesson. So I have much prep time for Hanon, Alouette, Lavender Blue, Kum By Yah and maybe a little further (if I am comfortable to attempt).

So, keeping my opinion to myself for the moment, what does anyone else think of Hanon? Actually, I cannot hold back my thoughts. Hanon seems a lot of time spent for little reward...

I hate Hanon, though I'm sure it's good for me. Vegetables are also good for me, and I hate vegetables, too...

Congrats on "Raisins and Almonds" too. I agree, if you’ve mastered “Why Am I Blue, He's Got...” comes a bit easier.

Captain Zero, good to hear your progress. 1.5 – 3 hours a day is very good. Can’t ask for more.

Mooshinator, I hear you about the vegetables thing. I have to force myself eating them as well, plus running & exercise. They are all good, just not fun as Piano.

LOL. Yes, it will be nice when we get to more advanced and more musical pieces.

Regarding Captain Zero's question about Hanon: is Hanon a piece of music in the All-In-One book or is it the Hanon 1 exercise? In the Alfred's Basic course I'm using there is no such piece and I had to buy a Hanon book. I'm still working on Hanon 1 and find it actually to be very useful even though I have read a lot of negative stuff about Hanon on this forum.

So I had my lesson today and my teacher passed me on Little Brown Jug which I'm very happy about. I actually played it very well on her piano.

I was really struck today by how nice her piano plays and sounds compared to the keyboard I'm using.

My teacher demonstrated Oh Sole Mio today and went off into this lounge jazz improv style on it that sounded very beautiful. Something to look forward to, being able to do such improv.

Hi,

I am an absolute beginner just starting out, and I intend to start learning on my own using books (no lessons for now). I borrowed Book One from the library to get a preview and I have decided that I am going to start with this book.

I am about to order my own copy and wanted to know if I should get the one with or without the CD.

Thanks!

Joe.

Well, the CD is not the greatest, but with songs that I was not familiar with, it did help me to see if I was playing them correctly. However, you can find most of the songs from Alfred 1 and 2 on youtube.com, so the CD may not really be necessary.

I find the CD to be very useful, but one thing to note is that there are two channels of sound on the recordings. The right channel contains the piano part that you're supposed to play, and the left channel contains obnoxious accompanying music that makes it very hard to distinguish the piano.

So if you do get the CD, turn off your left channel when you play it. Once I did that, I started finding the CD very, very helpful.

Welcome to Alfred Course I Joe. The CD leaves a lot to be desired, but for about $5 more, you can't go wrong. I use youtube and consult our wonderful friends here when I’m stuck or suspect that I mess up something. The CD serves somewhat like my teacher. Once I can play a song smoothly, I listen to it for the “feel” of the song, and polish it this way. So yes, I’d get one with CD. It won’t help you figure out every note but rather get you familiar with the songs.

Thank you mom3gram, mooshinator, and Nguyen, for your suggestions and tips. I have decided to get the version that comes with the CD.

I did notice that many members have posted their Alfred accomplishments on YouTube. That is very helpful and I want to thank them.

So, I ended up buying "Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course -- Book & CD". I was at the bookstore and noticed that this book has exactly the same content as the Adult Basic Course Book 1, with one exception. Each exercise page is preceded by an extra page on the left, titled "Self-Teaching Study Guide". The extra page contains additional information on the exercise that follows. That makes this book has about twice as long (192 pages) as the original Adult Basic Course book (90-odd pages).

I don't know if the extra pages of explanation and tips are really needed, but I figured they wouldn't hurt.

With all the slightly different titles and variations, buying an Alfred's piano beginner book is like trying to buy a car.

Joe, I think that book came out after I had already started. I would definitely have been interested that one, from the little bit that I was able to view online. I can use all the extra "study guides" and tips I can get. I was hoping that they would come out with a second book before I was ready for book 2, but that didn't happen, and so I have my All-in-One Book 2 waiting for me now. I think your book has pretty much the same pieces as the basic book 1 and the all-in-one, with a few "bonus" ones at the end. Let us know how you like it.

No!!!! I didn't know about that book at all, and now I see it has some extra songs, like 'Over the rainbow', 'Singing in the rain' and 'Have yourself a Merry little Christmas'!!!! I love those songs and want to learn to play them...