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Complete Piano Player
The aim of this book is to turn the complete piano beginner into an accomplished performer using easy-to-follow steps. Based on popular songs, the book uses text and diagrams so there is no need to read music.
232 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 19, 2026
What a great book to review with. After years away from the piano, I am finally back. But where do I fit?
I had been playing around with songs I learned a long time ago. At twelve, I was a far better player than I am now. In my forties, I was far better than now. Now at 76, I am just struggling to grow and start to enjoy this torture device/toy.
In a group dedicated to piano returnies, someone mentioned this book. I decided to try to see where I fit. I started with lesson one, book one. Much from there and in the next few books, I found I could sight-read much. My glaring mistakes showed up in rhythms. I practiced the bits and moved on.
Along the way, there are many beautiful, fun pieces. Very few were boring or impossible to learn. My favorite thing was that, with the exception of the very last song, all songs were on two pages. No turning pages! What I am worst at right now is the dreaded page-turn. So I make copies of all songs and tape them together to avoid having to turn the page while playing.
Speaking of making copies, there are so many songs I still want to play from this book that I am selecting some so I can save the book for others, or future me. So much diversity, classical, Beatles, and a most beautiful song I'd never heard from Elton John, Song for Guy. I'm so far from perfecting this one, but I will try forever, if I can, to get that under my belt.
I highly recommend this book for beginners and beyond. Stick with the challenging ones until you get it, and move on through. Now I feel I'd like to find the next Omni for Books 6 and beyond.
I had been playing around with songs I learned a long time ago. At twelve, I was a far better player than I am now. In my forties, I was far better than now. Now at 76, I am just struggling to grow and start to enjoy this torture device/toy.
In a group dedicated to piano returnies, someone mentioned this book. I decided to try to see where I fit. I started with lesson one, book one. Much from there and in the next few books, I found I could sight-read much. My glaring mistakes showed up in rhythms. I practiced the bits and moved on.
Along the way, there are many beautiful, fun pieces. Very few were boring or impossible to learn. My favorite thing was that, with the exception of the very last song, all songs were on two pages. No turning pages! What I am worst at right now is the dreaded page-turn. So I make copies of all songs and tape them together to avoid having to turn the page while playing.
Speaking of making copies, there are so many songs I still want to play from this book that I am selecting some so I can save the book for others, or future me. So much diversity, classical, Beatles, and a most beautiful song I'd never heard from Elton John, Song for Guy. I'm so far from perfecting this one, but I will try forever, if I can, to get that under my belt.
I highly recommend this book for beginners and beyond. Stick with the challenging ones until you get it, and move on through. Now I feel I'd like to find the next Omni for Books 6 and beyond.
May 31, 2023
The book provides lots of songs, which are carefully graded, to build up your skills over a couple of months. There is enough here to make you into a competent piano player who can read and play sheet music.
March 22, 2022
After many years of not quite learning to read music properly, this is the series of books that finally worked. Kenneth Baker takes you through a continuum of perfectly paced incrementally more complex pieces of music; each piece pushing your music theory and finger dexterity forward in gentle steps.
I have several of the individual books, but purchased the omnibus to fill in the gaps. I'd recommend the individual books over the omnibus edition, only because the omnibus is in a smaller format which is harder to read and doesn't stay open easily on the piano's music desk!
I have several of the individual books, but purchased the omnibus to fill in the gaps. I'd recommend the individual books over the omnibus edition, only because the omnibus is in a smaller format which is harder to read and doesn't stay open easily on the piano's music desk!
March 25, 2021
This has been published in at least 2 different editions with different cover art. This is the 5 basic books in this series bound as one. This is convenient but there's a quirk: the page numbering starts from 1 for each book. However the tables of contents for each book are all collected at the beginning of the omnibus edition which makes navigation easier. The book is perfect bound but over quite a few years is still holding up fine. You might need something to hold the book open when you're at the beginning and end.
I'm an adult student; I had personal lessons over my life so I understand the basics of theory and learning the piano. This books is a great review of the basics, which each lesson incrementally adding to what came before in a logical and natural way. It may seem trivial, but the music is clearly engraved with plenty of space. (I mention this since I have a different piano book where the book designed decided a featherweight, tiny font was the right one to use in both the text and engraving.)
Anyway, back to Baker's book: There are about 20 pieces in each of the 5 "Books". Obviously none of them are going to be newer than about 1985. So it helps if you are an oldster and can remember some of the tunes. But they are pretty much all classics so it shouldn't be hard to locate them. Lots of Beatles, show tunes and old standards like Fascination, Strangers in the Night, a smattering of classics.
There are probably newer books just as good, and maybe with some newer tunes in it but this does the trick for me.
I'm an adult student; I had personal lessons over my life so I understand the basics of theory and learning the piano. This books is a great review of the basics, which each lesson incrementally adding to what came before in a logical and natural way. It may seem trivial, but the music is clearly engraved with plenty of space. (I mention this since I have a different piano book where the book designed decided a featherweight, tiny font was the right one to use in both the text and engraving.)
Anyway, back to Baker's book: There are about 20 pieces in each of the 5 "Books". Obviously none of them are going to be newer than about 1985. So it helps if you are an oldster and can remember some of the tunes. But they are pretty much all classics so it shouldn't be hard to locate them. Lots of Beatles, show tunes and old standards like Fascination, Strangers in the Night, a smattering of classics.
There are probably newer books just as good, and maybe with some newer tunes in it but this does the trick for me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews