Rating: 
Summary: Play the piano in weeks instead of years
Review: "Play the Piano in a Flash!" teaches how to play the piano using chords and melody lines instead of the "classical" technique. Why would you want to learn this method? Actually that is easy to answer, other than classical piano pieces, most piano players use this method and it is the easiest method to learn.
Scott Houston teaches you to play in this style and has you playing your favorite pieces in just hours of practice instead of weeks and weeks of learning to read notes and painstaking lessons. You will not learn classical concert piano techniques, but you will learn to play your favorite pieces with confidence.
If you just want to learn to play piano for the purpose of having fun or entertaining at a party or playing for a pop, rock, or similar group then this is a wonderful guide. If you want to learn classical piano then it is not what you need. Absolutely the easiest method and a lot of fun, I enjoyed the book greatly.... and can actually play a few tunes after about four hours of practice.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Book for a Complete Novice
Review: After the opening hype, the author begins to assume the reader has in fact taken some form of piano lessons, and he jumps into words and phrases and descriptions, which makes one look back in the book to see if some pages may have fallen out. Nope, the information just isn't there. Very disappointing after seeing his "sales job" on Public TV recently. Yeah, there is one of me born every minute, I bought the video also, see my review.
John Rollison
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
Review: Ask yourself two questions:Question One: Do you want to play classical piano on a world stage? Question Two: Do you want to play piano in your own home for your own entertainment? If your answer to the first question is "yes," then this book is not for you. And Mr. Houston says as much on several occasions in both the book and the video. It seems that those reviews that express a strong negative opinion of this work, start with the assumption that one should only answer "yes" to the first question and one should never approach music in the spirit of the second. People considering this work should ask themselves specifically what their goal is. If your answer to the second question is "yes," then this work will spend half of its energy overcoming any reservation you might have about your ability to play the piano for personal enjoyment. In this work, Mr. Houston has to battle in two directions. One, he has to overcome the "piano anxiety" that people accrue as the result of years of taking lessons in a style of teaching that prepares the student to answer "yes" to question one. Two, once he has cleared away assumptions learned from "classical" piano lessons, he demonstrates an approach to piano playing that is easier to implement then it is to explain. I don't think one should fault Mr. Houston simply because his method is easy to implement, once you understand it. It is true that Mr. Houston does not outline a complicated and intricate regimen that explains the many aspects of music. That is not his goal. Rather he wishes to put the individual at a keyboard with music that can be learned as rapidly as possible. And if you diligently follow his advice you will soon find yourself making music at a keyboard that most people enjoy and find fulfilling. However, it will take effort on your part, a fact which Mr. Houston underscores several times. I found I was very satisfied with this program. In addition to the book, I purchased the VHS version of the video (and now wish I had purchased the DVD as I would be able to read the music better and digitally zoom in on Mr. Houstons fingers at the key board). I also purchased the "Snarling Dogs" chord finder and found it to be very helpful in figuring out such arcane symbols as "D7dim" etc. I purchased a fake book, "Your First Fake Book" and found that I needed to work at a piece about an hour per day for two weeks before I became proficient. But I would add that I did not know any of the chords. I've also found that the chords from the first song show up with a good deal of regularity in most of the others. Mr. Houston asks a pertinent question, "would you rather learn hundreds of chords in the abstract or would you rather learn five or six chords and play your favorite song?" I know that this system has worked for me, given my goals and I know which way I would prefer to learn chords. I also have a high-speed Internet connection and did not purchase the CD (which has exapmles of blues styles and other examples), but rather I downloaded the Mp3 files that Mr. Houston provides at his web site, free of charge. If one expects to work on a daily basis for one's own entertainment, this particular package will do very nicely.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay ideas but content is thin and disappointing
Review: Bought this book after seeing Scott on PBS fund raiser. Had recently taken Patrick Hardman's 1-day class "Play Instant Piano" and was exploring other books on the topic. Scott's book and video are okay as introductions to the approach, but his content (songs and techniques) is a big disappointment: more pep talk than content, more encouragement than here's-how-you-do-it. The Dummies piano book by Blake Neely proved far more useful to me, as has also Neely's book on How to Play Piano from a Fake Book. Measured against Neely and Hardman, Scott's marketing skills are superior but unfortunately he does not deliver what these other people do: Really help you play easily and smoothly.
Rating: 
Summary: half book hyping you up, then dissapoints with poor content
Review: He doesnt have a system or anything. All he say is to buy a sheet music of your favorite song and play it. Only interesting part are the few pages of cool techniques of "faking" the chords, which are rather advanced. I think he could have done better naming this book, "how to play a fakebook", and develop on those techniques not just explaining them on few lines.
He wants the beginner to start playing the music sheet. But you'll just get frustrated. This is for inters, but then why buy a book for only few useful pages.
Rating:
Summary: There are no shortcuts
Review: I believe there is a difference between plunking out a few notes to Jingle Bells or Happy Birthday with the right hand while playing 3 note triads with the left hand and 'playing' the piano. Nothing comes without practice and good piano 'playing', regardless of whether it's classical, pop, jazz, rock or whatever, requires skill and practice in timing, technique, dynamics, and (when reading from pop or jazz fake books or lead sheets) chord theory. This stuff is basically what you would learn in a first lesson from any piano teacher. Playing something that is 'recognizable' as opposed to something that is tasteful are 2 different things completely and I think most people should aim for the latter. For a beginner, this is a very easy way to develop bad habits with fingerings and chord voicings that will be hard to break later on. Sorry Scott, but nothing comes that easily.
Rating:
Summary: What a deal!!!
Review: I bought this book a month or so ago, bought a keyboard, and now am touring professionally. Okay, not really. But, having never played the piano before, I thought I would take a shot. It's a very interesting concept, worth the $12-plus I paid (the $300 for a keyboard, maybe not). Already knocking out a few tunes (melody only, working on the accompanying chords). There are some questions I still have based upon some of the songs I've tried, but over all I'm satisfied.
--- David Watkins
Rating:
Summary: Too wordy
Review: I felt that the instructor covered very little material, and did too much talking.
Rating:
Summary: Not for people who have had lessons!
Review: I gave it two stars because at the very least it was easy and entertaining to read. I took lessons for 2 years when I was a kid and this book didn't teach me anything. My husband has never had lessons and didn't learn a thing from this book either. Scott Houston totally glossed over the part about learning how to read music and then went into a discussion on theory of chords. Then he spent two or three chapters discussing how easy it is to play the blues. Then he ended it with a motivational "speech" about his philosophy of playing non-classical piano.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I'd had this 2 years ago
Review: I got this book the other day, read through it, and then reread it. Then I sat down with a song I had always wanted to play, practiced the chords, and played it. Good grief! I took lessons, bought theory books, practiced, practiced, practiced. And yet I never played "Bewitched" in entirety. I did last night. I must say to my ear, I sounded pretty darn good. If you want to play for your own enjoyment and don't plan on a gig at Carnegie Hall, buy this wonderful book.
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