Piano Lessons on DVD Compared
Want to Learn Piano? Not Sure what Course to Use?
Top 3 Piano Lessons DVD Programs for 2010
Learning to play the piano is a very gratifying experience.
While more traditional methods, such as private lessons, have been the norm over the years piano lesson dvds and online piano lessons are quickly becoming the most popular self study method on the market.
Piano-Lessons-DVD.org was created by me, an beginner piano player, to help educate you on the different piano lesson dvd courses available so that you can make an informed purchase decision.
Below are my top 3 learn piano dvd programs. When comparing these products I considered the quality of the instruction both in terms of the instructor, video quality and materials used. The available support if you have questions or get stuck, as well as the price/value comparison.
#1 Learn and Master Piano |
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Learn & Master Piano is at the top of this list for a couple of reasons.
First: Will Barrow, the instructor and author of the course, is a Grammy Award winning pianist. It’s rare, if even possible, that a beginner or intermediate piano player would ever have the chance to learn from a Grammy Award winner. Second: The education experience with this program is un-touched by any other piano lesson dvd on the market. This course is like taking private piano lessons at home, but entirely at your own pace and for a lot less money. If you’re a beginner the topics and styles covered in this course will provide you about 2 years worth of piano instruction for about 1/20th the cost of private piano lessons.
Learning MaterialsLearn and Master Piano Provides 3 Ways to Learn:
The course uses popular songs you’d be familiar with to teach yourself piano. This helps keep you interested and motivated as you learn. There’s an onscreen interactive keyboard that helps you learn faster. The onscreen graphic shows exactly what keys are being played during each demonstration. InstructorWill Barrow, a Grammy Award Winning Pianist and Singer Songwriter, holds a Masters Degree in Music, has played with numerous Jazz, Country and R&B artists and now lives in Nashville TN where he teaches, does piano studio session work. Will has been around the block and back again on the Piano, and he knows how best to teach you beginner, intermediate and expert level skills. Great SupportA huge plus to the Learn and Master Piano program is their online support website where hundreds of other beginner and intermediate Piano players gather each day to ask questions and chat amongst each other. Will even makes himself available to post answers, provide feedback and guidance each day. When it comes to piano lessons on dvd I’ve yet to find a course that provides as much content, learning materials and support as this one. In my opinion Learn and Master piano is the course that other piano lessons dvds try to imitate. The course is currently on sale for $149 or you can purchase it for 3 equal payments of only $49. |
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#2 Piano System |
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A newcomer to the piano lessons realm the Piano System by Nate Bosch (a Canadian piano teacher, performer and song writer) proved to be a great course to learn to play piano by ear.
While the Piano System doesn’t cover as much material as Learn & Master Piano it does do a great job of teaching you to play popular songs you’ve likely heard on the radio. I feel this program is great asset to someone who has tried learning piano before or taught themselves a little bit already and wants to learn to play songs faster. Where the Piano System falls a bit short is in the technical side of teaching beginners to play. Learning MaterialsThe bulk of this course is made up of 3 piano instruction dvd lesson discs: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert/Advanced. Along with those lesson discs there are specific Jam Along DVD videos for practicing, a Jam Along CD with audio tracks for practicing and a spiral bound lesson book. Online Support is available but the community around the product isn’t as large as Learn and Masters yet. This is primarily because the course is newer. Over all since this course is about $50 less then Learn and Master Piano I believe it provides great value. I would suggest this is the best program if you want to learn to play popular songs quickly, but aren’t overly concerned with really mastering the instrument. |
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#3 Rocket Piano |
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Rocket Piano is not only a piano lessons dvd course, it is also offered as a downloaded piano lesson course.
The #1 reason it is in my top 3 is because their website boasts that over 85,000 people have learned to play piano with their system. The course is authored and taught by Ruth Searle. She is a classically trained pianist from Australia who holds a bachelors degree in music, has won an Australian award for composition and is versed in many different styles on the piano. The price point of the downloaded version is a big plus for Rocket Piano. You can get the entire program for only $39.95, and while it may not have the fantastic organization or video instruction of Learn & Master Piano for the price it’s a good value. Learning MaterialsThe heart of Rocket Piano is a series of lesson books for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced lessons. Through out the book you’re referred to one of the 57 video piano lessons or 191 audio files (supplied with both the download and DVD versions). Online SupportThere is an online question and answer area where you can request help if you get stuck or have a question, how ever it isn’t overly populated with videos yet. For the price point Rocket Piano is a good starter course to learn piano on your own. How ever I feel that it isn’t as complete as either of the other 2 courses I’ve recommended above. If you’re serious about learning to play piano I would save the $40 on the downloaded version of Rocket Piano and instead opt for a copy of Learn & Masters Piano instead. |
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