Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started with Piano 5 Chapter 1: Preparing to Play a Piano 7 Knowing Why the Piano is So Special 8 Advantages to playing the piano 8 Advantages to studying music at the piano 8 A skill and an art 9 Understanding Why People Take Piano Lessons(And Why They Often Quit) 10 Getting to Know Your Instrument 11 Comprehending the Language of Music 12 Developing an ear for horizontal and vertical music 13 Getting to know musical forms and styles 13 Starting to Play the Best Way 14 Being Aware of What You Already Know about Playing the Piano 15 Chapter 2: Meeting the Keyboard Family 17 Looking at the Acoustic Ones 18 Pianos 18 Harpsichords 22 Pipe organs 24 Identifying the Electric Ones 25 The nuts and bolts of electronic sound 26 Synthesizers 26 Digital keyboards 27 Chapter 3: Finding the Perfect Keyboard 29 To Hum or Not to Hum: Electric or Acoustic (Or Both)? 30 Buying an acoustic 30 Buying a digital 32 Buying a hybrid 34 Picking the Perfect Acoustic Piano 34 Taking location into account 35 Getting all the pedals you deserve 35 Finding good buys (and avoiding scams) 36 If you’ve heard one, you haven’t heard them all 37 Looking at some specific piano brands 37 Selecting a Digital Keyboard That Lasts 38 Digital pianos and organs 39 Arrangers 40 Stage pianos 40 Workstations 40 Synthesizers 40 Avoiding obsolescence 41 Knowing the digital features you want 41 Browsing some specific keyboard brands 43 Other electric keyboards 45 Before You Drive It Off the Lot: Sealing the Deal at the Store 45 Taking it for a spin 45 Loving and leaving it 46 Refusing to pay the sticker price 46 Shopping online 47 The MIDI Places You Can Go 48 A MIDI primer 48 Keyboard to computer 49 Keyboard to keyboard 50 MIDI and music notation 50 Chapter 4: Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard 51 Providing a Good Place to Live 51 Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard 52 Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs 54 Tuning acoustic keyboards 54 Keeping digital keyboards happy 56 Dealing with serious keyboard problems 57 Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano 58 Chapter 5: Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet 59 Finding the Keys, Easy Peasy 59 The white keys 60 The black keys 62 Discovering What Your Parents Never Told You about Posture 63 To sit or not to sit: That’s the real question 64 Sitting down: Chairs versus benches 65 Using stands and racks 67 Paying Attention to Hand Positioning 68 Arch those hands and fingers 68 Fingering 69 Giving your hands and fingers a rest 70 Pedal Power: Getting Your Feet in on the Action 71 Piano pedals 72 Digital keyboard pedals 73 Part 2: Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound 75 Chapter 6: Reading Lines and Spaces 77 Your Guide to a Piano Score 78 Employing a staff of five lines 78 Hanging from a clef 80 Double Your Staff, Double Your Fun 85 Grand staff and ledger lines 85 Climbing up the staff and beyond 87 An octave above, an octave below 87 Punctuating Music: Bar Lines 88 Continuing to Read: Don’t Stop 89 Chapter 7: Joining the Rhythm Nation 91 Eyeing Tempo: The Beat Goes On 92 Measuring the beat using tempo 92 Grouping beats in measures 93 Serving Some Musical Pie: Basic Note Values 94 Quarter notes: One piece at a time 95 Half notes: Half the pie 95 Whole notes: The whole pie 96 Counting all the pieces 97 Faster Rhythms, Same Tempo 97 Eighth notes 98 Sixteenth notes and more 99 Listening for the Sound of Silence: Rests 100 Whole and half rests 100 Quarter rests and more 101 Counting Out Common Time Signatures 103 Common time: 4/4 meter 104 Waltz time: 3/4 meter 104 March time: 2/4 meter 105 6/8 time 106 Playing Songs in Familiar Time Signatures 106 Chapter 8: Changing the Beaten Path 111 Getting a Jump on the Start: Pickup Beats and Measures 111 Adding Time to Your Notes with Ties and Dots 113 Linking notes using ties 113 Extending notes using dots 113 