Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course | Full Review + Contents + Advice

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[proffy]

I want to say thank you for talking about the level 2 and 3 books because no one ever does. I'm in the level 2 and it's harder than I thought and it is starting to get more classical, but the music is nicer. I bought the level 3 in advance and I think it gets really advanced by the end, hope to be able to do it.

[cresedariccardi]

This is EXTREMELY helpful in making a decision about which method to begin with - THAN YOU! Just to mention at least in the U.S. you can take any piano book with normal glued paper binding to a big copy center and they can convert it to spiral bound. It's great!

[lifeismusic]

Really great vid. I started with the adult all in one book, self teaching. Then later I got a teacher, still using it and will continue to go thru the series on the side. As well as have a ton of supplemental books.

[CaptainCaveman]

I did book one and most of book two (all-in-one). I found them excellent. Also lots of YouTube channels from pianists who give tips on every single piece in all 3 books.
The repertoire part of book one is great but quite difficult and harder than first 1/3rd of 2nd book.

I like that it's a wide variety of music.I found blues and jazz enjoyable.

As regards the lack of technique sections, I think most adult learners work out you need to start looking at other material like Czerny Burgmuller Hannon etc.

[fernandamccormack]

Great advice. I am in the end of alfred's 2 and i don't feel ready to move on to the next, book 3. Since i don't have a teacher i decided to go through piano adventures 2 which has a lot more information and exercises. I do have loads of supplementary books including classics to moderns and abrsm exams 1 and 2. That's why your tips and techniques are so important for me. Thanks a lot!

[SD-ffje]

The best teacher/advisor on YouTube. I have learned so much about how to learn piano from your input. Thank you.

[zombiesalad]

Great to hear that the 2nd and 3rd ones are more classical. I am self teaching to become a classical pianist, so far covered 1/3rd of 1st book.

[renaissanceman]

I love your reviews. Thank you. Very thorough, and concise. I actually have three courses, purchased in the order of Alfred's Adult-)All-In-One, Faber's Adult Pian Adventures, and Bastien Adult Piano Course. I started out with Bastien Older Beginner Course years ago. However, I am now getting back to it. I love your comparison of all three courses. Your review actually prompted me to add Bastien to my collection again. It might seem radical, or unorthodox, but I am actually going through all three courses at once. It's also a way of experiencing, and comparing all three courses first hand. Those are three of the most popular courses. I remember your saying, in another video, that Bastien is somewhat a combination of the three. Nevertheless, I will finish out my studies with Faber, which progresses through the advanced level. I have purchased all of the levels for each course, plus the supplementary materials, so I will be set for a good while. My ambitious effort, in studying all three courses is also good, should I decide to teach piano, by allowing me to choose the appropriate method for the student. Thanks to your video reviews, I can also choose whether or not I want to spend time with the pre staff/ pre notation studies. I run through them, anyway, for the total experience, but it does give me some perspective for future consideration. I can definitely see how the three different methods move at varying paces. Nevertheless, Thank you for your insight. Keep the videos coming. I'll let you know how my studies are going, by comparison. Check it Out! Ciao!!!

[garybowman]

I have been using an online app for about a year, I have learnt the names of the keys on the keyboard and how to play songs but I have reached a point when I would like to play the piano, not just follow a scrolling bar from note to note. Don't get me wrong, it has been useful and I will still use it. I have decided to move to use a book based method. I am going to use this series, it is actually very good for helping find the level I am at. I will skim the first few chapters and start where I feel I need to. The thing I have found so far is, very early on it discusses intervals and far more useful theory. I think that the app for will be more for fun rather than in depth study (a year in and I haven't touched the pedals) I will try this and update here as I go along. First take away is that both hands come together much more quickly.

[shaunmeredith]

Currently bought a digital panio, just waiting for the DDP 90 . Have done some research bought the Alfred piano course this is so interesting to read . Have found the complete book of scales, chords apreggios and cadences .

[portmead]

It's nice to know that at the end of the alfred book 3 your about grade 2 or 3 but some higher graded pieces at the back. Because some people say your only grade 2 at the end of book 3. I'm on page 90 in book 2 getting a bit harder so hopefully get on to book 3.

[totallyfrozen]

Thanks for reviewing this. Years ago, I took a semester of piano lessons at the university and they used the Alfred’s books. Honestly, I don’t remember my teacher or the lessons. I remember riding my bicycle to and from the classes. That’s about it. I must have learned something because I was able to play keyboards in a working band (Rock and Pop) and made about $4K/month doing it.
If I was starting out today, I’d go with Faber’s Piano Adventures. I may do that to refresh since I’ve been away from the piano for well over a decade now.

[eddyerrol]

Thanks for the review. I bought all three Alfred Basic lesson books and I've been on the first book for almost two months (supplemented by the Dozen a Day Preparatory book). I did buy the Alfred Finger Aerobics book, which corresponds with lesson book 1, and I've been working out of that as well. I believe it has more technique exercises in it than the All-in-one book, but I want to note that (as far as I know) there is no corresponding Alfred technique book for lesson books 2 and 3 (if there are, I sure be interested in learning what they are!). I'm not sure why that's the case; perhaps they figured that there are enough technique exercises in the latter two lesson books, or perhaps it's because the Finger Aerobics book might have sold poorly (it doesn't look like the cover's been updated since it was first published in the late 80's) and so they decided to discontinue doing the technique books.

[charlottesmom]

Excellent video!! Bought All In One volume 1 so far but may get the other two very very soon. I subbed rapidly!❤

[huangying]

Thank you for the very comprehensive review. Great job, keep it going! I’m learning piano by myself with Alfred adult all-in-one book 2. Going to start learning with a teacher next week with Piano Adventures as I want to have a more developed left hand, learn more systematically and speed up my progress.

[henrypham]

I want to say thank you for a great review video, especially about book 2 and 3. I don't see this information available online. I love your recommendation to switch to other book if a piano student wants to continue to learn pop-oriented book. Have a good day.

[cardinal]

I have the non-spiral book. I use a clothes pin to keep it open. I took lessons as a kid but stopped playing in my early 20s. I have a teacher right now and Albert's Adult piano is great and I am learning a lot.

[josephbuckler]

Thanks for the video. I've just started playing at 30 and this was really useful for deciding which book to use! I have started using it and had one quick question, when playing the songs, how confident should you be before moving on to the next one?

[anthonyclark]

I got the Alfred's adults piano all in one...good book but I definitely agree there's not enough on the technical side...I found myself looking around on you tube a lot of the time for explanations . Still it helped me advance without a teacher so it's well worth the money.

[phyllisgordon]

Thanks for sharing. Did you ever fo a review for Michael Aaron's Adult series? Thanks.