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After viewing Scott Houston on PBS, I decided that taking a look into his book just might be of interest to me. This would be due to a few years of classical piano lessons as a child and the desire to be better able to make the transition from grueling scales and technical excercises to actually playing more modern and contemporary tunes that have eluded me in the past. Scott does bring the 'fright factor' of disregarding all previous methods of playing the piano to a more simplistic approach. He also explains different methods used by the 'pros' when it comes to all the styles of playing that may seem unapproachable or too difficult to attempt for the person with the desire to play the piano with some sense of accomplishment. I would like to purchase or somehow obtain the DVD that he offers since that would probably be of great use for practicising his approach or style which is more visual than verbal. KHRead full review
Decades ago, I learned that I could sit at the keyboard of a Kimball organ, and with a little practice, could actually play some music. This book contains many of the same principles that were used in that process. This lets you experience the satisfaction of being able to play music, and with practice, you can learn to play quite well. No, you won't be playing on a concert stage by reading this book, but you will be able to enjoy sitting at a keyboard and making music with it. You may find that you have a hidden talent, and decide to make the effort to learn professionally, but this is an excellent way to test the waters with a relatively small investment of time and money. HD_Rider
I had 3 years of piano lessons starting at age 9 a long time ago. Back then the music teachers made you "stick to the sheet" of music for mostly classical music. Most of the music I played I had never even heard before. That was then. Now, the best approach to teaching essentially any instrument is to have the student play a tune they already have heard before. In essence, they are trying to copy the song as they recall it being played. That frees the student from having to learn all aspects of playing by allowing them to recall the tempo as they heard it and focus on the notes to play. It's an outstanding way to learn. As your skills improve, you can move on to new songs with all the requirements of tempo, scale, etc. I watched Scott Houston's TV show and was amazed at his approach. In a nutshell, he wants you to not only play any song you want to, but play it in any way you want to! In hindsight that seems so obvious but once you've been trained to "read music" and "play it as it is represented on the music sheet", it becomes bothersome to sit down, learn a new song and try to play it. With the new fake books and sheet music you can get as fancy and detailed as you want to or simply play the chords and melody and be happy with it. I stopped playing when I was 12 (baseball was much more important then!). I have restarted playing again and I'm having a great time doing it. I admit I had a little jump start on playing a piano, but I now not only play several tunes but I have committed them to memory! When I go to a social event I often hop on the nearest piano and start playing.... Now that I'm over 60 I enjoy playing much more than I did in my youth. This book is an excellent starter point. It's easy to read and targeted for the person who "got a keyboard for Christmas" or who has been staring at that old piano for years and never bothered to learn it. I highly recommend this book for starters. I just wish Scott was much OLDER and I could have run into him a long time ago! Thanks Scott!Read full review
The book promises that one will be playing the piano in a "flash." But the first 30 pages talk about things like chords and majors and minors etc. etc. To this point, I haven't seen any flash or laid my hands on the piano.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I bought it for my husband. Other books were difficult to learn with their methods. My husband says this is easy to follow.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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