Play Piano in a Flash: The Next Step | 
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Piano Players…
Do you feel like an impostor when asked to "fill in" or "fake" music?
Does the idea of improvisation make you shiver?
Have you always wanted to play by ear?
Are you bored with classical music and yearning to play something jazzy?
Have you read Play Piano in a Flash! and are ready for more? Piano Teachers…
Do you wonder how to guide creative students who tend to "improve" written music to fit their taste?
Do you have students who want to try out non-traditional musical styles?
Are you having trouble finding simple and clear jazz educational resources oriented to early-intermediate piano students? In this book, you will learn how to:
- read a lead sheet as found in fake books.
- interpret chord symbols and position them on the piano.
- play style specific left-hand self-accompaniment patterns.
- generate right-hand spontaneous melodies that "fit" with left-hand chords or patterns.
- play introductions, endings and turnarounds to create full arrangements of your favorite songs. This book uses a fun and creative approach to piano playing. Following on the heels of the best seller Play Piano in a Flash! Using everyday language and down-to-earth examples, Scott and Bradley guide you through the more practical side of chords, scales and rhythms. The best part is that everything is presented in context, and with one goal in mind – getting you to play better, sound more authentic when playing non-classical styles, and have more fun than you ever thought possible on a piano or keyboard!
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Customer Reviews:
• A Learning Tool- 04 January, 2007
This book gives the basics of improvisation when playing from a fake book. It is a good tool for a continuation of the learning process. The use of a varied base line, improvisation within a chord and the pentatonic scale are worthwhile skills.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1XXSMIZYANUPY
• Awesome Help Learning To Play Piano 08 November, 2007
I am a beginning piano player. At the ripe old age of 59, I do not want to spend a lot of time learning the "classical" approach to piano. I just want to play tunes on my own! Scott Houston's got the right idea! This is the second one of his books that I have purchased and it is PERFECT for my needs. One of my many personality flaws is that I am terribly impatient, but once I forced myself to slow down and really make sure I absorbed what Scott and his co-writer were saying, I learned VOLUMES on how to use both the left and right hand in playing piano. The exercises are great too. Maybe another character flaw of mine is that I get overly excited about books? By the way, if you're just starting out, I would recommend that you first buy Scott's "Play Piano In A Flash" paperback...it's an easy read but very helpful too.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A306DXDE5FY6CI
• Good Place To Start If You're Not A Beginner 26 May, 2008
Excellent. I'd recommend this over the introductory books for anyone who has had some piano lessons in the past. I love this way of playing--so enjoyable. Scott makes everything very clear and puts the creativity and fun back into being a piano player--two things that are often left out of traditional piano instruction. Recommended.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1LKOIZXPQ9VG0
• Almost Flawless. 02 March, 2007
This book is an excellent primer for the advanced-beginner pianist who wants to leave sheet music behind, or for the by-ear or lead-sheet player who has attempted at least a couple of songs using the "right-hand melody, left-hand chords" arrangement presented in many methods, including of course, "The Piano Guy's" (Scott Houston), "Play Piano in a Flash" series.
Scott Houston and Bradley Sowash propose to take the reader to...well, the next step beyond the barebones arrangement described above and to introduce him/her to more sophisticated harmonies and options for creating bass lines and thus fuller, more satisfying arrangements of lead sheet melodies.
They have succeeded.
Using a songlist of the usual suspects including "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain", Sowash and Houston guide us, in a casual, conversational style through some elementary ideas of chord construction, including inversions, minor and dominant 7th chords and then they explore some options available for LH parts. The authors then gently introduce some exercises demonstrating construction of simple bass lines, melodic ornamentations, improvisation and then move into slightly more complex re-harmonizations and a brief introduction to chord substitutions and more complex LH patterns like pseudo-stride.
Overall, the presentation is practical, friendly and emphasizes exploration by the reader (who is admonished not just to read, but to play, play, play through all the examples).
My only quibble with the presentation (and it is a small one) is the lack of a discussion on practisng the chords and their inversions for each lead sheet before trying to create arrangements, which may result in less experienced beginners becoming frustrated and attributing their difficulties to the method. More experienced players will be able to run through the exercises quite rapidly, and will gain confidence in the steps required to go from melody line to fuller arrangment.
All in all, this book offers a user-friendly, technically accessible and surprisingly comprehensive foundation for lead-sheet and by-ear pianists to start creating full-sounding arrangements on their own. In fact, by extending the ideas in this book by yourself with regular practise, you will be able to go quite far as your technical skills improve. You should be able to read simple music in both clefs and be able to play very basic arrangements hands together to benefit from "The Next Step".
- Reviewed by customer ID: AU4X9XZLS5LI5
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