Reviewer: Andy Penbram
Rating:
Website Reviewed: Rocket Piano

Here is a detailed review of Rocket Piano by Ruth Searle which is now one of the most purchased piano and keyboards home study course available on the Internet.

You might also want to check out the Rocket Piano Video Review where I show you exactly what you will find when you purchase this package.

The Rocket Piano package can be bought in a digital format  which can be downloaded immediately to your computer or it can be purchased as a physical product which is shipped to your home.

What’s in the box?

CHECK OUT ROCKET PIANO HERE

The physical package consists of consists of seven books, a DVD and audio and software CDs. The digital pack has the 7 books in printable pdf format and over 60 high quality video lessons.

How the course works

To start the course you use book 1 the beginners book. This will teach you how to sit at the keyboards, how to hold your hands correctly, and general posture. It will show you where to find all the notes on the keyboard, and how to recognize those notes in written music. you will learn to play some simple melodies played with each hand and then some simple pieces with both hands. You will also learn some basic chords.

The books are nicely laid out and easy to follow. At certain points within the books, there are audio examples of how you should play that particular exercise and at other times there are video examples where Ruth explains a little more in depth and shows you exactly what she is talking about by means of example.

Negative Points

The main drawback with this package is that the audio and video files are not clickable within the books. This means that when you are studying and you get to an audio or video example then you have to stop and take note of the example number, then you need to search on your computer manually for that file. Until you have worked out your own system this can be a bit of a hassle but after a while you get the hang of it.

Positive Points

A very good feature of the books is the inclusion of jam tracks. These are in effect a type of music minus one. You get a written piece to play and a choice of two audio files. The first audio file contains the piano playing the piece in question with an accompaniment of guitar, bass and drums. This shows you how the piece should be played with a band. The second audio file is exactly the same as the first except that there is no piano included. This enables you to effectively play along with the band. This is a great way to practice as playing with other musicians forces you to play in time.

More about what you get

There are three main books, the beginners, intermediate and advanced. Once you gone through these then you can proceed onto the introduction to Jazz piano, or the introduction to Gospel piano. Both these are excellent books in their own right. There is also fingering technique and exercise book which can be used at any time and an interesting little bonus book called Advanced learning techniques for piano. This is a combination of techniques and psychology designed to help you get the most out of your learning experience. For more information see the Teach Yourself Piano Page.

The Software

In the sales letter there is a lot of attention paid to the software that is included with this product.

This is pretty basic but still can be useful. I myself wasn’t too impressed in general with the software but there are those who have found it to be fantastic.

There is JaydaMusica which is a little musical recognition game. You get notes flying across the screen and have to identify them. At first its easy but in later levels it speeds up and becomes really difficult. If you aren’t too comfortable with reading music the this game can really help you to familiarize yourself with reading.

Perfect your Pitch is an interval recognition game/ exercise. the computer plays a note and then you have to say which note it was. It then plays another and again you have to say which it was. This is excellent ear training material and in my opinion is the best piece of software in the whole package.

Chordinator shows you chords on the musical staff and gets you to identify them. Good training for those learning to read music.

Keycelerator is another note recognition game.

The Metronome very simple and straight forward but can be used whilst practicing the exercises. This is really important to do and so this piece of software is also a very important addition to the package.

Take a look at the Video Review I did for this product – Its called, Ruth Searl Rocket Piano Review

Conclusions

Save one or two little niggles (like the fact that the audio files aren’t embedded into the pdf files) I give this product a 5 star rating. It is definitely one of the best products available at the moment and is a really complete package. They have a really helpfull support section inside thei members area and for piece of mind the product comes with a full 60 day money back guarantee.

Click Here To Go To The Rocket Piano Web Site

Reviewer:  Andy Penbram
Rating:
Website Reviewed: Piano for All

This is one of my favorite home study piano programs. It is not as slick looking as some of it’s competitors (Rocket Piano) but it has its own special character and on the whole I really like the way that the whole course is planned to guide the student through the learning process.

What You Get

The course consists of ten hefty work books in a printable pdf format, 200 video lessons and 500 audio lessons. No fancy software here but the lessons are top quality and extremely well planned out.

