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Right now I'm going over Cooke's Mastering Scales and Arpeggios, as well as Alfred's book of scales chords arpeggios etc.

Is it boring to play scales and chords over and over again? slightly. Will it pay off? I don't doubt it.

Is there something else I should be looking into? Music theory seems to be pretty important and relevant to learning piano.

Also, is there a good book to run through for me to teach myself piano in general?

I've played saxophone for seven years, so I'm relatively versed with music. I'm rather poor at reading bass cleff, so I'm working on that.



On a completely unrelated note.

Chord: G F# B how possible :| my left hand can't stretch this far. Octave and a third, with 2 on F#? No thanks.

Splenda , on your chord, its a Gmajor7 you could try the F# below the G (immediately to the left) the G and B above it. Or an inversion say B the F# above and G directly above that...

Doesn't sound as good, but I guess it'll have to do because my hands aren't huge.

Go to your local music store; they would most likely have a section of graded piano theory books that you can choose.

If not, you can go to the sheetmusicplus website. They have a ton of good stuff, all with just a quick search. Try 'piano theory' or something similar.

As for the chord, yes it's big, but you can make it into a quick arpeggio. Just play the notes quickly from bottom to top, moving your arm to the right. It might take some practice, but you'll probably find a lot of this kind of thing in many pieces.

Quick arpeggios seems to be the solution to every big chord problem, haha.

Will check at local music store for graded piano theory books I guess. Thanks!

Try taking a look at a college text on theory. There are many out there both used and new. If you are really interested in how music works, you will be both overwhelmed (like myself) and fascinated as well, no matter what instrument you're working on.

The Fundamentals of Piano Theory books are excellent. They're by Keith Snell and Martha Ashleigh, published by Neil A Kjos Music Company. They're available in grades 1-11. I have my college textbooks on theory. I do think that a graded series may feel more attainable, because you finish a book and move on to the next, and you have a series of lights at the end of tunnels

Working on theory is really a great idea for any pianist. When you're having trouble with a piece, being able to analyze it can be very helpful.

This theory package gets good reviews around here also. Because it's for self-learning, it gives you the answers to check your work.
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essentials-Music-Theory-Self-Study/dp/0739036351/

I very much enjoy working from my college-level theory and harmony texts -- there are lots of challenging exercises (good) but with no answer keys (frustrating).

But I'd STRONGLY recommend doing a basic theory course like the one above before diving into college-level textbooks.

I find the best way to avoid boredom working on technique is to do exercises like scales only in conjunction with songs or pieces you are working on. For instances if you're working on a piece that incorporates phrases you're having trouble with, isolate the scale or scales involved and practice them or find an exercise you can practice with a jump and/or intervals similar to what you need to smooth out. Or say you practice 7ths around the circle of 5ths or in chromatic steps, immediately try to use them in songs or pieces with a lot of 7th chords.

i was lookng into getting that alfreds book. too much idle time and dragging my slow behind throught alfred book 2. the music is so boring and easy too i cant wait to get it done.

...and the best books for helping you to find songs to apply to exercises you could be working on I've found are in books on how to use fake books. Ann Collins, for example, has a list of songs from the Ultimate Fakebook to apply every embellishment and trick she teaches. But they all do this to the extent that the song examples in the book let you apply what you learn in their exercises and examples.

Sounds like you are cooking a Gmaj7 chord over there. It depends of course on the musical context but in most cases when you have such a big stretch and you can't physically make it you can just break it into two parts and make it work rhythmically. in this case I'll play the G first and the F# & B following right after.


good luck