Are Piano Instruction Books Worth Buying?
When you first looking into learning an instrument like the piano then books seem like a great idea, you can take them with you as you go about your daily life to read up on things, they are easy to store, and there are a wide range of piano instruction books for you to choose from, but they have a problem…
You see trying to learn something as physical as playing the piano from a book is not easy at all. Photos illustrated with numbers and then labelled don’t fully portray how to play chords or how fast someone is playing or what the movement of your hands should be like, that just can’t be captured in any piano instruction books.
Instead you need either a tutor, or even better, a course that has videos with it, that way you get workbooks/text to read so you get the book part, but then you also get videos to illustrate what you need to do, and for you to play along with to make sure you fully understand the concepts you are learning.
There are two courses that come to mind when I think of ones with video and text components to them, they are Rocket Piano and Learn and Master Piano, both really popular courses at the moment:
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You also get 4 pieces of software to help you learn quicker and in the case of the metronome software, to improve your playing by helping you master the timing, speed and control of a professional piano player. Then you get 57 video lessons to accompany the workbooks and even 26 jam tracks that have the piano removed so you can feel as if you are playing along with the band as you learn the songs. At just $39.95 then this is incredible value, but remember it is a downloadable course so you will need to print the workbooks off and watch the videos on your computer. |
Rocket Piano is available digitally, so you download PDFs as the core workbooks, which go from beginner to advanced workbooks, plus extra guides on jazz and gospel styles of playing.
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I have the guitar version of this course and I am extremely pleased with it, the lessons are top quality, the structure of the course and the lessons is excellent and really helps you learn step by step so you never feel lost of overwhelmed. This course costs $149 at the moment but would be my choice out of the two. |
Learn and Master Piano is a premium DVD course, you have to pay more than with the course above, but you do get 14 DVDs full of lessons and 5 play-along CDs as well as a workbook and access to a thriving online forum where you can ask questions and get more tips from the instructor etc.