The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Piano and Electronic Keyboards

Rating:
Summary: Why am I still an Idiot?
Review: I bought this book in hopes that I would be playing the piano as soon as I began reading the book. This did not happen. The first seven chapters were getting me familar with the piano world -good but not at this point in my learning. I also found I didn't need the wit or the side bars. All I was looking for when I bought the book was a logical step-by-step method of playing the piano. The books' material is good but not for me, and that is why I feel I am still an Idiot.

Rating:
Summary: I don't recommend this book.
Review: I bought three books on learning to play the piano, and this was easily the weakest of them. The book is wittily written, but it is very short on actual pieces of music to play. The first time you put your fingers to the keyboard is in chapter 7, on p.48. Then there's another very short practice piece. Then there's a whole chapter on sharps, flats and fingering, with no practice at all. The first six chapters, instead of getting you started, cover things like the history of keyboard instruments and how a piano works--fascinating, but not what you expect from a book entitled "Guide to Playing the Piano".

I think the intention is to very simply explain what all the notation means, and in fact the text does a reasonable job. However, if you're interested in actually playing the piano and having fun this is a very frustrating book. Even the practice pieces aren't songs; it's fun to play things you know, even if it's only "Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frere Jacques". The first practice piece in this book that is clearly an arrangement of a song is "Fly Me to the Moon", on p.103. This is almost halfway through the book!

I should add that Hill has included some chapters that are not in the other books I bought which are interesting. These include notes on buying a piano, maintaining it, and on things like what classical music to try and how to stay motivated. There's also a section on MIDI and home music studios. However, if you're primarily interested in getting to the point where you can have fun with songs you know, this is not the right book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Too much talk and not enough practice pieces
Review: I bought three books on learning to play the piano, and this was easily the weakest of them. The book is wittily written, but it is very short on actual pieces of music to play. The first time you put your fingers to the keyboard is in chapter 7, on p.48. Then there's another very short practice piece. Then there's a whole chapter on sharps, flats and fingering, with no practice at all. The first six chapters, instead of getting you started, cover things like the history of keyboard instruments and how a piano works--fascinating, but not what you expect from a book entitled "Guide to Playing the Piano".

I think the intention is to very simply explain what all the notation means, and in fact the text does a reasonable job. However, if you're interested in actually playing the piano and having fun this is a very frustrating book. Even the practice pieces aren't songs; it's fun to play things you know, even if it's only "Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frere Jacques". The first practice piece in this book that is clearly an arrangement of a song is "Fly Me to the Moon", on p.103. This is almost halfway through the book!

I should add that Hill has included some chapters that are not in the other books I bought which are interesting. These include notes on buying a piano, maintaining it, and on things like what classical music to try and how to stay motivated. There's also a section on MIDI and home music studios. However, if you're primarily interested in getting to the point where you can have fun with songs you know, this is not the right book for you.

Rating:
Summary: The book delivers the goods!
Review: I was a total novice when I brought the book and at the end I must agree with all the claims the publishers make. I am able to read sheet music and play the keyboard. I must add the author has a good sense of humor which makes reading the book fun. The only complaint I have against the book is that it lacks a sufficient number of examples for practice (maybe I am expecting too much!). But then there are other sources for sheet music. On the whole an excellent book for beginners.

Rating:
Summary: I don't recommend this book.
Review: This book has a lot of information on the piano and keyboard, but it does very little to actually teach one how to play either of them. It does a decent job of teaching the individual notes, but the section on chords is not very good at all. The book also does not contain nearly enough practice pieces. Most of the book is just about the history of pianos and stuff like that. Buy this book only if you want to learn all about the piano and keyboard but not how to actually play them.

Rating:
Summary: For absolute beginners
Review: This book is accceptable for those who have no idea how to play piano, read music, or understand anything about musical theory. Usually, I'll be a bit generous with my reviews, but this book is not for anyone except for a genuine piano "idiot". :)

What Mr. Hill does cover is adequate for getting started: History of the instrument, how to sit, hand position, etc. You'll be taught how to read sheet music, what the notes are (quarter, half, whole notes, etc), scales, chords etc. Right and left hand technique, harmony and keys. But, I'm talking real basic stuff here. That's the first half of the book. 130 pages!

The second half (Master Class???) covers a little more about notation, such as triplets, slurs, legato, etc. How to use music charts and fake books (honest) and some discussion on classical pieces. Using the pedals, some practice and technical tips. The book closes out with some coverage on purchasing a piano or electronic keyboard, and some maintanence and repair discussion. This spans roughly 100 pages.

Now, granted, that's some pretty expansive ground to cover in one book. So, you get basic and informative information throughout.

My biggest criticism echos the previous reviewers. There is way too much talk, including plenty of the side remarks that are typical of the Idiot and Dummy series of books. I find them distracting and annoying. Finally, there is far to few musical pieces to play, and far too few practice exercises. Personally, I find that inexcusable since those are the necessary componants that will take someone from a beginner to the intermediate stages of development. That's what beginning books are for, correct?

This book falls substantially short in musical pieces and especially practice exercises.

Since I already play intermediate level guitar, 75% of this book is pretty much useless to me. To become proficient on a musical instrument, you must put in substantial amounts of practice time. Personally, I think they should have dropped the history, construction, purchasing, maintanence/repair, electronic/synth, and classical music discussions and tripled the amount of exercises.

I reccommend this book for someone who knows nothing about music, or pianos/keyboards at all. It'll push your rowboat off the shore, but that's as far as you'll go. I'm being generous with the three stars too.

- Alleyrat

Rating:
Summary: The "idiot" and "dummy" market is insatiable.
Review: We've learned in the past few years that there are many more complete idiots in the world than we had reckoned on and that the complete idiots are much more ambitious than we had thought. They want to be taught to do everything. In any case, this is a serviceable work for persons of average intelligence (or so), but of course there are many other general method books available, many of them much better (and there are piano teachers as well). I particularly recommend "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz Rock Keyboardist" by Jeff Burns.