Re: Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1 #1070152 07:44 PM Joined: Posts: 88 Sacramento, California B Bob Griffin Full Member Bob Griffin Full Member B Joined: Posts: 88 Sacramento, California Hi all. Luckily I have alot of time to practice so I am a few songs away from completion. I can tell you that there were alot of times when I felt hopeless, and then after sleeping on it went back and the songs started clicking. When you are sitting there and struggling, take a break. The idea of going back and replaying songs each time up to where you are is good, as your timing improves and you can concentrate on the dynamics and pedaling. There are a few songs toward the end that are beating a dead horse and I think my teacher will let me skip a few. Once I got the rythym of blow the man down, I went back to my c version of linus an lucy and now can play that in full. I mistakenly thought you get the left hand going and simply do the melody with the right hand. Like patting head and rubbing tummy. No way. You have to take it frame by frame and get the timing down before moving to next measure. While doing this book I learned a few from Thompson's book, which were actually tougher but kept practicing interesting. Funny, just the other day I downloaded Minuet by Bach and thought that would be a doable classic piece. Not as easy as it looks but halfway there. Teach has me doing scales on the side,and we already did major chords and variations of each of those. There is a nice version of the Entertainer at the end of the book. Sounds pretty good. I tried the Joplin version and had to give up for now. I am looking forward to book two, but am committed to mastering book one first, except for a few songs that I just can't listen to.(mexican hat dance)(on top of old smoky) to name a few. I remember that when I hit Lavender Blue, it started actually sounding like a piano. That's when I decided to buy a piano, as I was playing a digital and the feel would throw me off when I went to lessons and flubbed. I am finally starting to not "clam up" when playing for others or teach. Use a metronome and go back and play songs you thought you were playing well and you will see that they sound even better when played in perfect time. Use the record feature on you digital and that will give the same(pressure) feeling that you need to overcome when playing for teach or friends. I hope you are all enjoying this as much as me.

Bob