FastTrack Keyboard Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback] Review

This book is great.Just remember to shift your hands as indicated by the finger numbers and be sure to master those notes as they teach you before moving on too fast.But you'll be surprised how fast you learn.But everything in this book is on playing notes and scales on Treble Clef.There is no bass clef in this book or the second (Keyboard Chords & Scales)... I just bought it 3 weeks ago and am loving it.The book does teach you music notes.It just gets confusing when it renumbers the notes (not explaining that your hand is moving over a key for a while and then back again.They make it sound like you just reach your finger while keeping your hand in place.This is not true after the first page of learning A and B notes in Middle C.)But I am wonderfully surprised at how fast you pick up and start playing.I never read music before and now I am.That in itself is amazing.

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Product Description:
A supplement to the FastTrack instruction books, this great songbook/CD pack features 8 great songs in rock score format: Brown Eyed Girl * Great Balls of Fire * I Want to Hold Your Hand * Oh, Pretty Woman * Wild Thing * Wonderful Tonight * You Really Got Me * Your Song.

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Keyboard Chords & Scales Book (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback] Review

Before I got this, I debated whether I really needed a chord and scales reference guide. I decided to get it because the table of contents made it appear like it had lots of practice lessons. Once I received it, I was disappointed because it does not. The lessons are only four pages of short comping practice pieces at the end of the book. Over time, however, this book has grown on me as I occasionally need to look up how a chord or scale is played. Now I consider a chord and scales guide to be an indispensable reference, much like a dictionary for piano players.

I strongly recommend that music students get a chord and scales reference book. One alternative is Instant Scale and Chord Guide for Keyboards. Amazon doesn't show the table of contents, but it appears from user reviews of that book that this one organizes chords better. That book apparently organizes chords by key (e.g. all the C chords on the same page), while this one organizes them by chord type (e.g. all the Major chords on the same page). I prefer them being organized by chord type.

One criticism is that I found the right hand fingering of the F Major scale to be extremely difficult to play. The book lists the fingering as 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5. I found it much easier to play it as 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. I thought I was intentionally doing it wrong, but I eventually looked it up online. Most web sites I found recommended the fingering I was using.

Again, this book is primarily a reference book. For those who want a practice book for chords, scales, arpeggios, and cadences, Keyboard Technique and The Complete Book ofScales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences appear to be good books, but I'm not yet familiar with either one. The former appears to be oriented toward popular music and the latter oriented toward classical.

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Product Description:
The fast way to find just the chord or scale you need. This user-friendly reference book is jam-packed with over 1,400 chords and voicings and includes a "jam session" with 20 original songs using common chord progressions.

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