Has anyone read this book?

[immortalbeloved]

Hey all, I am sorry for posting this here, but this, afterall, is a student question

I have a quick question regarding a book I want to purchase but have been unable to obtain many reviews. The book, link below, is called:Chord Approach to Pop Piano Playing (Complete): Piano Technique by Albert de Vito.

I hope that by buying a book like this I can begin the process of studying pop song books like the Frozen one, or the Disney ones, etc.

I was wondering anyone has read this or knows anything about it. I am forever grateful,


https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/093428668X?keywords=pop%20piano%20chord%20book&qid=1445881886&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

[adodd81802]

Hi, I know that this is a little off topic, but

Have you considered just getting the actual sheet music of the pieces you want to play and just spend your time on them?

Frozen isn't exactly pop as such, and without being rude to "pop" music in general, you shouldn't have to do too much "studying" to make a couple riffs sound nice, it depends to what level you want to really get at the piano.

[leemond2008]

I have to admit that I actually struggle quite a bit with pop/rock songs, when I started learning the piano that was what I wanted to do, you know just sit at a piano and play some beatles/queen/lou reed and all that sort of stuff.

I soon realised after just a short while that classical music is a hell of a lot more fun to play and it impresses people a whole lot more.

before I started learning I only knew a handfull of classical pieces but now all I pretty much listen to is chopin, beethoven and things like that, I absolutely love Valentina Lisitsa's live at the royal albert hall.

I find that unless you have a good enough voice to be able to sing along with pop music then it becomes quite boring a repetative, unless you are good enough to improvise on the boring parts which I'm not

[immortalbeloved]

But that is the thing. My whole time has been classical--and I quite love it--but I need to add to my repertoire of knowledge, I need to be able to improvise much better with chords, and why not start something new?

The songs from Frozen are not too difficult but why not improve your knowledge with chords playing songs someone from your family would like.

[dcstudio]

But that is the thing. My whole time has been classical--and I quite love it--but I need to add to my repertoire of knowledge, I need to be able to improvise much better with chords, and why not start something new?

The songs from Frozen are not too difficult but why not improve your knowledge with chords playing songs someone from your family would like.

those Disney tunes are fine.   If you get the standard hal leonard or the like the music always has the changes above the staff.   If these tunes are familiar to you than they will work perfectly to enhance your improv skills... 

The goal with this is to eventually be able to pick up any fake book and to be able to sight-read the melody while adding the chords.. and of course doing something more interesting with them than simply playing block triads... that gets really old really quick.

memorizing chords and their voicings is fundamental to improvisation... it really doesn't matter what song the chords are a part of...  that's the variable... chords are constants and once you really know and understand them... wow... things get WAY easier.

get the melody down rock solid first then experiment with different inversions in your LH and try to follow the bass line.  Just keep doing it.. this in an INVALUABLE skill to have. Once you can improvise a whole new world opens up.

[hfmadopter]

those Disney tunes are fine.   If you get the standard hal leonard or the like the music always has the changes above the staff.   If these tunes are familiar to you than they will work perfectly to enhance your improv skills... 

The goal with this is to eventually be able to pick up any fake book and to be able to sight-read the melody while adding the chords.. and of course doing something more interesting with them than simply playing block triads... that gets really old really quick.

memorizing chords and their voicings is fundamental to improvisation... it really doesn't matter what song the chords are a part of...  that's the variable... chords are constants and once you really know and understand them... wow... things get WAY easier.

get the melody down rock solid first then experiment with different inversions in your LH and try to follow the bass line.  Just keep doing it.. this in an INVALUABLE skill to have. Once you can improvise a whole new world opens up.

Amen to all of that !

[CC]

I haven't read it, but I commend you for adding pop to your classical -- congratulations. The books I recommend are: Humphries,The Piano Handbook; Neely’s “How to Play from a Fake Book”, and “How to play the piano despite years of lessons” by Cannel and Marx.