At book two I’m often prompted to say things like “Hang in there! The pot of gold is around the bend!” There’s so much to overcome at this stage in your learning journey – I’d almost go so far as to say it’s one of the hardest points of your learning journey period. If you’re only used to playing chords with your left hand, it’ll be a rude awakening when you attempt your first Baroque or Classical dance piece, where the left hand makes big leaps and follows its own path (instead of being led along by the right-hand melody). Song selection of the Alfred Adult series In today’s video and blog post we’ll be talking all about Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course. We’ll go through the material this method book covers, talk about its pros and cons, and I’ll let you know if I recommend it for your piano learning journey. Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course is designed for the beginner looking for a truly complete piano course that includes lesson, theory, technic and popular repertoire in one convenient, all-in-one book. This course has a number of features that make it particularly successful in achieving this goal, among them are smooth progression between concepts, the thorough explanation of chords and outstanding song material. At the completion of this course, the student will have learned to play some of the most popular music ever written and will have gained a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of music. no (dead) Whole Books Last activity 0:00 ago 8.56 MB (8,974,481 bytes)

Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course [Method Guide + Review] Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course [Method Guide + Review]

I absolutely recommend this series to students. It’s stood the test of time, and I’ve personally seen it get results. The chord-based approach is appealing, especially for students who aren’t particularly interested in getting into Classical music, though there is some of that as well.Other popular series include the Piano Adventures for adults and the John Thompson piano course, both of which I plan to cover on this channel in the coming months. The preparatory level in music is generally a 1 to 2-year process for adult students (longer for children). The first Adult book roughly corresponds with the RCM’s Preparatory A level, and the second Adult book roughly corresponds with the RCM’s Preparatory B level.

Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course - Free Download PDF Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course - Free Download PDF

The Alfred series has been around for a long time – I grew up using their regular lesson books for children, and I’ve taught with their books as an adult. Both Alfred Adult method books have a focus on chords. This is both the method’s strength and weakness. This is handy especially if you’re working on your own without a teacher. It takes all the guesswork out of your learning experience. Chapters and pieces Overall, it’s a great course – solid, effective, affordable, and most teachers are familiar with it. I’ll give you a brief overview on how to go through Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course if you’re a complete beginner, and then we’ll get into some of the finer details.

Overall, I find the second book to be a real challenge, though a doable one. It’s not usually so difficult that students give up, but frustration can happen sometimes (especially when parts of the first book were so easy). Since the Alfred books tend to be chord-focused, they’re naturally more pop-focused as well. The majority of the selection contains standards like Happy Birthday, When the Saints Go Marching In, The Entertainer, Amazing Grace, and other pieces in that vein. In 2.5 years to 5 years, you’ll progress from an absolute beginner to an early intermediate student. Some people will move faster or slower, but this is the pacing I observe and recommend. The downside of a chord-based approach is that your left hand won’t be as equipped to deal with Classical music if you’re headed that route. Classical music requires a more dexterous and independent left hand, which is initially more tedious to develop. But I’ve never met a second method book that didn’t frustrate students in some way. By this point in the journey you start to realize that the path to learning piano is a long and sometimes arduous one. Sometimes practice is real work, not pure pleasure (in fact, this is most of the time).

Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course (all-in-one, Level 1) Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course (all-in-one, Level 1)

The difficulty of the first Adult book follows an interesting path. The first half is very simple and easy to get into. However, there tends to be a difficult hitch at the end of the “G position” chapter with the pieces “Beautiful Brown Eyes” and “Alpine Melody”. I find this leanness to be an advantage, though. Students can usually complete this book without getting tired of it (unlike the first book). Let me know in the comments if you use/have used the Alfred books – I’d love to know what you think! The first Alfred book for adults is one I’ve taught from dozens upon dozens of times. It’s the book I used exclusively when I first started teaching piano, so I have a soft spot in my heart for it. As with the first book, the level two book comes with corresponding books if you’d like to stay within the Alfred family but not be limited to the selections of the method book.

But once that natural motivation starts to fade, they hokeyness becomes a problem. At this point I like to introduce supplemental pieces (perhaps something from the RCM’s Preparatory books) – pieces that seem more professional, serious and fancy. I’ve been asked about this method time and time again, since it’s one of the most popular method book series for adults. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do a video on it! However, there are still plenty of easy wins and straightforward pieces, such as “You’re in My Heart”. My rating for this series would be A-, and my rating for the Piano Adventures books would be A. I haven’t yet found a series that I consider A+, but I haven’t done too much exploring – something I plan on doing more of this year. Chords are great because they allow your left hand to get in the action early without too much struggle. Chords are a way you can make your pieces sound pretty good even from the early stages. And chords are hugely important if you’re interested in learning any type of contemporary music.