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I've just discovered Rockschool Piano syllabus and I'm wondering if anyone is going through it. I think that starting with classical music to build the foundation and than jumping into other genres is the best approach but may there are other ways. What's your opinion?

Why is starting with classical best ?

I actually would go with your interest.

If you want to rock music and can find a teacher I would go for it .

If your interest is rock/pop/jazz/blues, and you have absolutely no interest in classical, I can't imagine why you would start in classical... unless you are actually hoping to develop an interest in classical, or you are interested in "piano as a sport" (because of course, classical piano certainly has more "sporting" piano pieces than rock! )

Alfred's Adult, and I believe most other beginner methods, have a variety of type's of music in the Level 1 Method Book. I think in the beginning (first 2 years) we should play all kinds of music to get a basic feel of what's out there and what you would do when you get to a basic skill level. I think on this forum the usual thing is 2 years of method books and they go into whatever type of music you like. Learning piano is really challenging, and the basics take quite a bit of practice. The only method I have seen that has a classical focus is Fundamental Keys. But they start off teaching the same stuff that's in Alfred's.

I looks to me like Rock School is a graded system for more advanced players (intermediate at least). Good Luck, lots of good info on this forum.

Recently got myself the book Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 1 "Jazz / Rock Course". The pieces in the book were written with a Bass Clef like Classical pieces. The Treble is mostly a simple 1 line melody with a lot of repetitions. The Bass is mostly single notes and some chords. You'd go through the same routine reading notes in the Treble & Bass and you get a few # & b added in because Jazz pieces go by the Blues scale even when a piece looks like it is written in C. Playing is not challenging since the notes are repetitive and most of the learning involve counting & getting the right beat than learning the notes.

Hi Stef,

I am going through RockSchool and it is certainly an excellent way to learn piano. If your interest is in popular music, then it is ideal as it covers a whole range of styles. I am also adding classical pieces that I like from TomPlay.com where you can get graded music from Easy to Advanced which is sort of equivalent to RockSchool Debut-Grade 2, Grade 3-5, and Grade 6-8. So RockSchool is not Intermediate and above as mentioned by another post here.

You can also pick up older syllabus RockSchool books/CDs for more music if needed. The older books had no modern arrangements like now, but still excellent and enjoyable pieces.

If you follow the exercises in addition to the RockSchool pieces you will not miss out on any classical-like learning needs.

RockSchool is far more interesting to use than most adult learning books out there. No boring old standards!

From following the more recent posts in this thread, I've been getting the impression that this might be a good way to learn if one's interests are other than classical.

I don't know why I think classical is the best way to start. Good to know that there other options and thanks for all info. I have new books to buy right now

Eddie Van Halen started by learning classical.

I recall reading that Eddie never read a note and faked his way through every piano lesson, playing by ear.

I'm just using books of songs, like the two volume Cole Porter collection. I don't think there's a Cocktail Bar method book out there, is there?

Actually Amazon has a few Cocktail Piano books and there are Youtubes on it like this one from Bill Hilton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UkFi3vMsTs

It's probably because classical music teaches us to listen more carefully and to pay attention to nuances that are non-existent in rock music.

Well, and technical aspect, too.

+1 Iaroslav
That was my reasoning exactly when I started, and still is. I have a huge list of Rock/Country songs I'd love to learn, but while I'm taking lessons in classical, I need every bit of practise time to keep up! I have a hiatus from lessons coming up in July, and I'm looking forward to indulging all my Rock whims
I know a lot of Rock songs can get complex...but many are not, and now when I look at the scores compared to some of the harder intermediate pieces I've been practising, I gotta say they don't seem so bad at all!

Of course the other awesome benefit is that I've been exposed to all this amazing music that I now love...it's actually all I listen to these days. For sure there will always be classical pieces in my practise regimen

I get the impression (and please correct me if I'm wrong!) that pop/rock playing essentially involves playing a melody with the right hand, and block chords with the left. If that is indeed the case, someone who learned that would never develop the motor skills for "proper" two-handed playing that classical training gives you, whereas learning the basics of classical piano does give you the skills to later transition to pop/rock later on if that's your thing. Also, can you ever really properly understand how chords "work" without gaining the theory behind them that properly learning scales gives you?

Absolutely not the case Chris. If you use the RockSchool course as discussed earlier you have to use all fingers on left hand as you learn. And more than a simple melody with the right hand too. Oh, and you have to learn more scales than typical classical training too. ; )

If other rock/pop courses only use block chords they are not worth bothering with. You may see that stuff in easy organ or keyboard courses.

Thanks for the correction, Richard!