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'm curious if I should get the all-in-one books or the basic adult piano book. I played saxophone in highschool so I'm not sure how much of the theory I really need. I'm self-taught on piano without a book and I can play really easy piano pieces already but I'd like to learn to play intermediate pieces so I think I should get the book.

That's a good question. I played a woodwind instrument in high school, and I agree that most of the theory you will already know. When I first started the piano back in December, I had a bit of a time wrapping my head around chords. (After all, I use to only play one note at a time or sang one note at a time.) It didn't take much to get that basic understanding though.

The book taught me about chords, chord inversions and progressions. It also taught what harmonic and melodic intervals are. None of that is hard stuff, but stuff I had to learn as I hadn't learned that from playing in band.

Does the basic piano book teach that stuff? (I'm guessing it does.)

Sorry I can't answer your question. Are you going to start with book #1?

I'm interested in the harmonics and intervals and things like that, as you said. But I already know a lot about chords & inversions. In fact I never could play music very well until I learned how to do inversions. now I don't move my hands to change chords and it's so much easier.

I want to start with book 1 so that I don't miss anything. I already have bastien level 2 from a long time ago. I never even tried it. So far I can play the first few pieces in Bastien 2 but I have to practice a lot. so I figure my level is somewhere around there. I even debated skipping alfred and just doing bastien starting at 2 but everyone loves the alfred's books and I ordered the alfred's greatest hits books.

Yeah, sounds like you're doing the right thing. I'm also using Bastien and I like it just as much as Alfred, though I use Alfred as my main book.

Hi guys, just wanted to drop by and say that I am still lurking here daily but don't post much. My progress has slowed down quite a bit but is still steadily moving forward. I am spending more time getting each song to perfection, but that's okay because it's not a race. Reading this thread every day is inspiring.

So lately I've been polishing up Lullaby and learning What a Wonderful World from the Greatest Hits book. Lullaby was difficult to put together but it's coming along pretty smoothly now, I can generally play it through smoothly maybe 1 out of 3 times. I normally like to get a song to the point where I can play it smoothly maybe 2/3 of the time. WaWW seems fairly easy, particularly after The Rainbow Connection which gave me fits for weeks...

So hopefully I'll have Lullaby passable in the next couple of days and I'll start moving forward again!

Take care, folks!

Excellent, Mooshinator!
I remember how thrilled I was to "put Lullaby to bed!" I am so close to the end of the book now, this week I am playing the Stranger and Greensleeves. The overlapping pedal (in Greensleeves)is a bit of a challenge, but it is coming together. I played O sole mio so many times last week, every single member of my family hums it as they walk through the house. I am glad to be done with it though because my husband does a horrible Pavarotti, of course, I have no room to complain, I did a horrible O sole mio for a bit too I cannot wait to get to the Entertainer. I remember during my first weeks of lessons looking at that piece and thinking "Well, maybe in a year!" Now just 5 months later, it is just weeks away. I am also, as a longer project, working on David Nevue's Solitude, and a sonitina in C by Bastien (in my first book of sonitinas).

I am up to O Sole Mio now. Each new lesson opens a new door. Overall my progress in Alfred’s is slowed. But there has been some pivot point in my learning – something changed. My progress and attitude are kind of weird. I am making less progress but practicing more and enjoying it much more. At first I was a little inconsistent with practice time. Now I am doing about 90 focused minutes most days and 3+ hours on the weekends. If the universe works just right I can fit in an extra hour on occasional weekdays. My own standard of acceptable mastery has risen a great deal. In the past I was quite satisfied to get a whole lesson right, uh, at least once in a while. I was in such a hurry to get to the next. Don’t know why. Now I am not satisfied unless I can play completely through once and then repeat without mistake. Usually I cannot, so I have to start again. And I am very happy to do that. Back in the day I would get very frustrated by my incompetency. I experienced anxiety over the horrible sounds, by the lack of progress, by the different keyboard in the studio, etc. I was distracted by any excuse I could find. And now… now I don’t care. I just do and do again until I get it right. If a lesson takes one week, two, three – I don’t care. I am just as happy to stumble as I am to accomplish. I am as happy with new hard material as I am with easy old. The old adage about ‘it’ being the journey and not the destination seems to work for me. It is not a struggle anymore. I have a reached a calm or accepting attitude about this piano obsession now. I am not a better player so much. But my attitude is improved a great deal.

It’s Now or Never, back to practice.

Hi guys,

interesting conversation about scales a few days back. Ive played guitar for about 15 years and the one thing I regret (and the once piece of advice I ignored the most) was to learn scales. I feel like my musical vocabulary is a bit stunted on the guitar due to this and I hope to not make the same mistake again with the piano.

Any advice on good scales books for beginners ?

Also I have an M-Audio ProKeys88sx and it only has a sustain pedal. Im at the Damper Pedal section on page 61 and wondered if a sustain pedal will suffice ?

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~working on Money Cant Buy Everything, The Cuckoo & Harp Song

CaptainZero, my progress through the book has slowed as well. Frankly, I enjoy where I'm at and the practicing too.

SmokeStack, my teacher is now having me do the 2 octave scale of whatever piece I'm playing. (I'm only playing in C and G right now in my lessons.) I have to play the scale, both hands separate before I play each piece. It helps put my mind where it needs to be and the sharps come without much thought.

I have a book of scales and such. I mentioned in one of my posts in the last two weeks. It's really more involved than I need right now. I just printed out a sheet from the net showing the finger numbers of the scales in two octaves.

Here is a link to some of the scales. I'll be learning them as I get to each different key in Alfred's book.

Another thing I have taped to my wall is the circle of 5ths. It puts each key into a diagram to make it more understandable. Circle of 5ths Here is a helpful video. Take some time to look at them and over the coming weeks it will begin to make more sense to you.

