Hi, I am a bass guitar player and would like to improve on my musicianship by learning piano. I just bought one and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for books in particular for novice/intermediate piano players. I'm also looking for novice/intermediate music theory books. Thanks a bunch!

Hi,
You might be interested in my book THE BLUES STEP BY STEP. In this book, I take a very simple jazz tune (C Jam Blues) by Duke Ellington and walk the student through every step of putting together a piano arrangement. It starts out with just the melody being played in the right hand and the root of the chords in the left hand and works its way up to the most complicated of chord changes and left/right hand combinations used by pro players like myself.
The second half of the book takes classical and other music vocabulary ideas and gives you a beginning foundation for playing improvisations in the right hand while playing the chord structures from the first part of the book in the left hand. The playalong CD has 43 tracks of examples as well as pro bass and drum tracks where you can play with a band and do your own piano work. So far, this has been the most popular book for students that come into my program. You can read more at http://planetmullins.com/book.htm.
I would also highly recommend that you find a good private teacher in your area to help you with basic theory and technique so that you don't develop bad habits at the keyboard and can move forward as fast as possible.
Best of luck!

Hanon is the choice!
Btw i am starting on guitar, any advice on that??

How is Hanon supposed to be a good choice for developing musicianship and knowledge of theory?

Hanon is towards building up stamina and finger dexterity.

Do you want a theory book or do you want course lesson material?.

If you are looking for course / lesson material I liked Faber's Adult Piano Adventures. The first book was very helpful as was the Christmas book. The second book did not quite "blow the wind up my skirt" but I plugged thru it. These will get you going. The Christams book was great fun.

After this series you should be ready for the Frederick Harris "Celebration Series" which will really get you into serious study.

A good read which you should be able to get at your library is Charles Rosen's "Piano Notes".

If you want theory material I can recommend that as well but I would just start off with Faber and have some fun. Faber does include basic theory. Their web site follows but you can buy it thru Patti Music as well as several of the other online dealers.

www.fjhmusic.com

www.frederickharrismusic.com

Have fun,
Steve

Stevester,
Could you tell us a little more about Rosen's book "Piano Notes", if you don't mind? thanks!

Ypiano,

It has been about 6 months since I read it and I read a lot of books so it would be hard for me go into specifics at this time. I found it at the library.

I do remember Rosen's book offering the potential pianist a good idea of how to approach study and what to expect. I also remember it as being an easy book to read.

Check out your public library as they may have it. If not ask them to order it. I print up reviews from Amazon for books I would like and my library usually adds them to their next order. Librarians like input like that.

Have fun,
Steve