The Pop Piano Book

Owner Reviews
This could be a very good technique book as well for people who want to learn popular piano if it is read and used carefully. He has an abundance of technical exercises in rhythm patterns, which is something that cannot be gained from Hanon, the king of technical exercise books. Many teachers are not very good at teaching popular piano, instead preferring to reinterpret it as classical music (which is not appropriate given its different rhythm patters and key signatures--often less complicated than those in classical). This was written by a man who teaches popular piano and has a very clear idea of the rhythm patterns that make that unique. For example: He makes extensive use of the tie line and syncopation in his examples of R&B, which is what one finds in real music of this genre. But it is very hard to get that type of practice if learning classical songs. As it has been noted before, the binding for this book sucks. But there are ways to get around that. Also: This seems to encompass almost everything in other basic theory books that I have read/ own. It has actually obviated my other theory/ rhythm books. It will be a good saving of money to invest in this before any others. Finally: The book CAN be used by beginners (in tandem with learning some scales) if it is used as he recommends. He says in the opening pages that it was written/ designed to be used by people at myriad levels.