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How to Play Popular Piano in 10 Easy Lessons: The Fastest, Easiest Way to Learn to Play from Sheet Music or by Ear |  | Author: Norman Monath
Creator: Hal David
Brand: A Fireside Book/Simon and Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $2.89
as of 7/31/2010 20:11 CDT details
You Save: $13.06 (82%)
New (30) Used (62) Collectible (1) from $2.89
Seller: Joseph5
Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 11171
Media: Paperback
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Pages: 141
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.4
ISBN: 0671530674
Dewey Decimal Number: 786.3041
UPC: 073999730814
EAN: 9780671530679
ASIN: 0671530674
Publication Date: November 28, 1984
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780671530679 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
This no-frills, no-drills method will have you playing simple tunes within 30 minutes - even if you don't know one note from another. The secret? Learning the basic chords and how to adapt them. With lots of clearly illustrated chord examples, keyboard diagrams and practice pieces ranging from Silent Night to Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, Monath teaches you: the basic structure of music, how to alter the basic chords for creative accompaniment, how to read tunes from sheet music, how to improvise, how to play by ear, and how to create your own playing style - whether you lean toward pop, blues, jazz or rock. For everyone from rank beginner to experienced virtuoso, this step-by-step, uncomplicated guidebook makes learning to play popular piano the easy and enjoyable experience it should be. Norman Monath has taught and played piano professionally for more than 25 years. As a songwriter, he's collaborated with Hal David and Sammy Cahn. 8-1/4 inch. x 10-3/4 inch.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
 Excellent book for beginners August 4, 1998
Herbert (Midwest)
136 out of 138 found this review helpful
For the beginner, this book is excellent. I have looked at many piano books when I first began playing, and most of them were usually too complicated, or too simplistic. This book, however, was one that fell right in the middle and helped me understand all kinds of important ideas in music, such as harmony and melody, building chords and scales (and understanding HOW), reading music, how to understand progressions, and how to play by ear and improvise. It is certainly geared toward getting you "up and playing" in the simplest, fastest way, at a moderate pace, with a good depth of information that does not get overwhelming. Because of this, this book is probably suited much more for the person who has no music experience and wants to learn the basics of how to play out of fake books and begin improvising. It is probably not good for those who want in-depth and more advanced theory of music, but it is an excellent book to use as a stepping stone toward more adva! nced piano study. This is a must have book for any beginnger.
For aspiring pianist? No -- piano players, yes! February 4, 1998
mjd1@psu.edu (Pennsylvania (not Bethlehem!))
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
Norman Monath's book is the most practical music self-instruction book, for intelligent adults, that I've ever seen. It is clearly geared for folks who want to do what the title says, play popular piano, versus becoming serious pianists. You won't learn much about treble clef, finger position, or proper technique here. But you also won't spend months repeating "Tommy the Turtle" and "Camptown Races" (or more likely give up the whole thing in discouragement). The basic idea is to learn how chords work (it's not as complicated as I thought!), and then start playing in a simple but effective style: melody with the right hand, block chords with the left. At age 44, I could read music but not play piano. Within days, literally, of reading Monath's book, I had bought a fake book and begun using it. This is not an overnight system that will turn you into a professional pianist -- but it is a legitimate alternative. I like it!
Best Beginners Book I've Found!! October 4, 1999
Carl Franklin (Cedar City, UT USA)
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
This was the fourth "beginners" book on piano I had tried, but it was by far the very best!! In fact, I could have skipped the first three and been much better off.Monath's style was easy to understand and he included just the right combination of examples and explanation to make it worthwhile. I liked his book so much that I just ordered his guitar book. Not bad for someone who couldn't even find middle "C" just six months ago!! I'd highly recommend this book for the true beginner. You'll be playing songs in no time and with this book you'll learn enough to quickly pick up a music book and give the songs in there a try.
I really did learn how to play the piano! Amazing! December 29, 1999
37 out of 38 found this review helpful
I got a piano for Christmas and lessons are $65/mo for a half hour class a week! Glad I bought this book instead! It explains in a logical, non-technical way how to read music, find chords, and by the end how to augment and diminish chords, write music, play by ear, or transpose a song into another key for singing accompnament. I was playing "Silent Night" like a pro my first day. Give it a try!
Clueless adult learns the piano September 16, 2006
Mr. N. Marley (England)
29 out of 29 found this review helpful
I'm a 30 year old man and I started playing the piano 3 months ago and decided to teach myself with books. I started with Russell Baker's books (1-5) which are great to get you started if you know absolutely nothing about music - like me. I progressed to buy some sheet music and the lights just went out. There were so many notes and I could not process them quickly enough, particularly co-ordinating the right and left hand.
I saw this book and read it, and within 2 weeks was playing a tune by Oasis that I could hardly read before. The key (no pun intended) is in the use of chords which are based upon mathematical rules. Once you understand the (simple) rules, you only have to find one note in the bass and develop the chord from there. This takes care of so much mental effort and also helps you to understand the form, structure and tone of the music. I feel so much more accomplished and learning the chords comes very quickly indeed.
So it's very good, the only proviso being that you need to be able to read the notes of the melody and know what each key is to extract maximum benefit. The book does cover this in more detail towards the end, but rather raced through some bits.
My advice to all those adults coming to the piano and music for the very first time is to find a good, simple "Welcome to your first piano" book and practice the simple tunes therein. Build confidence. When you can read the melody and know the names of the notes, you just have to buy this. Perhaps some purists may think of it as "cheating" but the author gives a very clear statement of intent and makes no apologies for the methods.
I love the clear, concise and lively prose the book contains. It makes reading it all the more fun. I do wish, however, that ANY book which is designed to read in front of, or in conjunction with, a piano, is RING-BOUND and does not have a fixed spine. Otherwise this forces you to break the spine to hold the book flat, which is not good at all.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
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