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Hey everybody, it's my first post here! I am a complete beginner. From reading around here for and other places I get the sence that the adult method books are more focused on quick results and perhaps skip some material. If I can stomach simple children's songs and pictures, should I follow the regular course over the adult?

As a side note, I have read that the Alfreds adult course has an emphasis on chords. This seems very different from their two regular courses. By the end of the course, would you end up in the same place?

Some of the criticism of method books that you read here is written by people who love a particular method and have little or no experience with the one they are knocking. You can tell if a book teaches only left hand chord accompaniment by looking at the left hand parts in that book. Are they all chords? Or do you see different notes and different rhythmic patterns?

Anyway--left hand chord accompaniment is not a bad thing! It just isn't the only thing your left can do!

I'm just starting also. I went to a local music store and looked at both the kids and the adult books. Some kids book were too easy and some too hard. (You can't judge a book by the cute kid on the cover)I bought two different methods and am playing through both. Sometimes one explains something better and other times the other one does.

You won't, but if you have no interest in classical, that doesn't matter. Most pop songs (and non-classical in general) have tunes RH and chords LH and keeps going on like that. (If it doesn't, it's someone's attempt to turn a simple pop song into pseudo-classical to satisfy those who want something interesting for the LH to do, but the song itself might be all but unrecognizable in the process.....)

Only classical requires you to develop both hands (and all fingers) equally well.

Keep in mind, method books target groups with different learning needs: pre-teens, teens and adults. As an adult you probably want to avoid the pre-teen books; but many adults find the method books targeted at teens to be satisfying.

My experience with pop arrangements is that the left hand is busy with a rhythmic bass line. This can be tricky to coordinate with a right hand melody.

Another thing I never thought of I saw a fellow that works for Alfred's talking about books for young children don't arrange songs that need a large reach to play. For example most small kids could not physically play a chord that spanned one octave or maybe even 5 notes.

A lot of kids start at 5 or 6 years old.

Here is the Youtube link for that Alfred's guy explaining the different books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdFLuZUS548&t=1573s

I've learned that most adults want to know "yesterday." While they're learning one piece they're asking when they'll be able to play another piece. Not all adults, but the majority I've come across. I've tailored lessons for each adult. Most are not looking to go to Julliard for piano performance. They're looking to play songs they enjoy and have fun. I've used theory mixed in with different big note music versions. Sometimes piecing together a song using different versions to make it sound nicer ( if the easy version doesn't have a nice beginning, but the "regular" version has a few measures we can paste in.) As long as they're enjoying, they're learning and that is what they're there for.

I have Alfred's Basic Piano 1 & 2. These books are for practicing sight-reading. They are not strictly L-hand chords with a 1-line melody like you're playing out of a lead sheet. The L-part is generally simple and repetitive (can be single notes, 2 or 3-note chords). The book doesn't start with "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Lightly Row" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" sort of nursery tunes.

I also have the Faber Adult Piano Adventures book which contains simplified arrangement of Classical pieces. Not all the pieces were originally written for piano or keyboard. Simplified can be anything from having fewer notes than the original to playing just the melody of a longer piece like an Italian opera tune, skipping the intro of a Chopin Ballad. Some of the pieces may be arranged in a Key with fewer sharps & flats in the Key Signature to be easier to play. Most of the pieces are 2-3 pages in large print (4 lines on a page) which is very manageable at a lower intermediate level.

Recently my piano teacher got into playing a few songs from the Big Time Piano Jazz & Blues book (Faber). In the beginning you find a few added sharps & flats on some notes but the pieces are repetitive. Once you learn a small section, the next section is almost the same except for a few note changes. The only challenging part is that some of the melody is not on the beat (syncopated) so the L & R part is half a beat off sync. I'm working on "Georgia On My Mind". It's a simple arrangement that is playable with a bit of practice.

Probably not what you want to hear but based on my anecdotal evidence of one- I'm guessing that it probably takes the average person a decade of persistent practice to "learn" how to play piano. I have a kid who started piano a little more than 6 years ago- he's 13- and he's at the cusp of being able to play "easy" real music. As an example after 6 years, he going to start learning Mozart Sonata in C. Perhaps the average adult learner would be able to get there faster- I don't know- but my guess is probably not much faster. My son's teacher told him last week that there are no short cuts in learning to play piano and that if he continues through HS (which we really hope), he's in 7th now, that it will be a lot of hard work.

I'm not sure which method book you choose is going to make that much of a difference. I think though if you really want to learn to play the piano you need a good teacher.

I think you’re right. My teachers says things about making me self-sufficient, and while those are kind words, I’ve told her that she’ll be stuck with me for at least ten years, if not longer. She teaches another adult beginner who has been taking lessons for twelve years and I don’t think it will be much different for me. I’m ok with the process. I get up, run, eat breakfast, and then practice the piano. It’s a habit and it feels wrong if I skip a practice day.