Playing Offbeat Rhythms 116 Triplets love chocolate 117 Swing and shuffle time 118 Syncopation 120 Playing Songs with Challenging Rhythms 121 Part 3: One Hand at a Time 131 Chapter 9: Playing a Melody 133 Let Your Fingers Do the Walking 134 Getting into the Right Position 135 C position 135 G position 140 Shifting your hand position as you play 141 Crossing Your Fingers and Hoping It Works 142 Crossing over your thumb 142 Passing your thumb under 143 Playing Melodies in the Right Hand 144 Chapter 10: Scaling to New Heights 149 Building a Scale, Step by Step 150 Stepping Up to the Majors 151 Understanding major scales 152 Trying a major scale exercise 154 Exploring Minor Variations 155 Natural minor scales 155 Harmonic minor scales 156 Melodic minor scales 157 Trying minor scale exercises 158 Showing Your Rebellious Side with Blues Scales 160 Playing Songs Made of Scales 161 Chapter 11: Hey, Don’t Forget Lefty! 165 Exploring the Keyboard’s West Side 165 Moving into position 166 Getting used to the new neighborhood 166 Tackling Some Left-Hand Melodies 169 Practicing Some South-Paw Scales 170 C, G, and F major 170 A, E, and D natural minor 171 A harmonic and melodic minor 172 Trying Accompaniment Patterns 172 Three-note patterns 173 Four-note patterns 174 Adding the Left Hand to the Right Hand 177 Sharing the melody in both hands 178 Melody plus one note 178 Melody plus three-note accompaniment pattern 180 Melody in unison octaves 180 Playing Songs with Both Hands 182 Part 4: Living in Perfect Harmony 187 Chapter 12: The Building Blocks of Harmony 189 Measuring Melodic Intervals 190 Interval shorthand 191 Seconds 192 Thirds 193 Fourths and fifths 194 Sixths and sevenths 196 Octaves 197 Combining Notes for Harmonic Intervals 197 Playing two notes together 197 Adding intervals to the melody 198 Harmonizing with the left hand 200 Playing Songs with More Harmony 202 Chapter 13: Understanding Keys 209 Homing In on Home Key 209 A whole ring of keys 210 Using keys to play music 211 Reading key signatures 212 Leaving and returning to the “home” key 217 Playing Songs with Key Signatures 218 Chapter 14: Filling Out Your Sound with Chords 221 Tapping into the Power of Chords 221 Dissecting the Anatomy of a Triad 222 Starting Out with Major Chords 223 Branching Out with Minor Chords 224 Exploring Other Types of Chords 225 Tweaking the fifth: Augmented and diminished chords 225 Waiting for resolution: Suspended chords 227 Adding the Seventh 228 Reading Chord Symbols 229 Playing with Chord Inversions 232 Putting inversions to work 233 Flipping the notes fantastic 233 Playing Songs with Chords 235 Part 5: Technique Counts for Everything 241 Chapter 15: Dressing Up Your Music 243 Playing Dynamically 243 Starting with basic volume changes 244 Widening the range 244 Making gradual shifts in volume 245 Articulating the Positive 246 Interpreting articulation symbols 247 The power of articulation 248 Controlling the Tempo 249 Putting the Pedal to the Metal 250 Using the damper pedal 250 Getting the hard facts on soft-pedaling 251 Eyeing the middle pedal 252 Touching on Grace Notes 253 Tackling Trilling 254 Dazzling Your Audience: Gliss 255 Trembling Tremolos 257 Dressing Up Your Songs 260 Chapter 16: Great Grooves 267 Great Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns 267 Fixed and broken chords 268 Chord picking 270 Octave hammering 270 Bouncy rock patterns 272 Melodic bass lines 275 Applying Great Intros and Finales 277 The big entrance 279 Exit, stage left 281 Playing Songs with Left-Hand Grooves 284 Chapter 17: Perusing the Aisle of Style 287 Taking Aim at Classical Music 287 Playing the Blues 290 Clues for the blues 290 12-bar ditties 290 Changing it up 291 Rockin’ around the Keys 293 Rocking ingredients 294 Slamming and jamming 294 You’re a Little Bit Country 295 Country-style cooking 295 Finger-pickin’ good 295 Pop! Goes the Piano 297 Popular picks 297 Topping the charts 297 Soul Searching 298 Saving your soul 298 Motown sounds 299 Funky sounds goin’ round 300 All That Jazz 300 Jazzing it up 301 It’s up to you 301 Substituting chords 301 Playing Songs in Favorite Styles 304 Part 6: The Part of Tens 311 Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance 313 Be Comfortable at All Times 313 Shut Off the Distractions 314 Make a Schedule and a List 314 Get into Deconstruction 315 Use a Metronome 315 Rehearse Your Dress Rehearsals 315 Know Your Performance Piano 316 If You Memorize . 