SmokestackLightnin, the damper pedal and sustain pedal are one and the same so you have what you need.

My teacher suggested this book: Scales and Chords For the Piano for scale practice.

I too find it slow going at times but then I look back at where I came from and it makes it all worthwhile. Some pieces are realatively easy and it takes little time to get them passable, others not so much and I spend 2-3 weeks getting them down. Some even longer but like others have said it's a journey and I'm enjoying the ride.

I agree with you Captain Zero. I have found that my standards regarding acceptable performance of a piece have changed. I wonder if it has anything to do with how "beautiful" we can imagine a piece sounding if played properly. Early simple pieces were much more easily construed as "something to play to learn." Now, as the music is....I don't know the word for it...more musical, the desire to do the song justice becomes stronger. I have read older posts of people progressing through Alfred's book one and there seems to be agreement regarding a slower pace at the end. Of course, this is confounded by the fact that the music is simply harder to play too.
Smokestacklightnin: I am using the complete book of scales and arpeggios. Just like Graciecat, it has more in it than I currently need right now, but it is nice nontheless. I imagine using it for some time.

I had my lesson Wed. I didn't play as well for her as I had been.

She almost signed off Lullaby, but I kept missing C octave. I never had trouble with that before. She signed off Rock-it-away. Have to polish Joy to the World better for next week. I also keep forgetting to use the pedal for that song. She assigned p105 (Cockles and Mussels) for next week.

I had been practicing 2 "pieces" from my Masterwork Classics book (Alfred) p7-9. Both hands are written as treble notes. I really screwed up as I practiced during the week and had my left hand one octave lower than it should have been. (If you go to "google books" you can type in "Masterwork Classics level 1" and you can view those pages.)

I never pulled out my Hanon book. I didn't have time (or desire) to practice that new exercise she had wanted me to do. I'll hit it this week.

I've already played ahead and have Got Those Blues in the works (love that one). I'm also playing some with Chasing the Blues Away and Blues for Wynton Marsalis (p108-109). They're not too bad. Admittedly, I'm working through the first page of Amazing Grace with the right hand only. I like the song so I couldn't resist.

I'm polishing some songs in Alfreds Sacred book (or whatever it's called).

*I want to put a little more concentration my Alfred book. I want to make it to the end by the time summer starts. I won't be able to take lessons during the summer so I ordered Learn & Master Piano to use during that time. We'll see. It'll be what it will be. I don't have high expectations of the "system", but I'll give it a go. I want to learn by other sources so we'll see...

Hi Gracie Cat!
I really loved Blues for Wynton Marsalis. Very fun to play. I also aim to finish up the Alfred book before the summer. I was thinking of asking my teacher if I could then focus some more attention on a few more challenging pieces (so that I could actually imagine that I have a repertoire :)) and not start Alfred 2 until the fall. I will continue with my lessons in the summer, mostly because my 8 year old son takes lessons from the same teacher and I don't want him to have a 3 month break in his lessons (that would be hard to justify to him and perhaps the teacher that I was taking a break but he was not). I could really see the up side to not having lessons though. By the end of the Alfred book, I bet that you could choose a few songs just a bit above your level, ones you really felt passionately about, and work through them independently.

I have a quick question to ask that might or might not be posted in this right thread.

I looked through the All-In-One book and I see that there are little exercises for you to practice and such, what I'd like to know is, is there a way to know the right answers? I don't see an answer sheet or anything. I find it difficult to learn without an answers. I wouldn't know where I've made a mistake.

The other thing I'd like to know is. Is there a book that teaches music theory of is learning piano the way to learn music theory?

Thank you!

Hello Flowerpoddess,
Welcome to the forum. You will really enjoy it here, people are really knowledgeable. I should say at the outset, I have only been playing for 5 months. Perhaps others will chime in with their more experienced opinions, but I thought I would try to give you some quick information. As far as I know, there is not a "key" to the exercises in the All-in-one book. However, there isn't anything very tricky in the exercises. Usually, the "tested" material will be based upon an example that they have given.

The Alfred all in one book, as its name suggests, includes both theory and exercises (whether repetitive practice of scales or actual pieces of music to be played that are written to demonstrate the principles being taught). Many people choose to supplement the book with other music, exercises, and theory. I, for example, have an additional theory book (Snell is the author), Basic timing for the pianist (an exercise book on timing), and a note speller (to learn to sight read music. I also play music beyond that in the Alfred book. I have a teacher who has assigned this additional material.
Do you have a teacher or are you learning on your own?

Drat - I've neglected my book this week. I usually try to get 10-20 minutes of it in a day, but have been a little distracted with work and a separate piece I've been trying to finish memorizing.

Time to get back to it!

I'm just popping in to register my participation, just bought book one and am going to start working through it!

I think that you will like it Arkin. The beginning goes pretty fast...its the last 10 pieces or so that take some time.

Hi Flowerpoddess,
No, no answer appendix in Alfred's. I have an alternative suggestion if you want and like exercises and tests. "Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians by Wyatt and Schroeder"
This is a wonderful book with exercises on every page, tons and tons of them. And every exercise has an answer key in the back. It is beginner and does not assume any previous knowledge or assume any particular instrument. I have been going through that as I go through Alfred's book one. The two are entirely compatible. I like it because it keeps me in touch with music at times I cannot be at my piano. I used to do crosswords - now I spend my idle times Harmony and Theory.

Zero, thanks for mentioning "Harmony & Theory" - I just flipped through a few pages on Amazon & it looks like a great book. I live in an apartment, so can't practice early in the morning & have been wishing I could because I'm really a "morning" person. Working through the book might be a good alternative for a while.