Best Books For Learning Piano

Where Can You Find The Best Books For Beginner Pianists

There are numerous places where you can get your hands on books about learning to play the piano. In principle there are two types of pianists who use these books. There are those who want to learn to play piano on their own, and those who’ve chosen to progress with the help of a teacher. And within each direction, the books themselves will be different.

I use the word book to discuss these manuals because they’re obviously found in bookstores. They’re also found online, in with e-retailers .

• Personally, I recommend buying your piano training manual from a specialized retailer. Because there are certain advantages with this kind of direct sale.
• A passionate relationship with other passionate musicians. One that offers anecdotes from musicians, and which, in a kind moment, can push a student to persevere through difficult challenges.
• The ability to take advantage of the salespeople’s advice, as well as from fellow musicians. This advice is invaluable as you start out.

Check for piano lessons Derby here.

There are, nowadays, many different ways to acquire books on the piano for beginners.

Which means that everyone will decide on the best way for themselves. A simple purchase, or a purchase that comes with advice and recommendations from music professionals.

There is no right or wrong way to do it. It’s a matter of preference and of available time.

Discover other ways to optimise your piano learning…

Beginner Manuals For Playing Classical Pieces

Getting a classical musical education without enrolling in a traditional piano course is possible!

In the realm of beginner piano lessons without a teacher, students have the choice between playing with the right hand, playing with the left hand, or playing with both hands according to personal progress. At the beginning, it’s not strictly necessary to know how to play with both hands: students can work on sheet music one hand at a time, and then advance to the next level once that’s been done.

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Why not take your chances at a piano bar?There are several manuals that include all kinds of sheet music, often including CDs. The disc allows you to be accompanied , with the goal of playing in rhythm and with more musicality.

If you want to play Bach’s Preludes, or the best pieces by Schumann or Schubert, this is a very useful tool.

Here are some suggested manuals with sheet music of classical pieces:

It’s equally possible to learn to play the piano online, since certain sites allow access to free sheet music for beginners. Computer programs for learning to play the piano offer access to digital pianos, useful for those who want to learn to play a synthesizer.

Whether it’s piano lessons online or written piano lessons, you can now play piano pieces without the help of a teacher!

Join the discussion: is it more challenging to learn the piano as an adult?

Best Piano Teaching Books For Adults

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Learning piano can be really simple with the right teaching books. There is a pretty big distinction between adult piano method books and ones for children though. Most books geared for children move too slowly for adults. Adult teaching books are designed with a faster pace, and they are able to introduce certain techniques sooner than books for younger students.

Below is a complete list of the best piano teaching books for adults.

Each of these books has all of the essential tools needed for becoming a proficient piano player. It helps to study these books with a teacher, but they are designed for self-learning as well.

Below is how I would classify each of these method books by difficulty level:

Now that you have a chart, its time to go into detail on each book below so you can get an idea if its the right method book for you. Lets start off with my favorite piano book for adults, Piano Jumpstart!

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Bastien Piano Basics Primer Level

The Piano Basics series by James Bastien is one of our favorites for beginner piano students. The Primer Level book is filled with cute illustrations that children love and the book includes a nice mix of original educational songs to introduce new techniques and arrangements of songs that children will know, like Mary Had A Little Lamb, Skip To My Lou, and Jingle Bells.

This book is pretty fast-paced and moves from complete beginner to reading music in C position, Middle C position, and G position by the end of the book.

Who it’s for: Ages 6-10

Big Book Of Beginners Piano Classics

In case youre a beginner whos already familiar with some of the basics, or know such a novice pianist that needs some adequate resources, then Big Book of Beginners Piano Classics comes as a very useful tool. In fact, its more of a collection of famous piano classics rather than a regular book.

However, the important thing to note is that all 83 of these pieces are arranged and adapted for beginners. Theyre also organized in such an order that will help any beginner pianist excel, with each piece being slightly more difficult than the previous one. The book also comes with downloadable MP3 files of some of its examples. Overall, this one can work well with the help of a teacher or any other experienced pianist. Yes, these arrangements are easy to follow, but youll need some help if youre a complete beginner.

