Learn to Play Book/DVD Recommendation

[CaptnWar]

There seem to be thousands of books and even videos to choose from when it comes to learning how to play the keyboard. And there are a lot of various techniques, styles, and teaching methods to figure out what works.

I hope this thread can serve as a reference for people, like myself, who don't even know where to begin.

If anyone has had any experience with any books, dvds, online lessons too, please pass on the info.
I don't mean you should break any copywrite laws by just posting it.

Just give details about the lessons like,
who is it geared to - beginners / intermediate / advance, children or adults
is it genre/style specific - blues / rock / classical / progressive
is it just straight up sheet music or are there lessons too
just chord diagrams / scales / pattern
plus! mention whether it was actually useful or not you, again the more detail the better.

Any and all help is appreciated!
THANKS

[DaveKnific]

Donald Fagen: Concepts For Jazz/Rock Piano (1993)
"Playing, Writing & Arranging"

I recently bought this on DVD. It's led by none other than Donald Fagen, the co-founder, pianist, and lead writer of the world-famous 1970s hit-machine Steely Dan. Fagen sits down with long-time bandmate and co-writer Warren Bernhardt to discuss the concepts and processes that he went through while writing hits like "Chain Lightning," "Peg," and "Josie."


To be completely honest, while this IS a fantastic DVD, the DVD doesn't entirely cover what it claims it does. While Fagen explains how he wrote rock-n-roll hits based off of a simple 12 Bar Blues pattern (very important!), he does little to explain anything about playing at all, and rather than explaining writing and arranging, he explains how HE wrote and arranged hits (still very informative though!)

All in all, it's a great DVD and a great way to take a look on how a true rock legend wrote and developed so many hits. I would still recommend it, but only if you are a true Steely Dan fan.

[PinkFloydDudi]

The Jordan Rudess Conservatory
amateurs -> advanced
-I say amateurs, because I don't feel it is good for beginners. There are basics that the conservatory doesn't teach. While it starts from what I would consider the "beginning", I think a good year of playing would definitely benefit anyone who wants to check it out.
The lessons go up in difficulty, and being online, you can check them out and go at your own pace whenever you want. While I do not consider myself a beginner, I enjoy going to some of the beginner exercises to brush up on my theory and some playing exercises.

It is not genre specific, although goes into blues a bit more than anything. That is mostly because in terms of improvising, knowledge of things like the blues scale are a must. Some of the stuff is classical in nature, or blues in nature, or prog rock in nature, or mixing all 3 together.

There are video lessons that also have midi, mp3, and written notation! There are also lessons with no video, but everything I think has written notation and midi and mp3 of what is played. (Few exceptions). A very wide variety.

There is basic scale/arpeggio/chord theory, and the IMPLEMENTATION of that theory, which I found quite helpful.


The cost is $50 to sign up, and its a 1-time fee. If you are advanced, I don't think you will get much of it. If you are a beginner, even though many of the lessons might be above your head, you can access them ANY time through your learning. As you get better, you can tackle the harder lessons.

I do think the entire thing is a bit small in terms of "total lesson package", but I find it is a great supplement to my current jazz instruction and personal practice.
I get bored of my jazz music at the time, I login, open up "More Am improvisation", and jam along with JR to a cool chord progression. It also gives you room to experiment with sounds and such, which is helpful in live performance and playing scenarios.



Hanon Exercises
-$20 I think?
60 lessons (exercises)

Beginner->intermediate
Very basic way of working on speed, finger independence, etc...Many people will say that its not that great, but for warmups, or while you are learning your scales and such, i think its a great little tool.

It is not difficult (for the most part), but challenging in terms of finger movement and such. A good practice book to get yourself more familiar with the feel of a piano and movement of your hands.

[Premetheus37]

If you're at all interested in jazz then you want The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine

"Endorsed by Kenny Barron, Jamey Aebersold, Richie Beirach, and more, this book presents all the information a student of jazz piano needs in an easy-to-understand, yet thorough, manner. For intermediate to advanced pianists, written by one of the acknowledged masters of jazz piano playing."

It's got some difficult concepts, but goes through them quite thoroughly. Also with jazz pick up anything by Jamey Aebersold.

~Premetheus

[OliBeau]

If you're at all interested in jazz then you want The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine


I Love this book. But you need to go step by step. When you read 1 or 2 pages in one practice, you may need to practice it for a week to have the concept in you. But it's great and well explained !