Piano for Dummies by Blake Neely Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Piano for Dummies
Book Review: Could not put this book down!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been playing for only 6 months and am taking lessons and found this book a great help in learning about the piano. It is fun to read and has slot of very useful information and ways to remember things about the piano. Some interesting history behind the piano and ways to buy and maintain the piano. I have more pages in the book dog eared than any other piano book I have. You must get this book and the CD that comes with the book is a real help in learning timing and the way a song is to sound.Book Review: Define "Dummy"....
Summary: 1 Stars
As a stone cold adult beginner, I thought why not go for the book that sounded as if it was for a stone cold beginner - "Piano For Dummies"?
Well, I certainly am a 'dummy' - shelling out over $20 for this discouraging pap is the dumbest thing I've done in years.
I wrestled with it for quite a few weeks - trying to eke out hard information between the stupid humour and piano facts that I never asked for in the first place, dumb drawings and unhelpful layout. Then I called for a professional, feeling really discouraged. This book doesn't really even let you know at what point you might sit behind a piano and actually try playing? It's that bad.
So I booked myself in with a professional piano teacher who within minutes made me realise it was the book and not me. I showed her the book which she referred to as "dreadful and patronising". She won't even allow me to have it back!
She then handed me these two which are ideal for the older learner:
- Piano For Adults (Bastien) ISBN 0-8497-7300-8
- Accelerated Piano Adventures (Faber) ISBN 1-56939-132-7
The former is my slight preference but both are leagues ahead of "Piano For Dummies". Sorry if that personally offends anyone, author included, but it is truly awful. I've now progressed more in a week than I did in two months with the Dummies book.
Avoid.
Book Review: Don't waste your time or money.
Summary: 1 Stars
I tried to read this book. I really did try, but I gave up on page 52 because I couldn't take Mr. Neely's pathetic attempts at being amusing. He seems to feel that he has to be 'cute' because a straight book on playing the piano wouldn't be interesting enough. Or perhaps he didn't have enough to say and had to pad the book somehow. The one bright spot is that I took this book out of the library instead of wasting money on it.Book Review: Excellent despite the stale jokes
Summary: 4 Stars
I wanted to brush up on piano playing as I haven't been near a piano for about 40 years, and for this purpose I found the book excellent, though I haven't read similar introductory books so can't compare. Other reviewers have complained about the stale jokes, but for me this was a minor irritation. Music theory can be tedious, and the typically light "Dummies" touch counteracts what could otherwise have been a ponderous read. Even bad jokes are preferable to learned tomes that take themselves oh-so-seriously.
The book contains a wealth of basic and reference information, and the various issues are explained clearly, assuming no prior music knowledge. Unlike many introductory books the chapters do not necessarily have to be read in sequence (though doing so would probably provide a better basis) - the book is well structured, with lots of references to other chapters should you need clarification of terms explained elsewhere.
Using a DIY book effectively instead of piano lessons obviously requires some effort from the reader's side, though the accompanying CD does help. I also liked the attention given to the various styles, from classical to rock, blues, pop, jazz, country and soul.
One of the first hurdles is learning to read notes, after which things become much easier. If you want to start playing real songs and tunes as soon as possible, you'll find a few in this book, including the beautiful "Aura Lee" (made famous by Elvis Presley as "Love me Tender") which is surprisingly easy to play.
On the downside, many of the other tunes serving to illustrate a point are, to my mind, not very exciting, but then having musical notation of the more modern hits would probably have increased the selling price due to royalties considerations. So, for instance, we get the traditional and rather tame version of "The House of the Rising Sun" instead of the haunting hit arrangement by The Animals, who made it famous in popular culture.
When I was a kid I had a year's piano lessons, but it just didn't work for me. Reading this book has helped me looking at music and the piano / keyboard in a new way, and I have since bought a few "Easy Piano" songbooks and enjoy mastering new tunes.
Book Review: Excellent place to begin
Summary: 4 Stars
Easy to understand - even for someone with no musical talent or experience. Great place to start.