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Adult Piano Adventures All

This piano adventures level is a book by Nancy Faber is terrific for beginners.

It breaks musical theory down into small, digestible chunks for the reader. Each lesson teaches enough theory to play a piece with plenty of time to learn before moving on.

This book is a great place to start learning the piano even if youve never read music before.

It made the list of best piano books because of this: By the end of this first book in a series, youll be proficient at playing some songs with both hands on the piano.

And understanding basic bass and treble staff theory at the very least as a takeaway.

The pacing is perfect for beginners. You wont feel overwhelmed and youll feel competent in each lesson when its over.

From kids to seniors, this book gets raving reviews. Youll definitely want it to be on your shelf.

Faber piano adventures book is perfect for you if youre starting at square one when it comes to piano.

Alfreds Teach Yourself To Play Piano

If you havent already noticed, Alfred publishes some of the best piano method books on the market. They provide so much variety to accommodate all kinds of learning styles. An often overlooked course they offer is Teach Yourself To Play Piano. This one much like their other courses focuses on adult pianists teaching themselves having to play by supplying them with helpful tools and strategies to do so.

This course is 96 pages and focuses on the fundamentals of playing first. From there it slowly graduates students into musical notation, scales, and rhythms. Theres also a very thorough explanation of how the keyboard looks so that you can maneuver your way around it with ease.

The book is organized into 9 helpful units. The first unit focuses on the introduction to playing the piano. Everything discussed here includes finger numbers, sitting posture, dynamics, and much more. The next unit immediately jumps into the C position and has warmups to go along with that.

The next few units cover the grand staff, F position, how to play chords and the theory behind them. By the end of the book youll be familiar with five-finger patterns, phrasing by dropping and lifting the hands, and much more.

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Music Theory Staff Paper By Malia Jade Roberson

This book is designed more as a practical tool than as a collection of piano lessons.

It was originally written especially for music students and composers.

Its primary originality is that it allows to merge classical music notation on staves with spaces dedicated to annotation. This is very practical when writing music.

It includes another more theoretical part with a study guide, graphs and scales.

Music Theory Staff Paper: a good piano book for all the beginners.

Alfreds Self Teaching Adult Piano Course

What better self-teaching course for piano than one actually named that! Alfreds Self-teaching Adult Piano Course is a lot more than just a book. Its a complete offering of all the strategies you need to play the piano effectively without having professional instruction.

Because of the materials that come with the book and the step by step instructions, its almost failproof for a beginner pianist to get started with this method.

The coursebook is 192 pages of detailed piano instruction. Along with the book is a CD. The purpose of the CD is to provide a way for you to check your playing for accuracy. The CD contains the piano parts that you will play along with an accompaniment to help make the pieces sound more exciting and engaging to play. This is helpful when you dont have a teacher and you need a duet part to play with.

What impresses me most is the self-teaching study guide that goes along with each piece that you play. The instructions are really detailed. For instance, on page 4 of the method book, harmonic 4ths and 5ths are introduced.

The piece that follows is Jingle Bells, and the book describes in detail how the hands will move, where they will set, and where you can recognize the harmonic 4th and 5th occurring as you play. The book even details things you should not miss such as the dynamics, balance between the melody and accompaniment. It even discusses when to expect the hand to move up and down between specific keys.

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Easy Piano Sheet Music For Kids

Another powerful piano book for kids, Easy Piano Sheet Music for Kids, offers a collection of 40 popular songs to learn from.

Of course, you must convey information in a digestible way to your audience. Easy Piano Sheet Music for Kids does this perfectly! Each note of every song has clear labels, helping kids learn to read sheet music while having fun.

Kids rarely know what they want. This book is ideal because it also covers both piano and keyboard playingthis is a must-have!

What Benefits Will A Child Gain By Playing The Piano

There are many benefits that a child can gain from playing the piano. One of the most important benefits is that it can help to develop their coordination and fine motor skills. Playing the piano requires the use of both hands and feet, which can help to improve a childs hand-eye coordination.

In addition, it can also help to build up their strength and dexterity in their fingers. Another benefit of playing the piano is that it can help to improve a childs memory and concentration. Playing the piano requires rememberings patterns of notes and melodies, which can help to improve a childs memory and concentration skills.

