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.

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

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 next adult series I’ll be talking about on this channel is the Piano Adventures one, so stay tuned for that. By the third book, things tend to get easier again. Not because the material is easier (it isn’t), but because most students who haven’t given up are used to the constant new challenges, and the material is starting to sound like real piano music.

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.

ALFRED’S BASIC ADULT PIANO COURSE Le v e L 2 Adult All in One ALFRED’S BASIC ADULT PIANO COURSE Le v e L 2 Adult All in One

However, I tend to use the Piano Adventures adult series nowadays. I haven’t used it for as long, but I think it has a slight edge in that it’s more balanced in its pop/Classical approach, and it’s less hokey. This first book is considered a preparatory level (what I affectionately refer to as “musical kindergarten”). Students are often surprised that they can’t just dive into grade 1 material. But like primary school, we need to lay the groundwork and learn the basics before we get to a grade 1 level. 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”. 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)Most students won’t be learning from the Alfred method books exclusively – they’ll also be learning supplemental side pieces and technical exercises (whether from other Alfred books or not). Because of that, the lessons in each of the books can be stretched out comfortably to a year (or six months for a very motivated and impatient student willing to work twice as hard). Focus of the Alfred series: Chords 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.

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

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. 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. 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. 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. Let me know in the comments if you use/have used the Alfred books – I’d love to know what you think!I find this leanness to be an advantage, though. Students can usually complete this book without getting tired of it (unlike the first book). 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! 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.