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 don't think Pianonewb is a member of this forum sadly, his videos has saved me a lot of work, and helped me when I made mistakes. Skipped two of the blues songs, I just said forget it, coudln't find any videos either to help me in a direction and barely even attempted either of em.

Though finished On top of old Smokey (easier than I thought). The Can-can on the other hand looks like a completely different obstacle. Having checked the vid, playing that at that speed isn't going to be easy at all, slowly it can go somewhat but playing fast songs isn't something I'm used to yet. I think I might be stuck on this for some time, and probably gonna work on Marines hymn as well in a day or two, I like having 2 pieces to vary with when learning occasionally.

Hey guys,

I've been lurking here for about 3 month - this is how long I've been playing the piano. Read this forum at least twice, all 86 pages. You can't imagine how helpful it was. I'm on my own, I don't have any friends who play piano, I didn't have a teacher - I'm just looking for one now. Hoping to start in the fall and very excited about it. This forum provided a great sense of a community, answered so many questions and just helped not to feel alone, or all on my own. I think I would've quit if not for this forum. When things got hard ( quite a few times) I read how everybody else struggled with it and then moved on. I saw that people who started from 0 got to level 2 and then 3. It gave me hope that I will too. So far I'm up to "Go Down Moses", although I skipped O Sole Mio and Greensleeves. I will get back to it after Moses. I usually don't skip pieces but these 2 just didn't feel right and I needed to move on and play something nice. I liked the Stranger and Moses a lot. I'm on "All in one book".

A question for the ladies with small kids, how do you find time to play? I have a 3.5 year old girl and a 1 year old boy. The piano is my gift for myself, something I love, something I do for myself only. I also work full time, so finding time is a challenge. It's only after the kids go to sleep that I can close the door and play. (A reason why I can't get an acoustic, although I really want one) Hopefully when the kids are older we'll get one. I hope they will want to play too.

Anyway, there are lots of questions I'd like to ask, after reading the forum you all seem like friends to me already. I probably will be mostly lurking again though, time is an issue. Great job,everyone, keep it up!

Welcome Kanadka! Sounds like you are making great progress. I'm glad to hear that you will be revisiting the songs that you skipped. When I feel like skipping a song in the lesson book, I always tell myself "There is something to learn in that song wether I know it right now or like the sound of it". I actually renamed Little Brown Jug to I Hate This Song and sang that in my head as I was playing, as it was the only way I could have fun with it, and it worked, lol. I have skipped two songs in the Greatest Hits book, but I see that as more entertainment and reinforcing than learning, so I don't feel guilty, lol.

As for the young children, I didn't start until my youngest was 6 and my oldest was 23, so I can't exactly relate. My youngest had already been taking lessons. But, having raised 5 little ones, if I had it to do all over again, I'd have simply taken time to practice while they were around, especially the 3.5 year old who can entertain herself for short periods while you are in the room. I think exposing them to it early in life is your best shot at ingraining the love for piano in them. Do you ever use a playpen for your 1 year old (I only ask that because you could put him in and know he is safe while you concentrate on your music)? I'd sit both of them down with some toys to occupy them, no tv or video and just play for them, they won't recognize your mistakes and I bet they will come to love the sound of piano as a memory of their early childhood. Well, good luck and welcome again!!!!!

Thanks, BarbVA. I used to play a lot with my son happily playing with his toys in the same room, but now that he's learning to walk all he wants to do is walk walk walk. (Keeps falling down all the time so I have to be right near him to catch him Or he wants to climb on the piano and play himself.

Sometimes I feel guilty taking this time to learn the piano, but I'm a happier person for doing it and also I hope I'll be able to help the kids when they start taking lesson. So it wouldn't be do as I say not as I do. They'll see that I practise as much as they have to.

I actually liked Little Brown Jug as this is one of the songs I really knew - having small kids has it's benefits. LOL.

Hello all! My name is Ben.

I really want to start playing again, but for the most part, I want to learn on my own. I plan to take a lesson maybe once a month to make sure I'm on track. So, I have my Scales, Chords and Arpeggios book and Alfred's Adult All-In-One Course: Level 2 book. I took about two months of private lessons, starting back in May. When I switched teachers after about a month, my new teacher started me on Alfred's level 2 book. Anyway, I also got a new keyboard, the Casio CTK-720. It's not much, but it came into Goodwill and I needed a stepping stone!

So, those are my resources now, can you help me from here? Should I buy Alfred's All-In-One level 1 book? Should I buy Alfred's seperate lesson and theory books instead of the All-In-One? Which is better in terms of learning on one's own? Should I buy different piano books? I just need to know the best resources for learning on my own. I'm not too interested in computer resources though. I don't mind posting a thread on a forum here and there, but I'd rather read music theory or piano lessons from a book.

So what do you think? Thanks!

Welcome Ben. The All-in-one Level 1 Book is your best bet but from what you say you're already into the second book already, or at least your teacher started you on it. Buying the Alfred theory and lesson separate is a bad idea, as the All-in-one's got it all, but it has a few other songs as well I believe like Auld Lang Syne and Lullaby I think. But its a bit of a waste of money if this is something you already know about. Still learning on your own I find the Alfred Books perfect and will give you an idea of the basics and to read sheet music.

I'm a bit tired and don't really know what I'm writing but in short, if already know everything from book one you're better of not getting it.

Ok so, Can-can is next to no progress, I hate it already, simple as that. Tried Marine's Hymn and that's pretty much down but I've got a question, the V7 chord (G Scale) confuses me. It says CAFD (though its obviously only 3 notes=, so which is the odd one? I'm very tired so ill just get the point, is it CAFD, C,A,F, C,D,F or what? I've been playing CAF but I'm nowhere sure if it right so please someone confirm . So V7 chord on G-scale!

