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I'm nearing the end of book one, starting on 'Have yourself a merry little Christmas' (should have a rough idea by Christmas.. lol). 'Good people' is the one I had most trouble with for some reason. But great book and enjoying it, looking forward to grappling with book two.

Way to go Stephen!

I'm still on the Saints go Marching (both hands.) I'll be staying there awhile until I'm used to my new board and have better dynamic and tempo control. Plugging away...

Well, I've been working on my finger exercises everyday now. It is helping but its sloooowww. That's okay though. I'm still working on Saints go Marching (I'm going to hate that tune by the time I'm done LOL.) Switching hands shows me how advanced my left is to my right so I've been doing more practice on the right to get them up to speed. I've also slowed down my tempo greatly to work on better finger placement (the F chord still feels unsure to me) and better timing.

I added Fabers back in just so I had something easy to work on to relive the frustration/tension of it all. It's making practice more enjoyable.

Anyone else feel like they've gotten stuck on a spot like this? I know I'm improving but man it's like time has slowed or something....

There are some very high stumbling blocks on the way, but keep plugging away.
Seeing people on YouTube breezing through classic pieces, then saying they have only been playing three months is a bit of a kick in the ******s , maybe should be taken with a pinch of salt though...

LOL good thing I don't watch Youtube unless it's a video of someone here then! I've never found comparing myself to another is a good idea.

I found Andrew Furmanczyk's YouTube lessons very helpful, so there is some learning on YouTube too.

I have a question or two. I'm having some difficulty going from C to F to G7. So I would like to find something (a song maybe?) to work on additionally with those in it. However looking up G7 is not so easy. It looks like to me that G7 is actually G V7 and not written as G7 in Alfreds.

So am I correct? It's G V7?

Also any suggestions for an extra song with those three chords in it relatively simple? (I'd prefer not to have to buy another whole book just for one song.)

Is the difficulty in RH, LH or both, Becca?

What fingering are you using? In LH I use 5-3-1 for C (CEG), 5-2-1 for F (CFA) and 5-2-1 for G7 (BFG) and in RH 1-2-4 for C, 1-3-5 for F and 1-3-4 for G7.

The chord name is G 7 (G seventh) but in Roman numerals it's V7 (dominant seventh).

If you want to practise the LH chord changes by playing a melody on top or the RH by singing on top pretty much any 12-bar rock/blues will do. Heartbreak Hotel, Don't Be Cruel, Johnny B. Goode, Tutti Frutti, Evangeline, etc.

If you want to stick with just C and F you could try Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennessee or if you're a Pulp Fiction fan, You Never Can Tell.

Or is it that you need to practise reading the chords?

It's my right hand for the G7. Doesn't want to do it, especially if I'm doing any chord in the left. LOL. I was using the fingering in the book (no idea right now, just got off 12 hour shift.) I'll try yours tomorrow.

Thanks for the song ideas. All of those sound good. (reading chords are easy, making my right hand switch between f and g7 is a whole different story!)

That sounds like F = 1-3-5 and G7 = 1-4-5 requiring you to move your hand laterally as you change finger 3 for 4.

With the fingering I've provided the third finger STAYS on F and the hand PIVOTS on it with just a change from finger 5 to 4.

It doesn't LOOK much different on paper but when I do eight swift chord changes at rock 'n' roll speed it sure feels easier my way.

*went and grabbed book* Yes that is the fingering for alfred's. I'm going to try out your fingering today. I'll report back later (after tea to wake up lol)

Thanks so much Richard!

F = 1-3-5 and G7 = 1-4-5 requires you to move your hand laterally as you change finger 3 for 4.

With the fingering I've provided the third finger STAYS on F and the hand PIVOTS on it with just a change from finger 5 to 4.

It doesn't LOOK much different on paper but when I do eight swift chord changes at rock 'n' roll speed it sure feels easier my way.

Also my way lets you change easily to Am (C-E-A, 1-2-5) from C (C-E-G, 1-2-4) and that opens up a few more tunes for you to try. The mother lode, in fact.

C-Am-F-G/G7 is the old I-vi-IV-V; Runaround Sue (pretty much anything by Dion and the Belmonts), If I Had a Hammer, Crocodile Rock, Stand By Me, Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis), I Will Always Love You, Walking In Memphis (juxtaposed: F-G7-C-Am) etc.

I've always found chords with my right hand more difficult than I do with the left - and I'm right handed.
Maybe subconciously we think chords with the left and melody with right??
I get days where I wonder who came in and changed all the keys on my piano because they're not where they're supposed to be and my fingers are all over except where they're supposed to be!

Well, tonight I was digging through all my books looking for a lullabye and realized what my issue is. I need to work on my basics: letter names while playing them, slow steady rythmic counting, hitting each note correctly. My basics are really weak (or I've just noticed.) So I've figured out to use about five books at one. One page of each, each one a different focus while still working steadily on Alfred's. So I've got Faber, lesson, performance, and technique level 1, Alfreds Adult basic level 1 and the jazz rock course (which is way above my skill now.)

I carried that out with my practice tonight and bingo! I left feeling really good. Fabers to reinforce the basics, Alfred's to move forward and Jazz for more advanced.

Tomorrow I'll mix in the chords with different fingering.

Lyn: That kinda sounds right. My left can do both with ease but my right doesn't want to play nothing but melody! However I'm ambi so I'm not sure it's the handedness at work. Perhaps it's a way of analzing music?

I just started playing piano and I was wondering if the Alfred books were only meant to be used to complement an actual course or can a complete beginner learn with those books without an instructor?

Yes you can learn from these. I started out with the Faber series, switch to Alfreds and am now doing both of them. I've been teaching myself since last Nov (with the exception of two months this summer.) Alfreds is an actual course.

Thank you so much for the info. I will buy book #1 and see how much I can learn from it.

Well I still haven't tried the alternative fingering for the chords. I slowed myself right down and with the extra pratice using all the books I have available I've managed to get my fingers to do right hand chords. I'm still working on those (found a good practice song Tambourin to go with it) and am working on the "G" position now. Slowly moving forward!

Sounds good Becca! I just got Alfred's yesterday. On page 14- really love this book- best adult beginner's book I've come across!