Do You Have These Piano Books?

Sometimes it can be hard to know what the best music is to learn as an adult, especially if you don't have a private teacher or some kind of steady outside input about your playing and how to grow in your learning. 

Or you may have a teacher and you're just looking for some additional music that you can add in and learn to play on your own. 

Piano Lesson or Method Books are really useful for a number of reasons:

1. They give you songs and pieces to play that are arranged in terms of difficulty and will be build your technique and ability to play the piano as you progress through the different levels offered in the series. 
2. Usually there is an explanation of the specific technique that you are learning notated for each piece so you can be aware of exactly what you are learning new or getting better at playing. 
3. Lesson books are great tools for independent learners and those that like to do additional pieces outside of their normal weekly plans. They allow you to follow more of your own  learning goals and grow with your own timeline. 

It's good to know what to look for if you are wanting to add to your piano repertoire and where to find that music online so you can easily purchase it. Here are some of the Adult Piano Books and Methods that I recommend to help you know which ones will be best for your current level of piano playing. 

The Alfred Series:

• It's best to start with Book 1 (this is true with any method series that you choose to work with) This book will start you with some really easy songs that cover the beginning basics of playing the piano and will be fun to play! 
• Book 2 continues what you've already learned with some easier songs in the beginning and again, will increase in difficulty throughout the book. 
• Book 3 and onward continue to advance your technical learning and increase the amount of pieces that you can play altogether. 

Going through all 3 of these books will give you a really strong start at your piano playing and will steadily increase the level of difficulty of the music that you can play. Altogether, it will take you on average, about 6 months to get through each of these 3 books in the Alfred Series. 

The John Thompson Series:

• This series is a good one to work with after you've played through the 3 Alfred books. Book 1 starts much like the Alfred Series with some very easy pieces that will help reinforce the basics of beginning piano playing. 
• Again, there are 3 levels or books in this series that offer pieces with written lesson specifics so you're playing will grow as you play through the books in order. 

The Faber Series:

• Although this series has some excellent books for children and especially young adults, they also have quite a good method for just adults that offers a thorough workout on your piano. 
• Just like the above 2 methods, you'll work you way through by starting with Books 1-3 in that order. 

The best place to purchase any of these method books is probably online as most local music stores won't carry them. Amazon seems to have all of them in stock on a steady basis. If you click on any of the  Titles above, it will actually take you to Amazon page where you can browse Book 1 and even look inside. From there you can also search out other books in each series. (the above links are affiliates that will help PianoLessonsOnTheWeb through your purchase if you feel so inspired to do so!)

If you'd like more information about a few extra piano methods that I have recently discovered and see where these books are online - including song lists for each one - then check out this recent tutorial that will let you discover all of this great piano music with me online! 

Stay Tuned to PianoLessonsOnTheWeb.com to learn much more and achieve YOUR dream of playing the piano!