Learn to Play Piano in Six Weeks or Less

Easy to understand and learn . Started playing in less than 5 weeks . Child or adult can use this book . No former knowledge is needed to start playing the piano .

I've played guitar for many years, and have been interested in learning a little about improvising music on keyboards. I'm not at all interested in learning to play traditional classical piano pieces, and have only a little interest in playing popular piano music written by other people. What I'd like to do is learn to create my own music on keyboards, and play along with other musicians at jams and song circles. With that background and for my purposes, this book by Dan Delaney has been excellent. The author teaches you, bit by bit, how to find the notes needed to construct chords, by showing you first where to find the root note, then where to find the corresponding major seventh note, and so on. The idea is that over time you learn to recognise and find the notes you need on the fly, with either hand. This lets you split chords across both hands, so you can create a full sound. The book also shows you how to play melodies with your right hand. I find this much more powerful than either of the two approaches I've seen before - either learning to sight-read chords from sheet music, or trying to memorise lots of different chord shapes. Instead you learn how to actually construct music, starting with the simplest elements, and building up from there. This lets you create something simple right away, and as you progress, you learn to create fuller and more interesting music by adding to what you already know. I've only worked through the first few lessons in the book, but already I'm excited by the fact that I'm making more interesting sounds than I used to. I'm also learning about some of the differences between guitar and keyboard, in particular, the amazing amount of control a keyboard gives you over the fine details of chord construction - you can put any note of the chord just about anywhere you like on the keyboard, something you cannot even dream of doing on a guitar. If your goal is to play classical or popular pieces note-for-note from a written score, this may not be the book for you. This book is also not a gripping read in itself - it's a bit dry and broken down into bite-sized lessons that show you what to do without a lot of extraneous words or narrative. The information you need is there, but not presented in a particularly interesting way. However, if you're like me, have an analytical bent, and want to learn to create your own music while also learning some of the music theory scaffolding on which music is built, you are likely to enjoy this book and find it very helpful. -Gnobuddy

I bought it after already borrowing from the library. It's a fun way to learn. I'd say it's more like 6 to 12 months rather than 6 weeks. But to me that's means I'll be better at playing once I've done it.

Looking forward to my kids learning how to play. I might use it too. I recommend.

I'm about halfway through this book. Several decades ago I had about a years worth of lessons. The problem I have with this book is, in an apparent effort to get its readers up to speed ASAP, it omits some music basics which---if presented first--- would make the content much more understandable and permit faster progress. There is no magical way to learn to "play" an instrument in six weeks or less for someone who has no previous experience or instruction. Had the author clearly explained (1) intervals, (2) whole steps and half steps, and (3) that virtually all chords are comprised of a combination of major thirds and minor thirds, the content of the book would be much more understandable and easier to retain. And, permit faster progress. There would be no need to use the word "shell" had that been done. And, attempts at suggested improvising wouldn't be done by the reader pretty much in the dark. When I decided to revisit the piano several months back, I retrieved John Brimhall's Theory Notebook Complete (in 3 parts) (excellent to learn the basics) and purchased Edly's Music Theory for Practical People from Amazon. It's a little on the comprehensive side, but, it most likely offers explanations of fairly important stuff that some of the skimpier books don't cover; I'd rather have it there and not need it, rather than vice versa. I've glanced at a couple of the 'Alfred' books and, personally, don't care that much for them, at least the couple that I looked at (too much space spent on the simplest basics). For parents wishing to start kids out, I would definitely recommend the classical approach----learn basic theory and learn to read music---both the treble AND bass clefs---rather than "Learn to play basketball like Kobe and Lebron in two weeks!!!" For adults who don't have the patience/time/interest, the chordal approach might be the answer.

my music education student was excited to have this

This was a good book for beginners; it gets you pass a certain level. Then you ask yourself which book should I get now to reach my goal. Don't get me wrong it is a good book for those who are just starting off, but I wanted to go further in a book.

I've been "learning" to play piano off and on for about 25 years, definitely a slow learner. This method takes a different approach than any other I've tried. In the end I believe you'll not just play better, but will know more about music structurally and be better able to improvise. With this caveat--it's aimed at students who will be playing from fake book style arrangements, just the treble clef. Definitely not for classical students. There's also online citations so you can listen to how each piece and exercise should be played.

A lovely book Excellent content and easy to understand Also having the binding means its easier to sit on the stand.

Awesome

This book is helpful for piano learner's

Audio files are on the webpage of Dan Delaney! Unfortunately the other offers on that page are not accessable and Dan does not respond at all! Anybody knows what happened to Dan and pianoinstruction.com ??? Weiss jemand was mit Dan Delaney passiert ist? Seit längerem ist seine Internet Seite nur teilweise zugänglich und die Registrierung ist gar nicht möglich! Schade, seine Methode ist exzellent!

Looks great and easy to read….now I just have to get a piano ?