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The Fun and Easy Way To Play Piano
The first thing that I did before I began reading the book 'Piano For Dummies' was to start playing the CD that came with it.
I'm glad that I did because the first track on that CD contained excerpts from Erik Satie's classical work 'Three Gymnopedies' and Scott Joplin's 'Maple Leaf Rag'.
The music was inspiring!
If I had doubted that I still wanted to learn to play the piano, all those doubts quickly evaporated after listening to those magical pieces of music.
The book 'Piano For Dummies' and its companion CD are all about the learning to play the piano so that it's a lot of fun right from the start.
Even if you've got no experience whatsoever with pianos or keyboards, don't worry.
This book starts with the basics before moving on to other more detailed topics, such as teaching you a variety of techniques that can give the pieces of music that you play a 'professional sound'.
But you might be concerned because you don't even have a piano yet!
Don't worry.
To help you to purchase the piano or keyboard that's just right for you, you can turn to the chapter of the book titled 'Finding the Perfect Keyboard'.
This particular chapter covers everything that you need to know from 'finding good buys (and avoiding the shams)' through to 'knowing the features that you want' in a piano or keyboard.
As you read through the 'Piano For Dummies' book, you will be introduced to a diversity of music styles.
Classical music, rock 'n' roll, blues, country, soul and jazz tunes are just some examples of the many different types of music that you are encouraged to experiment with.
'Piano For Dummies' will motivate you to keep learning more about playing the piano.
For example, it has advice about where to buy music to play; gigging with other musicians; and exploring the Internet to discover for yourself just how many fun and informative piano and keyboard Web sites are out there now in cyberspace.
When you get towards the end of the book, you may be so inspired by what you've read and heard that you think it's time to get much more serious and to take some formal lessons with a piano teacher.
That's where this book can help you out too.
Its final chapter contains the details of the sorts of questions that you should ask of any prospective teacher, for instance, 'Whom else have you taught?'; 'Would you mind playing something for me?'; 'How do you feel about wrong notes, mistakes, or lack of practice'; and 'What methods do you use to teach piano?'
And to give you some idea of what to expect in response, a series of possible answers to each question are included in the chapter.
The 'Piano For Dummies' book concludes with a couple of handy appendices.
The first appendix is a glossary of musical terms, so this is the place in the book to turn to when you need explanations for everything from arpeggio and backbeat through to syncopation and zapateado!
The second appendix is a list of all the audio tracks on the book's companion CD (there's just under a hundred of them).
Details included in the list for each track are the track number, the track title, and most importantly, the chapter in the book where the significance of each particular track is discussed.
Using this list, you can quickly read about each track on the CD.
For instance, track 85 is titled 'Classic Boogie Riff'.
It's a bass riff played with the left hand. However, triplet chords are also played with the right hand to enhance the overall sound of this appealing riff.
Once you've mastered this riff, no one will believe that you've only just started playing the piano!
One of the major trademark features of all the books in the 'Dummies' series is that they don't overburden their readers with unnecessary technical detail.
Instead they tell readers just what they need to know in order to start mastering a new skill as quickly and easily as possible.
The books' other trademark feature is that they are a lot of fun to read as well.
The books in the 'Dummies' series empower you to broaden your life with new and exciting experiences.
And the 'Piano For Dummies' book is no exception.
So if you've been thinking for awhile now that you would like to learn how to play the piano or the keyboard, then this is the book for you.
To find out more about 'Piano For Dummies', or to purchase a copy of the book