Quagles.... The V7 cord in the G scale is D7th which is D, F# A and C. A chord is made of a root (D), third(F#) and 5th(A). A 7th chord adds a 7th(C). Most of the time you can drop the 5th note to make it easier to play. In playing "Can Can" and "The Marines Hymn" the song uses the 1st inversion of the D7th chord so you don't have to move your hand around so much. The first inversion of the D7th chord is F#, C, (A which is dropped) and D.

I hope this helps......

"Me" time is okay.
Our singlular purpose on this planet is not pro-creation.
If so, why would we ever have needed to crawl out of the ocean...?
(and that is a rhetorical metaphor, not a secular indictment... )

I have a feeling that when your kids are learning to talk and sing, they will do so around your piano playing.
So, there may be some irony in your guilt... since your piano time will most likely aid in their development and mutual family enjoyment.

Have fun with it... I am.
AC

Well, my teacher startd me on the level 2 book and I worked through it for about 2 weeks until my practicing slowed down for various reasons. Anyway, I'm on Guantanamera and my last hurdle was learning timing and rythym. I got so frustrated because my first teacher said she plays by ear - inferring that she doesn't have to count notes anymore. Then my last teacher tells me to count the notes, but she says it's up to me whether I want to count like "1,2,3,4" or "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" or a mixture of both depending on the complexity of the measure. At home, I was so frustrated with this because it was so hard for me to say the counting words, read the notes and play.

Anyway, that's the hurdle I'm at. Should I buy level 1? It's only 7 dollars. Will level 1 teach me about rythym, counting and the sorts when learning new songs? Thanks!

benghaner1,

If you're having difficulties with rhythm and counting while you read and play the notes then I highly recommend you get Book 1 and work on that first. In book 1, you learn a couple of time signatures and how to count the beats in each one and you also learn about the eighth notes and how to count those while playing a piece. Though you may not need to go through the entire book, I think some parts of the book will help you out and therefore it is worth to get.

I have no problem reading the rythym of the notes - I fully understand time signatures and the worth of each note as a beat depending on the signiture. My last teacher wanted me to count aloud "1,2,3,4" or "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" or some mixture of both depending on the complexity of the measure (like "1,2,3 and 4 and" for example). She left that option up to me which frustated me to no end.

My biggest hurdle right now is trying to read the measures with my eyes, count the words aloud and play with my muscles. I feel like I'm thinking about too many things by saying these "rythm" words aloud. Because this is a big hurdle and my last teacher didn't give me a clear direction on how to overcome it, I got frustrated. So, with this in mind, what do you think? In "learning piano yourself" books, there's got to be a point in which the author teaches a student every aspect on how to learn a song. I know that when the song is perfected, one doesn't have to count all the time, but it's learning the perfect rythym in the beginning that I'm very unclear on how to do.

When you are learning all of those things at once, you will need to slow it down. That is the key- slow it down. Once you start to feel the count and the fingers begin to anticipate where to go, you can start to bring it up to speed. As you practice and learn new pieces this will happen more quickly. If there is a particular section giving you trouble ask your teacher if she can give you a word phrase that will help you remember the flow. I remember a piece that was giving me a lot of trouble and my teacher told me to think "hey big spender" when I would get to this spot. It worked, I never forgot.

Here is my last submission from the AIO Book 1. Hope to see all of you in Book 2.

"Amazing Grace"

http://www.box.net/shared/1evyg15ako

So, are you saying I should count "1,2,3,4" or "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" or some mixture of both, but just slowly in the beginning of my learning? If so, which one? And I don't really have a teacher anymore. I'm going to start learning on my own and take a lesson once in a while to make sure I'm on the right track.

You will use both. I use the 1,2,3,4, when counting 1/4 & 1/2 notes. I use the "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" when counting 1/8 notes and dotted 1/4 notes.

I agree with Carl, slowing way down is the key to learning to play. Another trick that my teacher gave me is to break down the song into eighth notes. That will help with the rythym. I have a practice speed and a performance speed. Practice slowly it gives your brain time to think about things like counting, dynamics, phrasing and such.

Carl you did a really nice job on Amazing Grace. You got those rolled chords down really well. Glad you are joining us over in book 2. I have been kind of stalled in book two for awhile so maybe we can work together over there.

So, when I learn a new song, I should plow through the whole song by playing slowly and counting every measure? I also read that when I finish plowing through a song for the first time, I should then practice the hard sections. How long do I continue counting all of this?

Also, I've also noticed that I accidently speed up or slow down my counting. How do I know I'm playing the song at a consistent rythym?

I try to learn the song in sections of a few bars with an overlap of a note or two. I play slowly until I can play the section without any hesitations. Then I slowly bring up the speed.
Once I can play that part easily I go on to the next section. I try to figure out what the harder sections are and start by learning them. You don't need to spend as much time on the parts you can play easily. Counting is good until until you have the section underhand. Use a metronome every once in awhile to check yourself.

What do you all think about these books (below) on top of my Alfred's All-In-One books?

Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essen...mp;s=books&qid=1250448840&sr=1-1

The Piano Handbook
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Handboo...p;s=books&qid=1250448840&sr=1-2#

Hello all,
I'm working on "Amazing Grace" in Alfred's Adult Beginners book 1. It seems to have a triplet on the third beat of every single complete measure. This seems a little monotonous. Poking around the web, I find various arrangements of A.G., and most have a triplet on the third beat of every fourth measure, or at most, every other measure. Should this piece be looked at just as a triplet exercise, and not worth remembering over the long term?
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Jack

I accidentally posted an irrelevant reply to benghaner's post; I actually wanted to make a new post. Sorry.
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Jack