Meridee Winters Publishing Chord Crash Course: A Teach Yourself Piano Book for Older Beginners and Adults

Absolutely fantastic book that works well with beginners, intermediate students, adults and teens. It’s a massive hit with the teens who want to play “real” music and adults who want to learn fast. It’s also been a hit with advanced students who want to have a bit of fun at the piano. It’s well written, nicely paced for all levels and is a real success. It’s very good with the beginners because there is no emphasis on position. It’s just patters, chords and arpeggios all over the piano, fantastic for removing the position and this finger belongs to this note habits. Also excellent with the intermediate students. It’s been a success to use it for learning arpeggios, chords and scales. They want to learn because it’s fun and not monotonous. The only downsides are that it can’t be used as a stand alone method, but is an excellent additional book, and there is a lot of emphasis on playing in the key of C, although there is a chapter on transposition. Overall fantastic investment.

As primarily a guitarist, I thought this was a great intro for piano. It pretty much keeps the same finger shape going with both hands so that makes it easy to follow, and in fairness the results sound really quite good. In one sense its a bit too simple, but then I suppose that's the point. It gets you going with both hands all over the piano and is very easy to read and understand. I thought there could have been a page or two more about transposition, more depth more detail, but then this book is intended as a crash course idiots guide just to get you going without bogging you down with loads of boring or unnecessary theory. I think it does that well.

I had high hopes for this book but it really wasn't what I expected. It explains chords, harmonics, melodies, arpeggios etc which is helpful for a beginner like me, but I was disappointed there wasn't more on actual songs. I WAS looking forward to playing Canon in D, but, well, look for yourself...

Like the format and bought it’s never too late to play the piano for adults to accompany it. Recommended by my wife’s piano teacher. I am progressing well.

Wish I found this book sooner. If you're a beginner like me then this book is amazing. It's like having a teacher right next to you.