Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1

Short question: I ordered the Adult All in one books today. They arrive tomorrow. However, after doing so I read about the self teaching version... and after that I read about the ebook of that self teaching version! I bought the books to learn myself to play the piano properly.

1. Should I have bought the self teaching version instead?

2. Is the ebook (in iTunes) EXACTLY the same as the printed version (of the self teaching as well as the original all in one books)?

Returning the ordered books is no problem at all so be honest.

PS The price of the ebook version is half of that of the printed all in one books... also nice...

Indeed! I'm just managing to keep up with my daughter's progress, so I can help her with practice, as it's very noticeable that she enjoys it more and practices more efficiently if I'm with her. This won't be necessary when she's a bit older. That's my main objective at the moment, not so much my own playing.



I haven't seen the self-teaching version, but the regular version is already very much designed as a self-teaching book so I doubt there can be much difference. Bear in mind that this kind of book is mainly a source of learning pieces. I use other materials for theory (ABRSM stuff) and general piano playing (The Piano Handbook, Chang's Fundamentals of Piano Practice) etc. There are videos in youtube of advanced players performing the songs on the book, which is all you need really and much better than the CDs that came with my edition.

I like jazz and I also have Alfred's Jazz Masters booklet that has a few simple jazz tunes designed to be worked on at the same time as book 1, it even indicates what page of the book you should be on for each of the jazz songs. It comes with a CD with piano, piano+band and band-only tracks, which is great.

As for ebooks I'd rather have a paper copy even at twice the price. For me practicing piano is a time to switch off and I really don't want any screens or computers anywhere near, but that's just my preference.

@ J van E

I have the ebook version and find the embedded videos very useful and convenient. With self learning I think it helps a lot to see professional demos of each song. I know you can probably find these videos on YouTube but it's nice to have them right there in the ebook and they are nicely presented by a professional teacher. I don't have the paper book version to compare content, but I presume it must be much the same.

Thanks for the info. Sounds good. I'd like to be sure though if the content is the same as the printed book (self teaching version AND the older all-in-one books). I don't want to miss out on anything. I have to say that all those versions are very (and I mean VERY) confusing for someone who is new to all this...

When I ordered my book1+2CD version I realised only a few hours later that there was a book 1 version with a DVD and videos in it. The ISBNs are in Alfred's website if you want to make sure.

YouTube channels like 92PianoKeys have high quality videos of every single song on this and many other self-teaching books played at a professional standard, certainly far better than what's on my book CDs. They are also a good source to listen to other songs at this level, useful as you start playing more songs that you like outside Alfred's limited ecosystem, and in parallel with the books' learning pieces.

@ID5894: Thanks for the info. (And your previous post too: I missed that one the last time). I think I will return the printed books and get the ebook version: nice to have the video's included! I am sure the content is (about) the same as the old books or the printed 'self teaching' version. But if it isn't: I ordered Fundamental Keys in the meantime (the old but complete Lulu-edition). Alfred's course is indeed only one source and there are others: just as you say and as I've read somewhere today on this forum: it isn't a bad idea to use more than one source because no course is really complete and all-in-one. It seems to me Alfred and Fundamental are a bit on opposite sides of the method spectrum (?) so this should cover enough ground for quite some time.

BTW I thought Alfred is also about theory and playing...? I can't imagine anyone buying Alfred's all-in-one course just for the pieces...?

Alfred's does include theory. I have the set of 3 books for Adults, no DVDs. I refer to online videos, particularly tinymozart's YouTube channel when needed. I believe she is a teacher in Australia.

Alfred's is not classically focused, whereas Fundamental Keys probably is. I can't say though, I don't have Fundamental Keys.

I've heard other people say that the CDs that come with the paper book are poor (I haven't personally listened to them), but I can say that the embedded videos in the ebook are very good. I presume the DVDs that come with the alternative paper book are the same as the ebook videos.

For me it was a no-brainer to buy the ebook as I'm using an iPad connected with Bluetooth to my Roland piano, so I can pop the iPad on the music stand and play the videos directly through the piano speaker system.