Visit The Piano For All Web Site

The Unique Learning Process
This course is a little different from the others in that it teaches you how to play by ear, how to use chord charts and how to read music all at the same time right from the absolute basic level.

Here is a Video Review showing you what you get when you purchase

The Books
The first book is called Party Time – Rhythm Style Piano. This starts you off assuming you have no musical knowledge at all and have never touched a piano before. It teaches you how to find the notes on the keyboards, and by

means of simple diagrams it shows you how to place your fingers and has you playing simple melodies straight away. It then shows you how to recognize the notes you have learned on the musical staff. Then as you advance you get shown some chords. The whole basis of this book is to play like a pianist with real rhythms. You are taught how to play basic chords but also how to use them with authentic rhythms using both hands. The results sound reall

y great. The best thing about it is that as you progress you also get taught how to read music…  little by little until before you realize it you discover that you are able to play by ear and read music or chord symbols.

Once you have learned the basic principle of these books, t

he rhythm method for want of a better name you can then progress onto the more advanced books.

There is the Blues book where you learn beginners blues patterns and riffs.

The next book is

called Chord Magic. This teaches you how to play the basic chords in different inversions and how to combine them in chord sequences with rhythm that is really superb and has you sounding like a seasoned pianist.

This is then followed by the Advanced Chords book.

By the time you get to the next book, Ballad Style you are really playing like a professional. In this book you learn how to take a melody and improvise around it giving a ballad style to your playing.

The final book is Jazz Piano Made Easy. This is just that, it de-mystifies jazz playing and with some quite simple chord progressions and runs you will be playing authentic sounding Jazz pieces in no time at all.

Each book contains audio and video clips which you can simply click on and they open right there.

The Negatives
The most annoying thing about this course is that the teaching material is all traditional songs and melodies. This is due to the copyright laws prohibiting them from using protected material which leaves only the traditional and anonymous compositions.

The Positives
The whole way of learning using basic chords combined with rhythms has you playing authentic sounding piano right from the start. You can easily start this course if you are at an intermediate level too as it progresses up to quite an advanced level at the end.

The absolute best thing about this course is that it has you playing great sounding piano from the start and enables you to advance extremely quickly.

To Help You Decide
To help you make up your mind you can download a sample page so you can see how the course is laid out and how it works. There is also a 60 day money back guarantee in case you are not entirely convinced. For more information see the Teach Yourself Piano Page.

Conclusion
This course I give a definite five star rating. It is my personal favorite and although the look of the books is not as slick as some of the other courses the content, material and teaching method is superb.

Click Here For the Piano For All Web Site and Example Page

Reviewer:  Barry Bushnel
Rating:
Website Reviewed: Professional Piano Chords

This is a product aimed at those who are already playing the piano at a basic or intermediate level. It is a guide on how to make the chords you play sound more luscious.

This is a single book in pdf printable format. It has been put together by professional pianist and teacher Bill Romer. The whole idea of this product is that when you are learning to play the piano, especially if you are self taught, you learn some basic chords. These chords just don’t give you that professional pianist sound. This is where this book comes in. It will teach you loads of rich sounding chords and chord progressions you can use to make your playing sound better.

Go to the Professional Piano Chords Web Site

In order to use this course you need to be able to read a simple melody in the treble clef. The lessons border on teaching you improvisation and they show how to put wonderful rich sounding chord progressions on top of the simple melodies. After you get the hang of how this works, which will be very quick, you can start to use the chords and progressions you have learned in many different types of music. For more information check out the Piano Basics page.
The majority of the chords are thick jazz chords including sevenths, ninths, thirteenths etc. They all use their many inversions, Sometimes when playing one chord in a certain inversion you can then play another totally different chord with an added seventh or ninth in a different inversion and of maybe four notes played you might only have to change one. This technique serves to keep the harmony moving and appropriate by the piano will continue to sound full and mysterious.

The guide is very compact having 60 pages but the content is thick and there is a lot to get through. It comes with a separate chord chart which shows you by way of diagrams how to play the chords (no need to know how to read music)
The best thing about this product is that it only costs $27. There is also a 60 day money back guarantee.

Go to the Professional Piano Chords Web Site