I was searching the web for some easy classical pieces to include in my soon to be released beginners piano course when I stumbled across this amazing video.
This is of the pianist Wilhelm Kempff playing Movement 1 from the famous Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. This piece is not that difficult to play and is attempted by many beginners. They will not however be able to play it with as much tenderness and feeling as does the late Mr Kempff here.
You can tell that this man truly loves his instrument. See how he caresses the keys effortlessly in this extraordinary recording that brought tears to my eyes when I first heard it.
Best Piano Courses
I have recently checked out and reviewed many home study piano courses. Here is a list of the absolute best of the best.
This package contains 7 books with associated video and audio files. Apart from the basic teaching manuals there is Jazz for beginners and Gospel for beginners as well as a couple of general technique books. You get access to a bundle of software (PC and MAC) including a metronome and several music learning games. This is the leader as far as popularity goes and is an extremely good course containing over a years worth of lessons. Good for absolute beginners and intermediate level players.
This extremely full package has 10 books with embedded video and audio. It teaches you how to play by ear and how to read music. Right from the start you will be playing authentic sounding pieces. Innovative teaching method keeps your interest and has you playing good sounding music in a very short time. The overall presentation of this product is not quite so slick as others but the content is without a doubt superior.
This well presented course comes with tons of audio and video files. It also has a very good selection of software available. It is suitable for learning piano and keyboards in any style from classical through to Jazz and pop. You also get over 100 Jam tracks that you can play along to. The makers of this product however also specialize in music production and so there are a few bonuses including the Music Producer Multimedia Program and an online beat maker.
Another fine product, this one comes with a vast library of video and audio lessons. It is split up into styles with separate lessons for blues, Jazz, classical, bluegrass, rock etc. This also comes with quite a few jam tracks to you to play along to. It is suitable for absolute beginners and has a quick start section which will have you playing music from the first day.
If you want to learn several modern styles then this is the course for you. It is centered around electronic keyboard playing though can be used with a normal piano if needed. You will learn rhythms and chords and are set practice sessions with rhythm with both left and right hands to help discipline your playing. The course comes with a short introductory video and a few jam tracks to play along with. The bulk of the course however is the book itself.
For more information see the Teach Yourself Piano Page. All of the products listed here are geared to teaching you how to play the piano or the keyboards and will take you from beginners level up to intermediate or advanced level. Each product come with a money back guarantee should you not be completely satisfied.
Rocket Piano Review
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every beginner can use advice on how to Teach Yourself Piano. There are many different methods of teaching yourself how to play the piano. Some people use an instructor and others teach themselves. No matter how you learn to play the piano, some things will be the same. The basics of playing the piano are never going to change. With that in mind here are some tips and great advice to help you as you learn to play the piano.
Start with the Basics
No matter how you decide to learn, you will always start with the basics. You will learn about the piano, the keys and where the notes are on the piano. You will also learn some basic music theory, including how to read music. These basics are where everyone starts. It can sometimes be easy to think that you don’t need to go over the basics, but even if you already know how to read music and you already know about the piano keyboard, going over the basics is always a nice refresher and should be where you start.
Choose Easy and Short Pieces to Start Your first pieces should be introductory pieces that test you ability to read music and play that music on the piano. These pieces should be short and easy enough for you to memorize. You should aim to perfect them, which should not take too long.
Also do one or two pieces that you play by ear. This means that you hear them and then try to play them on the piano. You can learn a lot by just trying to duplicate what you hear on the piano. This is great ear training that will come in handy as you advance through your piano lessons.
Understand It Will Get Harder Too often the beginner student feels like things get too hard and they quit. However, advancing to harder pieces is the only way that you will learn and improve. You have to accept that there will come a time when you will really struggle with a piece and you will have to practice over and over to perfect it. This is just you becoming a better piano player and every player goes through this. If you never play pieces that challenge you then you will never get better.
Make It Your Own Have you ever heard the same song sang by two different singers? Did it sound exactly the same? Probably not. The reason is that each singer made the song their own. That is what you need to do with the music you play. One of the secrets to becoming a good piano player is learning to make music your own. Start playing from the heart. Be adventurous and willing to try new things. It will only help you grow as a piano player.
When you first begin to seek how to learn the piano you will probably feel it is very structured. You will have set lessons and you will be learning the basic things that you need to know to become a good piano player. Do not let yourself give up in these early stages. They really do progress quickly and soon you will be moving on to playing harder pieces that sound beautiful. The key is to just follow the advice above and to stick with it.
There is a list of home study courses to help you teach yourself piano on the piano for beginners page
Piano Chord Charts
There have been a lot of requests for piano chord charts in the last few weeks. Chord charts are very popular amongst guitarists who use them a lot but for piano players there are so many different ways to play any single chord that a chart showing one basic chord pattern might not sound so effective as it would with a guitar.
Piano chords are often played in different inversions depending on which chord precedes or follows it so basic chords might not sound so good. Having said that we have put together a complete chord sheet especially for beginners which we are giving away for free (see below) but be warned, it is consists of all the major and minor chords in the root position to be played with the right hand only and as such might sound a little pedestrian.
These are only basic chords but they can be used effectively to play along to most popular songs. They will not make your playing sound like an accomplished player however. See the Teach Yourself Piano page for more information.
To really understand how to use both hands and how to use the chords in different inversions then you need to practice a lot and to have the guidance of a teacher or one of the online courses. The best course for teaching you how to play really smooth chords in different inversions is the Piano for All course.
If you sign up below you will receive our chord charts by email. They include all of the basic chords which is usually enough to accompany a lot of well know tunes. You can play the three note chords with your right hand and try to establish some sort of rhythm. Once you have that practiced then you can play the root note, the bottom of the three notes with the left hand on or two octaves below, this will give more profundity to the sound of the chords making them sound a lot fuller.
There are some instructions for beginner piano players that come with the chord sheets we are giving away so you don’t have to worry about what to do with them.
You could play the left hand in rhythm with the right or make a counter rhythm. You could even break up the chord playing on note after the other in sequence ie. bottom note first then the first note in the right hand followed by the second and then finally the third. These are known as broken chords or arpeggios.
Once you have a few chords practiced then you need to perfect the changes from one chord to another. These are known as chord progressions. You should practice the chords to some sort of rhythm, either a metronome or a jam track or rhythm track. You could even try playing along to popular well known songs if you can work out the chords that are being used. If you have trouble finding which chords are being used in a song then you can normally find the chord sheet for a particular song on the Internet by doing a google search.
Just fill in your details below and we will send you your free beginners piano guide and chord charts. Practice with the piano chord charts as much as you can and when you are ready to proceed further then consider one of the online piano courses like piano for all.
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Reviewer: Andy Penbram
