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

Ruth Searl’s Rocket Piano Review

This is a short overview of Ruth Searl’s Rocket Piano course. The course is one of the best selling downloadable courses available at the moment and in my opinion is one of the most complete courses I have seen.

Click Here To Go To The Rocket Piano Web Site

I did a sort video review of this product showing you what to expect when once you have downloaded the files. Here is the Video:

Rocket Piano – What’s In The Box?

As you can see from the video the course is extremely complete. It is great for absolute beginners but it can also be used for slightly more advanced intermediate level players too. If you have been fumbling about on the keys for some time, maybe looking for videos on how to play certain songs on YouTube or trying to play along with your favorite songs then this is the product for you.

In the main Rocket Piano Review I wrote I gave this product a five star rating mainly because of it’s completeness. It really does cater for all your piano learning needs. It’s well laid out and extremely easy to follow. the material is of good quality and well thought out so that the student will advance with ease from one level to the next.

There is a whole bundle of software included in the package. Some of this is more useful than others. the most useful in my opinion is the metronome. This can be used to play along with the exercises. Playing in time can be quite difficult and using the metronome forces you to do this. The other interesting piece of software for me is the ear training interval recognition program called Perfect your pitch pro.

The major down side to this product is that the audio and video examples are not accessible from the workbooks. Ideally you should be working through the material when you come across an audio example then you should be able to click on the example to hear it. This is not the case here and in order to here the audio and watch the video files you have to fire up your computer’s browser or finder and locate the examples from off your hard drive.  I should say however, once I had done this three or four times it became easy and I didn’t think of it as much of a stumbling block.

The course is aimed at adults but could also be used to teach older children too. I do not think it would be suitable for children under the age of 10 however. For more information see the Teach Yourself Piano Page.

When I bought the course I spent quite a time working through all of the books and found that I couldn’t stop. The material is compelling and you don’t notice how quickly you are advancing as what you get taught in one lesson is seamlessly integrated into the following lessons.

On the whole the entire course is really worth having and once you get used to Ruth’s rather bizarre New Zealand accent then you will have a lot of fun learning the piano or the keyboards with this excellent course.

The course is sold through the payment gateway clickbank. This is a very reputable merchant that has been in business on the Internet for many years so a safe transaction is assured. Payments can be made via paypal or credit card and just for that extra piece of mind there is a full 60 day money back guarantee in case you are not completely satisfied.

Click Here To Go To The Rocket Piano Site