Almost anyone who owns a piano or keyboard owns one or more piano books as well.
However we do tend to question how useful these piano books actually are. Are they right for you considering your current knowledge of piano playing?
Which piano books are the right ones for you and how you can make the best use of them. There are many different kinds of piano books out there. They can broadly be classified as follows.
- Learner / beginner piano learning books
- Intermediate lessons piano books
- Advanced learning piano Brooks
- Academic piano books
Learner and beginner piano books.
There is a huge collection of these kind of books and the subject matter is almost always concerned with teaching a beginner how to play the piano.
They instantly appeal to people who are either starting to play the piano for the first time or are picking it up from the very basic piano knowledge that they might have got at another time. Some examples of such books are given below:
Intermediate lessons piano books.
These books are usually meant for the intermediate player who wants to brush up a special technique or skills such as learning to play jazz or blues or mastering the classics on the piano. Most of these books will rely to a large extent on sheet reading.
Therefore you need to practice your music reading skills before you can make the best use of these books.
Advanced piano learning books.
As the name suggests these books usually contain very advanced lessons that foray into music theory, sheet feeding, complex music progressions as well as other advanced piano techniques.
For example, there are complete volumes written on each specialized form of piano playing such as jazz or the blues. You need to be a proficient site reader go through these books.
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Academic piano books.
These kind of piano books are mostly meant for the piano academia. A lot of who are studying the subject in collect, advanced courses and are training to be professionals in the field.
For example, there are entire volumes written on just the technique of ‘pedalling’ the piano. Needless to say these piano books are meant for the very serious student.
On this blog and in this post we will speak a little more about the first 2 kinds of piano books, i.e. the kind that teach beginner and intermediate piano lessons.
The best way to use piano books to learn piano
The biggest concern that needs to be addressed is how much of these books actually help you to learn the piano and whether they should be your first choice when it comes to choosing a medium to start learning the piano.
We have gone through several of the beginner piano books.
They are an interesting read. But the very first drawback about them is that they tend to fall back on sight reading to teach you anything.
Sight-reading is a great skill, but it is also that source something that takes time to master. Your initial progress on learning the piano should not hinge on it.
The other problem is the lack of visual aid. As a beginner you need someone to show you how to play.
Someone should demonstrate the proper way to play a keyboard, recognize the notes etc. Many of these books come with DVDs but they are mostly audio and play along DVDs. The progression of choosing the piano books can also be slightly difficult.
If you are not guided by anyone you could get confused as to which one to buy first and then follow-up with which other ones.
We believe that beginner piano books are the most helpful when used in conjunction with the help of an actual teacher. There has to be someone to guide you in order for you be able to utilize the information in these books.
As a complete beginner we recommend using a teacher or joining a piano class. That is the best way to get proper exposure to a piano which is in essential initially.
One of the best places to look for piano books is Amazon.com. You can use this search box to begin your search and find the right book for yourself.
Another option to conventional piano books is using e-books. These e-books can be found as part of online piano courses and they have the advantage of coming with video as well as audio lessons.
So while reading, with piano e-books you can watch and listen to your piano lessons at the same time.
Piano ebooks with video lessons are ideal for the beginner as they can help you understand and progress on your own. They will save you time as well as money.
Do comment and let us know about your favorite piano books. Which ones have you used and which ones have been the most helpful.
You can also ask questions about any specific piano book that you are interested in buying. If it is available online we will be happy to review it for you.