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I'd like some recommendations of longer easy songs to try that sound more sophisticated but are still doable for a beginner and have more basic rhythms. I have Alfred's book 1 and can do the songs fairly easily with a little work. Just a few things to play with that won't feel like exercises and more like real songs. Thanks!

Hi Karen,
I'd do a search either on Hal Lenard or Amazon etc for Alfred series. There are several supplemental books that have the same writing (pedals, emphasis etc) as the Alfred beginner books but have full blown pieces in them.

I'd also suggest picking up the Scales & Arpeggio book and also Hannon for some great exercises and warm ups..

Hi Karen, I'm not sure what your tastes in music are but if you're at all interested in 'new-age' sounding piano then I'd highly recommend looking at one of Ludovico Einaudi's sheet music collections. The 'Best of' collection of his is currently the only music book I own so I'm not really able to suggest anything else, but there are many pieces within this book that be suitable for a beginner/intermediate player. You'll notice that his music is very popular around here and there is a large Einaudi thread where you'd be able to get specific help if necessary.

A lot of the songs, although maybe a tad tricky to start with, are easier to play than they sound (which is always good for impressing people )as they often consist of repeating patterns - so once you've learnt one section you'll find it much easier to learn the rest.

As I said, I'm not able to suggest anything else at the moment....in fact I'm eager to see what other people suggest so I can start to get an idea of what I can ask Santa to bring me next month!