What book should I read to learn the piano?

[pianocap]

I have no piano skills whatsoever. So I was wondering, what books should I look at when learning the piano?

I want something that teaches the basics through intermediate and advanced.

Is there any books out there that have a reputation of being more effective than other piano learning books?

I really want to learn on my own and go at my own pace and I feel theres no better way than a book.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

[netzow]

I'm not sure what exactly your looking for i.e learning music notation ect. But in any case Chang's book. https://www.pianofundamentals.com/book.php5?page=preface Gives a lot of good information on practicing. Not everyone buy's everything it says but the bottom line is as with any piano practice related thing try what you read or hear and see if it works. If it doesn't work try something else, not everything will work for everyone. Good luck starting out. Hope this helps

[rc]

For the basics (note-reading, key names, fingers, chords, etc.), any adult beginner books I've seen will do the trick, check out some music stores.  They start from knowing absolutely nothing, advancing incrimentally.  The one on my shelf is called Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, it's level 1, there are three levels they use.  It wasn't expensive.

This forum is a good resource, there's a lot of knowledge and ideas floating around.  But it's unorganized, and takes forever to filter through.  As a start, searching for posts by Bernhard are all good, he knows his stuff and wrote it down well.  When I first got into piano, I basically scoured this forum for a few months, loading my head up with ideas and printing off the posts I liked best.

Here's a site that I really liked: https://www.pianoeu.com/intro.html.  The advice was golden for me, but it's difficult to read.  The author doesn't know english very well, it took a while to get used to the language, and the site is disorganized.  But once I figured out what he meant it helped me out.  Even if this is no good to you right away, bookmark it, it may be useful for you later on.

Some will emphasize learning with improvisation, which I think is a good idea as well...  So here are some improv sites: https://www.improvise.nl/cursuseng.html, https://pianomusings.blogspot.com/, https://ericbarnhill.wordpress.com/

Now for the books I have two recommendations: 

Mastery by George Leonard, not to do with piano but with learning new skills, a small easy to read book, I haven't found a better description of good attitudes to take when learning new skills.

The Art of Piano Playing by Heinrich Neuhaus.  Comprehensive.  Author was a lifelong devoted teacher.  Not the most organized book, but full of golden advice.  I don't think it'll be too understandable for the complete beginner, but it's something you can pick up again and again as you progress.

Have fun!

[danny elfboy]

Here's a site that I really liked: https://www.pianoeu.com/intro.html.  The advice was golden for me, but it's difficult to read.  The author doesn't know english very well, it took a while to get used to the language, and the site is disorganized.  But once I figured out what he meant it helped me out.  Even if this is no good to you right away, bookmark it, it may be useful for you later on.

What about explaining it to us?
I didn't understand one iota 

[imbetter]

dude, you posted this in two forums. If I remember correctly that's against the rules

[nightingale11]

have a look here:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,5767.msg56133.html
(links by Bernhard)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,9159.msg92755.html#msg92755
(maylas index of the forum)
 
also have a look at chang's book, György Sándor - on piano playing, Seymour fink - mastering piano technique, Eigeldinger - Chopin: Pianist and teacher and Abby Whiteside - On piano playing.

and then you will need an incredible amount of luck of finding a good teacher.

[keyofc]

pianocap,
If I were you - the first book I'd look at is the yellow pages to find a piano teacher.

But - if you're just not going to do that - Alfred's Group Piano book for adults is good.
it assumes you have no previous experience - and although it's a group book, it can be used individually.  There are many others - but I think this is a good one.

I also think Faber technique and artistry books is a must - if you're not going to have a teacher.  You can learn all the right notes and rhtym, but if you don't learn the touch - you won't like the way you sound.

[rc]

What about explaining it to us?
I didn't understand one iota 

hahah, I can try.

He covers a lot in that mass of pages.  The ideas basically come from Neuhaus book and bits of Chopin's sketches.  I'd summarize the basic principle as learning piano technique by having an imaginary ideal as a guide, using active listening to match up the sounds coming from the piano to that ideal, with the qualification of physical ease.  Emphasis on emotional intent, discouraging mechanical thinking.

In the site it's explained from a few different angles, with examples and some other peripheral ideas.  I was thinking about it earlier today, and it may be because of the bad english that I liked it so much - it forced me to dig beyond the mangled language to understand the point, it forced me to think about it.

As an example, in answer to the question of how to learn arpeggios, his advice was along the lines of just focusing on getting from one sound to the next with physical ease.  When I sat down to give this approach a try, it helped.  It simplified the whole approach and brought good results, as opposed to boggling my mind with difficult explainations of motions.