I have that same edition of Fundamental Keys too, but I haven't actually worked on any songs yet. I'll start with it after I finished with the main part of Alfred 1 in a few weeks, so when I finish with Raisins and Almonds. Then I'll be working in parallel with the review section of book 1, FK and the Alfred jazz book I mentioned before. When I finish book 1 and the jazz book, I'll start with book 2 and continue with FK (as it goes beyond the level of Alfred book 1).

Fundamental keys is also just a source of graded learning songs, but focused on original classical pieces. There's not much theory or other guidance in it, but it's very useful to have a graded sequence of songs collected in one place.

The theory in the Alfred books is limited to what's needed to play the songs, which is all you need to make progress really, but it wouldn't be enough to sit a music theory exam for that level. I like to know more and I'm aiming to keep my theory more exam-level like and about a grade above my playing, but not more than that as it'd be a waste of time.

Cool. My piano has Bluetooth too: I will have to check how to get that working with my iPad!



Hm, I thought FK had lots of extra info on HOW to play...? And on sight reading, landmarks...? You make it sound it is just a book with tunes.

There is only a little at the beginning, in the landscape printed section, but once it starts with the "proper" songs (the portrait printed section), there's minimal info other than the sheet music. The "theory and technique pages" have some warm-ups and scales and little more. But I'm not criticising the book, the selection and printing of the songs alone is worth the price to me, it's all I wanted from it. I'm sure you can find videos of proper pianists playing most of the tunes in FK if not all of them.

Perfectly normal.

Very often in the learning process we reach a point after working a certain amount of time on a piece that it's really quite playable after about twenty minutes or so of practice. When you play at your lessons or cold at the beginning of your practice session it's not so hot. It's this playing cold that needs to be fixed before a piece is set aside or finished. While the techniques in it are not at your fingertips they aren't really learnt.

With Alfred's material this isn't a problem. You'll soon* be at a stage when you can read the entire volume without batting an eyelid. *Soon is relative but it's never soon enough.

If you're spending longer on your current pieces you may need to rethink the amount you're doing each session (or each repeat) and how much you're actually carrying forward from previous lessons. Do you revisit the warm-up material where you play the basic I IV v7 chords in block or arpeggiated form at the start of some pieces? This should really be done every day in all keys covered so far until you don't need to do it every day.

Likewise the 12 bar blues progression should also be practised every day in C, F and G. Try using different songs and picking out new melodies. Sometimes the last four bars need to change a little. They often start with four bars of I, 2 each of I and IV then V-IV-I-V, I-V-I-I, V-V-I-I or something along those lines.

Well, well, well... I said I found all those books confusing and boy, was I right...!!! I think a warning is in place here for other newbies to all this! So here it goes.

As posted above I ordered the Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course books 1, 2 and 3. After doing so I noticed there also is a course called Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course and this one also can be bought as an ebook. The ebook has THREE volumes, just as the above mentioned Basic Adult All-in-One Course . In my previous posts I asked of those three ebooks of the self-teaching course would offer the same content as the Basic Adult All-in-One Course. The general concensus was (well, sort of) this was so. Well, read on.

I just received books 1 and 2 from Basic Adult All-in-One Course and although I was planning to return them, I decided to open the package and compare the content with that of the three ebooks of the self-teaching course. Guess what...

The self-teaching ebooks as well as the printed self-teaching book ONLY COVER the FIRST book of the Basic Adult All-in-One Course!!!

They divided book 1 of the Basic Adult All-in-One Course into three parts (and added some stuff)! (Which also means that the ebooks aren't cheaper: in fact, they cost a lot MORE than just book 1 of the Basic Adult All-in-One Course.)

Suffice to say I am keeping the printed copies I just received!!! (I have to add that having the books in your hands which text you can clearly read and music you can clearly see feels better than having to watch everything on a tiny iPad screen.) You can also fill in things as a test which you can't in the ebook as far as I can tell. The books are bigger and thicker (is that the right English word?) than I expected.

Anyway, WARNING FOR NEWBIES: the self-teaching ebooks number 1, 2 and 3 do NOT correspond with the printed Basic Adult All-in-One Course books number 1, 2 and 3: the ONLY give you the content of book 1! Just so you know.

