Rating: 
Summary: I'm just a guitar picker
Review: I bought this book to help out on the ol piano knowledge curve. It did. Like any instrument you have to dedicate some time to it. But this book really lays out some basic knowledge that far too many "players" miss along there travails through the musicianship process. Well worth having... also I recommend a college level music theory class or two... until then... this is great stuff!
Rating: 
Summary: Superb
Review: I had always wondered how some people could sit at a piano and play almost anything, without music. Now I know. This book and 10,000 hours of practice and you too can sound like Oscar Peterson. It covers the structure of harmony with a deft touch so that you follow it without effort. Its humour will appeal to any age group. I happened upon it after not touching a piano for over forty years and it sparked an explosion of interest, which will last as long as I do. It is a truly remarkable book and I heartily endorse the sentiments of the previous reviewer. Incidentally, I tried everything I could think of to get a copy in the UK but finally gave up. I was delighted to see it readily available from Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly The Best Of The "How-To-Play" Books
Review: I have a lot of the how-to-play the piano books. This book is easier to use than most, easier to understand, and it does cover what you need to know to become quite accomplished if you will devote your time and energy to it. If you are serious about learning music and have been afraid that it is complicated (it is!) - then this book can make it a lot easier for you.
Rating:
Summary: Not yet
Review: I haven't read this book yet. I just ordered it and upon reading will have a review here shortly.What I wanted to say is that some of the reviewers talk about the unfamiliar songs. I don't understand. If you are paying attention to what you're learning you should be able to peck out the tune without much difficulty. Sorry, but I just don't get it.
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Summary: Ditto: Best Music Book I've Ever Read
Review: I just got an older copy of this book (1976) and was looking for more stuff made by these authors. I was hoping to see a newer version of this book that included a CD.Anyway I wanted to "ditto" the sentiments expressed by many other reviewers. This book explains music in a manner I've never seen done so thoroughly and yet simply. Its *perfect* if you have some music background, but never really got past intermediate phase. Rank beginners will have a more difficult time with the musical notation. However, this book is *so* good that I'd still recommend it to beginners as well... you can learn a lot about making music - some will be applied later than sooner, but its better to already have this book than risk going on for years and having forgotten about it. It will become a reference and guide as you get better. The issue of unfamiliar songs is not a problem - they refer to old "standards" which you can easily find mp3 on the net. I'm also unfamiliar with these songs, and having started to listen to the "standards" has opened up a whole new genre of music for me which I really enjoy. The issue of humor is deserved. These guys try to be funny but the puns make me gag more than guffaw. Its getting to point that its funny because its so not funny. But the great content makes up for this. This book has opened up a whole new understanding of music for me. I now see patterns in music I never knew existed (circle of fifths). And it has explained some little things I've always half-wondered about but never could articulate. Like for example, why some notes of a melody will clash with the harmony... should I create chords for these notes? Or do I just let them clash? Exactly how do they relate to the current chordal structure? Which notes should I make chords for? How do I design my bass cleff arrangement? How do I fill in treble cleff harmony with the melody? Etc. etc. These guys rock! (Or at least they do the fox-trot and the swing! Oh god.. that's the same kind of bad puns they use throughout the whole book... now I'M starting to do it!)
Rating: 
Summary: NOT "How to play..."
Review: I won't belabor the point that this is an excellent book. Completely readable. I checked it out from the library a few years back and didn't quite finish it - too bad, because the chord progression stuff at the end was terrific. However, I have to say that the examples simply must be updated for this book to achieve what it sets out to achieve: teach people to make music while using examples with which they are very familiar. I am 38 years old, and I am maybe slightly familiar with 10% of the "popular" music used for illustration. What are youngsters going to think? Another reviewer made the point that I can simply download the mp3 files and become familiar with these "standards". True, but thats hard to do on an airplane, train, bathroom, etc. Plus it may be illegal, which is a bad dependency for a book to have. This also applies to the user who said I could plunk the notes out on the keyboard: true again, but it requires having my piano in the car. Because its a great book we are all willing to make excuses for the examples, but there really isn't an excuse - this book should be revised.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Badly needs updated example songs.
Review: I won't belabor the point that this is an excellent book. Completely readable. I checked it out from the library a few years back and didn't quite finish it - too bad, because the chord progression stuff at the end was terrific. However, I have to say that the examples simply must be updated for this book to achieve what it sets out to achieve: teach people to make music while using examples with which they are very familiar. I am 38 years old, and I am maybe slightly familiar with 10% of the "popular" music used for illustration. What are youngsters going to think? Another reviewer made the point that I can simply download the mp3 files and become familiar with these "standards". True, but thats hard to do on an airplane, train, bathroom, etc. Plus it may be illegal, which is a bad dependency for a book to have. This also applies to the user who said I could plunk the notes out on the keyboard: true again, but it requires having my piano in the car. Because its a great book we are all willing to make excuses for the examples, but there really isn't an excuse - this book should be revised.
Rating:
Summary: I love it! It is a great book!
Review: If you are frustrated and have no idea how to play piano or the only thing you can play is twinkle, twinkle little star...or you can only play with one hand and/or your forefinger... You need this book! It is funny and truthful. You will learn even if you don't want to. When you look back, you will realize that you are learning more than you thought. Get this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't all the helpful!
Review: It was okay but not that great! I wasn't really impressed with this book.
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Summary: This is actually a cookbook
Review: Many of those who have reviewed this book here mention that it is a book on music theory. Yes there is some theory in this book and some of it is hard to find in other beginning piano books. I find the section on harmonic progression particularly enlightening. But rather than a book on theory, this is a cookbook with recipes for creating full sounding music out the vocal lines of sheet music, lead sheets, and "fake books". One criticism I have seen of this book is that the style of playing is only suitable for playing old standards, like those by Cole Porter or Rogers and Hart. This is partially true, but if you enjoy the kind of music that is the background in so many movies, particularly Woody Allen films, this book is a gold mine. If you have taken lessons, you will find it fairly easy to pick up on the method here, even if you can't sit down an play anything right now. A lot of it will come back quickly. If you are a rank beginner, this will be a lot of work. Even so, if you put the effort in learning this method that you would put into getting through an adult beginning piano book, you will come away with so much more. That said, I will recommend that you also invest in a beginning piano book and work through that at the same time. There is, or was, a companion VHS video for the book. It is extremely entertaining and allows you to see and hear examples of the methods taught in the book. It is about two hours long and very well done. I haven't seen it around lately, but if you get this book, try to find the video also. Same title as the book.
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