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Im going to start the third ebook of Alfred’s (which is the final 1/3 of Alfred’s All in One Book). I will be replaying some of the pieces from the first and second ebooks.

Yes, I agree cutting corners now may come back to bite us later.

Great job Mandudez. Keep at it on 3.

I'm waiting on my Alfred's book to show up in a few days. In the mean time, I started using a book that was given with my piano. However, I'm having wrist pain in my left wrist. I try to keep my wrists straight, but it's not helping much. Any ideas?

Fryloc,
Stop playing immediately. You should never experience pain from your playing. Ignoring it and continuing to play could lead to serious injuries (the kind that require surgery to fix, no joke). Find a competent teacher and take a few lessons. Get them to show you how to position yourself in front of the piano and to play with proper structure and relaxation. If you absolutely cant get a teacher, try to video yourself playing and post a link here on the forum, maybe someone here can watch you and see where adjustments need to be made. But please don't just try to "play through the pain." That's a recipe for disaster.

Oh no I don't try to play through. I did try moving down an octave, which helps a lot, but makes it a bit harder to see what I'm doing. I'll either have to get a new sd card for my GoPro or find a way to prop up my phone to take a video.
My book should be waiting for me when I get home tonight. I won't be able to play tonight but I'll bring it to work and read through it tomorrow.

Fryloc,
Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that you stop playing when you feel pain. I'm saying that you should NOT be feeling any pain at all when you play. If playing causes you pain, then there is something structurally wrong with your position at the piano, or your posture, or how you are using your hands, or etc... Ignoring that is a recipe for developing a repetitive stress injury like carpal tunnel syndrome. You should not play at all if doing so is causing you pain.

You need to find someone who can look at how you are playing and figure out what you are doing wrong and show you how to correct it. This sort of thing can be very hard to self-diagnose, hence my suggestion that you hire a teacher for a few lessons. Maybe you can figure out how to correct it yourself, if so great. But be advised that you are literally endangering your health if you force you body to play with improper structure.

Good Luck!

Well my Alfred's book was waiting for me on my piano when I got home from work, and strangely as I looked through it it looked familiar. I pulled out the book that came with my piano and it was almost identical... Then I looked at the copyright and it was indeed published by Alfred publishing five years earlier. It wouldn't have been a surprise if it had a cover on it.

I think I'll photo copy some of the worksheets so I don't have to write in the book.

Hi everyone. I am working on Lullaby now. When mastered will try Chestnuts on open fire from hal leanord first 50 christmas songs, for a break. I think I may be able to tackle it now.

Well it's been a week or so now, and I'm moving right along. I skipped a bunch of the theory because I'm already familiar with reading music, having played sax in concert band and marching band for eight years. I have a feeling my method is different from most others, as I start from page (idk) 15 or so? And roll on through to around 30. Once I play each song correctly I move on to the next, it helps to keep me from being bored.

I also skipped ahead a bit to the Hanon exercises. Fairly easy on the right hand, but a bit more challenging on the left. Then just for kicks I skipped ahead to Blow The Man Down, ha ha yeah right. Not yet anyway.

I've got a couple days off, so I'll be sure to get some practice time in.

Anybody working on "Scarboro Fair" might be interested in this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05stg0l

Hi everyone! I'm back after some long breaks with scattered piano playing throughout (I'm an adult starter on the violin too, but that's my "main" instrument). After a few months of no piano, I went back to the beginning of the book and am currently at "Why Am I Blue?" Just started lessons with a teacher, but he tends to not assign "homework" so it'll be interesting to see how progress goes.

Hello everyone. I’ve been in a slump for a few weeks with a little Back ailment and also fell into one of those slumps that we speak of often in these pages. I’m happy to see more interest in this thread. It’s a great place for folks to journey together. I hope that you all are doing well and enjoying your progression. I’m currently practicing “The Donkey” but I have a lot of review and skill practice to do as well. Thanks and happy playing, mb

Hello everyone i am on page 117 "why am i blue?", it usually takes me 6 - 10 hrs of practice to play the average song. How long did it take you guys yo finish the whole book?

Thanks

It varies for me. I haven’t gotten as far as you have yet. Great job. Mb

Lullaby was tough. Finally learned it though.

nm. answered my own question

Lullaby was hard, here is a video that helped me.

https://youtu.be/zulvYTKigP4

Reporting back here after a long hiatus. After getting to the end of book 2 I quit playing about 6 years ago. It recently started itching again, so I bought a new DP this week (Kawai CN37 for those interested) and picked up a new copy of Alfred's book 1. I've been going through it a lot faster than I did back then and I was wondering if that was a mistake, but when I reached Blow The Man Down tonight it took me about 15 minutes to get it to a decent level, while I remember spending days on it back then, so I think it's at least sort of justified. Many things I learned back then have stuck with me. This time I'm not going to continue with book 2, I still remember hating most of those songs. Once I'm done with book 1 I might try out the Faber books, I hear good things about those as well.

Congrats and best wishes on your return. It sounds as if you are doing great for a 6 yr break.

So good to hear about book 2 feedback. I have seen other posts with similar feedbacks. I particularly dont love all yhe songs in Book 1 but i do acknowledge that the main goal of the book is to slightly increase the difficulty as you go thorough the book while covering a wide range of musical styles, classical, blues, etc, so naturally people are bound to not like all the songs. My plan is to fo all the way to Alfref book 3. How long it took you guys to finish book 1 and 2?