I am going through book 1 right now and I am having a ball. Yesterday I was playing (well, sort of) Schumann's Träumerei and now I am having big fun with Beautiful Brown Eyes LOL! I have to add that Beautiful Brown Eyes took me a few times before I could play it without mistakes... seriously! Haha! That first C you have to repeat with the right hand kills me LOL because I want to repeat it too often (together with the left hand) and I also notice I often play what I THINK I should play or what feels logical. Anyway, I went rather flawlessly from page 1 to 65 but it seems I am already at the point where I have to slow down. Having a ball here nonetheless.

I recommend pianist magazine for ipad. It has good classical pieces for all levels and music recording is included for every piece. Beginner pieces have plenty of tips and instructions along side the score and the harder pieces have a master tutorial explaining how to tackle it. I also have a roland piano with Bluetooth, so i can listen to the pieces directly on the piano when i practice.

The pieces as mainly classical but the tend to have one or two popular songs; like ABBA thank you for the music, and Bod Dylan Make you feel my love.

That's what's all about, enjoying the process. You'll progress fairly quickly until about Blow The Man Down. Some are easier than others, but I found that Good People and Chiapanecas took longer than the rest so far (currently finishing The Stranger).

I enjoyed the "drama" in O Sole Mio so much I learned the Italian lyrics for that section and sang along while playing lol, fortunately nobody was watching!

Yes; Beautiful Brown Eyes is the first real challenge i found; before that i could get a song down in a couple of days practice. Beautiful brown eyes took me the week. Bar 3 in particular when you hold the second C and left hand keeps the 3/4 timing going. I kept hitting C again.

I think the way the progresses, some pieces introduce new skills and some semment it . Lavender's blue was another song that made think i had gone backwards but it just introduced something new; in fact those pieces are actually easier than subsequent ones but they seem harder because it is firts time encountering such technique, chord change or rhythm.

I am having fun with book and surprised how it actually builds on each follow on piece without feeling overwhelming.

LOL So luckily you really lived the song (O lonely me).

I think from now on my main problem will be when to move on. Up to now I learned nothing new when it came to theory and I could play everything in one go. I suppose that right now I will have to wait with moving on until I can play a piece perfectly... but the problem is that I'd like to learn to sight read music (and to play something without mistakes) and I have the idea I am not learning that if I keep on practicing a tune until I can play it without having to read it anymore.

I have the feeling I am not actually learning something new: I just reached my sight reading limit so... how to proceed? I guess THIS is the problem you have with teaching yourself to play the piano with a book. Should I simply limit myself to a few pages a day? I might as well start playing various simple pieces from other books...?

But well, I am having fun playing these simple pieces and reading everything, pretending it's all new to me, so I will continue following the course, of course. I bought the piano because I want to enjoy myself making music and I like what I am doing now: that's what it is all about.

EDIT
One thing I plan to do more often, also for practice, is to look at the intervals all the time and play with them in mind. I never ever did that in the past. Alfred's book also talks about this. It does help already with some pieces, like Brown Eyes where I at first wanted to play a higher note than the music dictated and I noticed the interval was smaller than it seemed to me and I automatically played the right note because my fingers 'knew' the right interval... yeah, well, it's kinda hard to explain.

Yes, that second C! Killing!

BTW I just actually laughed out loud when I looked at a video of this tune. Somewhere else on this forum I read someone with the nickname tinymozarts played all these tunes and I was wondering how she did it. (Also to see if I have the speed right.) Turns out she simply played one C in that bar LOL! And the second time too! And when she reaches the D7 and plays the A with the right hand she skips the D in the next bar! LOL She has the music in front of her (so you can check what she is playing!) but apparently she doesn't look at it? Haha! That's kinda what I meant to say earlier on that you sometimes tend to play what you THINK you should play. The first time I played this song I totally missed that second C and that high D.

Again, I am having a ball in all possible ways.

Here is the video:
https://youtu.be/TgigkWgm0HM

Thank you, zrtf90. I think you've identified a weakness in my practice that definitely relates to this issue. I'm not spending much time with the warmups. I glance at them, quickly go through them until I'm sure I understand what they're introducing, and then I move onto learning the song and almost never revisit them. When I return to previous songs, I have little connection in my mind between that song and any specific principle for which it was chosen by the author.

In short, I think I'm learning songs and developing better coordination and touch, but I'm not learning music as well as I should.

Thank you for the analysis.