Finally, playing the piano can also be a great way for a child to relieve stress and relax. It has been shown that playing the piano can help to lower levels of stress hormones in the body, which can be beneficial for both physical and mental health. Ultimately, there are many benefits that a child can gain from playing the piano, making it an activity that is well worth pursuing.

The first step is to identify your childs playing ability. If your child is just starting, look for Best Piano Books for Kids that offer simple, easy-to-follow instructions. As your child gets more comfortable with the basics, you can move on to books that introduce more advanced concepts.

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Play It Childrens Songs: A Superfast Way To Learn Awesome Songs

Play It! is one of our favorite beginner piano books for kids because it offers a fun and easy way to master the piano or keyboard. The helpful instructions with color-coded notes and character icons make it easy to follow. It also includes piano sheets of popular and favorite songs and an intro for reading sheet music. Songs include Mary Had a Little Lamb, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and more.

Topic: piano songs and helpful instructions

Ages: 5 10 years

Why read it: It provides helpful instructions and tips along with sheet music to many popular kid songs.

The Complete Idiots Guide To Music Theory

Dont let the title embarrass you! Buy a book cover if you have to because this one is definitely worth the read.

This book by Michael Miller takes convoluted musical theories and breaks them down into easily digestible chunks for beginners.

It can be a great complimentary guide to put your piano lessons to good use.

It has key ingredients for success. Its engaging, simple to follow, and full of content that can help any level of pianist improve their skill.

Its an excellent choice for the beginner. Miller takes thorny concepts and breaks them down with amazing clarity.

The book is a good read for any musician. Which makes it a solid foundational read for the beginner pianist.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Music Theory isnt for everyone starting to play the piano. If youre looking to get your hands on the keyboard right away, this isnt for you.

Pick this book up if you want to go in-depth with musical theory. You will have a deep understanding by the end of the pages.

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Piano Scales Chords Arpeggios Lessons By Damon Ferrante

In this piano book for beginners, the teacher guides you step by step through 140 paper lessons and 30 streaming video lessons.

The videos are particularly detailed and very easy to understand.

The combination of book and video produces a high quality learning experience, ideal for beginners as well as for more advanced players who wish to work on their technique.

The Essentials Of Piano Chords

Piano

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John Thompsons Easiest Piano Course

The name isnt false advertisings. The lessons in this book are some of the easiest to follow that you will find. Each note in introduced to you one at a time and the lessons are reinforced with colorful illustrations and characters.

This book comes complete with writing and reading assignments for those who learn by doing. Its a great accompaniment to have while learning from a piano instructor.

The Joy Of First Year Piano

This is one book in a constantly expanding series of Joy Of books. In this particular one, Denes Agay guides musicians through a series of piano work sure to increase skill.

The book also comes with audio. Each piece is accompanied by a track boasting a skilled pianist playing the piece.

This series has been chosen by musicians all over the world. They love it for their imaginative choice of material.

Its also thought of as having consistent settings, a diverse range of music, and a large-format style.

All of these things make it accessible to beginners and advanced players alike.

And this series is constantly growingmaking it sure to be a favorite that keeps on giving!

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Pam Wedgwood: Its Never Too Late To Play Piano

This book has proved to be very popular with my adult students. The 15 units are clearly organised, with tips and facts throughout each. As well as plenty of pieces you will recognise, Pam has included a lot of her own great compositions which are a lot of fun to play.

Although you could use this book as a self-taught learner, I would say its better to use alongside a teacher in structured lessons this is because the book goes at a slightly faster pace than the Piano adventures series and you may find it more of a challenge to progress on your own after the first three or four units.

It comes with a CD with play-along tracks which adds to the experience. As you progress through the book and reach the more challenging pieces, you will find it helpful to listen to the performances of the pieces on the CD. There are some wonderful concert pieces at the end of the book to aim to perform.

Pams book is a great place to start as an older beginner although it doesnt cover as much theory as the Piano adventures series, it makes up for that in its attention to technique and inspiring pieces. This book will generally last the complete beginner a couple of years.