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Hello all,

Has anyone had any experience with using the Jon Schmidt books? I know Alfred's is probably the most popular out there, but I was wondering what you thought of the Jon Schmidt collection for an adult beginner? Thanks!

I'll include the link below:

Jon Schmidt

USMCGRUNT, I have read your post, here:

Has anyone had any experience with using the Jon Schmidt books? I know Alfred's is probably the most popular out there, but I was wondering what you thought of the Jon Schmidt collection for an adult beginner? Thanks!

I'll include the link below:

Jon Schmidt

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The internet is not a place safe place so there is no reason to click on the unknown. Music stores around the world have lots of piano books for beginners that are inexpensive and known.

Sorry, it's not that it is unknown, I just don't know about it. Jon Schmidt is the artist from The Piano Guys. If you don't feel safe clicking on the link, you can just Google his name as well. But I was looking for suggestions from people who have used this before.

I don't think I've heard of anyone here using this course. Have you used the search function? (You want to use the google search box on the upper left, not the built-in forum search).

Hi USMCGRUNT,

I did purchase the "67 Fun Songs" book a few months back. At the time I was a little disappointed with it so I put it aside and continued with the Alfred series. But now that I have a few months under my belt, I may play around with it a bit.

I do think you need to have a good music background to jump into the Schmidt method. There is some theory introduced as the weeks/lessons progress, but a good amount of note reading that is probably more extensive than what I have experienced with Alfred's. The Schmidt book just seems to ramp up in complexity much quicker.

For a beginner, just starting out, I still prefer the Alfred books.

I don't know if any of this helps. But if you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask.

I did try to use the search function first and came up with nothing. That is why it made me a little skeptical.

Scorpio, that did answer some questions and I appreciate it. I've heard of a couple teachers using this through the grape vine and wanted to hear some experiences just as you have told me. It seems that Alfred's is definitely at the top of the pack. Thanks!

I'm not familiar with Schmidt's course, so I can't comment on it. I will say, though, that I've got a couple of individual pieces of his sheet music, and I absolutely love how he annotates his music. Some of the comments he makes about fingering etc. are wicked funny.

Jon Schmidt is hardly an unknown. Schmidt comes from a musical family and he was a well established piano teacher before becoming famous with the Piano Guys. Schmidt has written many solo compositions for the piano that could be frequently heard on Pandora in addition to his many covers with the Piano Guys which are very entertaining.

From what I heard, Schmidt did not teach the traditional classical method, but taught "modern" music, or what some might call new age along with classical. So his method could be interesting to someone looking for an alternative to classical or jazz approaches to piano.

Thanks for the info! That sounds potentially interesting.

Yes, I concur. Thank you all very much for the info!!