316 Preempt Post-Performance Syndrome 316 Smile and Take a Bow 317 Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Supplement This Book 319 Working through Method Books 319 Using Reference Books 320 Buying Music to Play 321 Types of printed music 321 Arrangements and transcriptions 322 Fake books 322 Where to buy printed music 323 Gigging with Others 324 Piano duets 324 Chamber groups 325 Bands 325 Checking Out the Masters 325 Johann Sebastian Bach 325 Ludwig van Beethoven 326 Johannes Brahms 326 Frederic Chopin 326 Franz Liszt 326 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 327 Sergei Rachmaninoff 327 Attending Live Concerts 327 Listening to Recordings 328 Perusing record stores 328 Shopping online 328 Visiting the library 329 Exchanging music with friends 329 Exploring Piano Sites on the Web 329 Enjoying Pianos on the Big Screen 330 Realizing You’re Not Alone 331 Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers 333 Whom Else Have You Taught? 333 How Long Have You Been Teaching and Playing? 334 How Much Do You Expect Me to Practice? 334 Would You Mind Playing Something for Me? 335 What Repertoire Do You Teach? 336 How Do You Feel about Wrong Notes, Mistakes, and Slow Learners? 336 What Methods Do You Use to Teach Piano? 337 Where Will the Lessons Take Place? 337 How Much Do You Charge? 338 Do You Have Student Recitals? 338 Appendix: About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 339 Index 345

If you’ve dreamed of playing piano, here’s where to start! There’s no better way to start learning music than by learning how to play piano. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never had a lesson or need a refresher on piano basics, this book helps you discover the joy of making music on the most versatile instrument of all. Simple step-by-step instruction gets you started, guiding you from basic beginner tunes into more advanced techniques. Get acquainted, or reacquainted, with how to read music, play chords, and build your own playing style. Inside… Play your first notesFind Middle C and beyondGet started with beginner tunesApproach old lessons in a new wayNavigate sharps and flatsLearn more with online audio and video

Introduction 1 Part 1: Getting Started with Piano 5 Chapter 1: Preparing to Play a Piano 7 Chapter 2: Meeting the Keyboard Family 17 Chapter 3: Finding the Perfect Keyboard 29 Chapter 4: Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard 51 Chapter 5: Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet 59 Part 2: Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound 75 Chapter 6: Reading Lines and Spaces 77 Chapter 7: Joining the Rhythm Nation 91 Chapter 8: Changing the Beaten Path 111 Part 3: One Hand at a Time 131 Chapter 9: Playing a Melody 133 Chapter 10: Scaling to New Heights 149 Chapter 11: Hey, Don’t Forget Lefty! 165 Part 4: Living in Perfect Harmony 187 Chapter 12: The Building Blocks of Harmony 189 Chapter 13: Understanding Keys 209 Chapter 14: Filling Out Your Sound with Chords 221 Part 5: Technique Counts for Everything 241 Chapter 15: Dressing Up Your Music 243 Chapter 16: Great Grooves 267 Chapter 17: Perusing the Aisle of Style 287 Part 6: The Part of Tens 311 Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance 313 Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Supplement This Book 319 Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers 333 Appendix: About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 339 Index 345