Hello Folks,
I have been looking at a ton of instruction books and have heard a ton of "sample lessons" from around 15 diffrent teachers. I think I have narrowed it down to 2, and would like to know if any of you have used or heard of them.
The first guy is Kevin A. Woolsey. A friend has a CD course he got from ebay, and it seems to be a good, round course in the basics of reading the Nashville number system, among other topics. The 2nd guy is Duane Shinn from the play piano site. I checked out a couple books of his from the library, and enjoyed his "down to earth, no fluff"" style.
Anyone have any thoughts on these 2? Do you have any suggestions as to other courses? Thank you in advance for all your help, Smurf

smurf,you can find all the chords at psrtutorial,its a good place to start,mike

If you are going to spend money on lessons, do yourself a HUGE favor and study with a private teacher. You will NEVER regret it and you will spend your money more effectively.

Hello Folks,
The PSR Tutorial site is how I found out about Duane. I am another "self taught" person, and have learned all the instruments I play by ear and lots of jobs, but I need a little more. I know the basic triad Maj. & Minor chords, but just need some instruction on how to "jazz 'em up" so to speak. The course on the PSR Tutorial site has helped a ton. I'm looking to learn hymns - southeren gospel - praise & worship types of styles.
All the teachers in my neck of the woods, (Clevland, Ohio area), that I have found want to start from the basics, even tho they have said I have good posture, hold my hands correct, and have min. sight reading skills. I know I would be better off starting from the bottom, but at this point all my spare cash is getting put back for a new keyboard. That is why I am looking at the learn at home courses.
Again, Thank You for the responses, and if you have any more info on any home study courses that you think are worth checking out, please let me know. Smurf

Hi Smurf
I went through the same thing. I am self taught for 30 years,but didn't know piano method. I tried teachers who took me back to basic stuff,but, I am 64 and can't wait 10 years.

Since I am used to digging for things myself,I decided to go to the net,and found the following http://users.wireweb.net/green/pianolessons.htm

There is a wealth of free lessons,but, I ordered the tapes and lessons(cheap). John is a real good guy,and will help you,too.

Just a thought. It worked for me.

Bernie

smurf,my opinion,,,i started taking lessons, if you are taught too much you forget it, if you only learn a little ,not value for money,the more i learn myself the better i feel,you say you know the majors,minors, triads,,,,,go back to the lessons on psrtutorial learn the inversions ,progressions,, 7th,, major7th,,, minor 7th,,etc and you will find that a lot of it comes together and easier to adapt,i,m not saying its easy ,,,its not, but the more you practice ,it becomes automatic,remember when you first used to play notes one at a time with one finger ,,now you are playing with left hand chords and right hand melody ,to come this far you have come a long way,just continue and use your tutor to give you the info that is missing,this is what i did ,i,m not a proffessional just a happy home player,and bernies advice of going to john axoms site,his patterns will fill in the bits and pieces and again just my opinion,mike

[This message has been edited by nardoni2002 (edited 10-16-2004).]

You say you want to learn to play the piano,but im not sure what you mean,you can play the arranger a lot easier than the piano they are 2 differnent instruments.

First I played the arranger for 10 years now,reading music with a bit of improvisation.But for the last 3 years I have been learning the piano proggressivly with a teacher.

The arranger is very easy to play.I taught myself with the Kenneth baker series of books over a 2 year period and pretty much could play anything with a little practice after that.

Playing the piano is 50 times harder when reading from music with the treble and bass cleff.
Also im finding after 3 years on the piano im taking as long as 4-6 months to master a piece.The most I ever spent learning a piece on the arranger was all of about 3 weeks.

Regards,
Daz

Hello Folks,
Thanks for the tips and sites. I checked out the San Antonio Piano Lessons, and will be going back there tonite. It looks like a great site, and thank you for the link Bernie9.
I will be getting an arranger for the full band sound, but I also want to learn how to full finger the chords, along with the the "3 finger" way. I would like to have some more "tricks" in my bag for when I get sat down behind a stright piano.
Again, Thanks for all the info, if you have any more links I would love to check them out! Smurf

You might also try this site: http://scottthepianoguy.com/
This guy is on PBS regularly(at least in my area). I've seen a couple of his shows and he seems pretty good.

This one's pretty comprehensive, but it's free, and looks like it has a lot of practical advice to offer:
http://www.sinerj.org/~loyer/PianoBook/

[This message has been edited by Quasar (edited 10-17-2004).]

Hello Folks,
I want to thank everyone for replying to my question, and Dnj, Bernie9, ChuckH and Quasar for the links (Quasar that link you gave is WAY over my head, but I will try to wrap my little 'ol mind around it!) All these links have had something of interest to me, and I am sure that they will help me in my practice time. Again, Thanks Everyone, this place is great! Smurf

have a look at this web site www.gospelkeyboard.com

Order the DVD by Jamal Hartwell. It is an instructional DVD on playing contemporay black Gospel music using common Jazz styled licks and chord progressions. It is simply incredible and there is a cam positioned over the players hands so that as he explains note by note what he is doing you can see the actual positioning of his hands and see his fingering. Have a look . Hope it helps

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I think it should be pointed out that there is more than on way to play a piano. From a purist point of view,one should read from two staves and four parts.I took lessons for six months and attempted to learn that style. It didn't work.Wheras, I can read four lines rather slowly,my left hand doesn't want to move in that fashion after forty years playing chords.I play gospel style piano with chords.
If you want to play classical music,obviously,this won't cut it,but,at least I can now play some piano in church e.g.,except to a choir that has to hear their part.

The other thing is that I think it is very important to be able to at least learn the bass clef,and some theory. Even though I can't play up to speed reading four lines,I can tell what the composer wants to do and what inversion of chords to use.

Bernie