Are you just starting out on the piano? Did you last sight-read when dinosaurs still walked the earth? Or are you an excellent pianist already and just want to polish your Latin Music skills? How about perfecting the latest Jazz grooves? Whatever “becoming a better piano player” means to you – we’ve got you covered: with the best piano method books available for free within every OKTAV subscription.
Life is not all song and fun, we know that. Sometimes you just have to practice, and practice hard, to get where you want to be. To help you with that, we have opened up a whole new learning environment, chock-full of tried and tested method books aimed at making you a better musician. Here are our best picks for a whole range of needs – but do check them all out, they are awesome and will turn any piaNotyet into a piaYes!
If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.
Beyonce
A Brand New Piano Learning Section for Subscribers on OKTAV
Access our brand-new OKTAV learning section immediately after signing up via the link at the top of the page. We will then guide you to a customized selection of method books for your skill level, and you’re free to browse them, read them, and try them out – all of them, free of charge.
Add the ones that appeal to you to your “Want to Learn” list. Once you have found a book you want to study more thoroughly, click on the chapter of the table of content that you want to open, then work on it. If sound files are included, you will have access to them. You can add your own annotations, and they will stay, just like in a real book. Work your way through the book, chapter by chapter, and feel your skills develop!
Playing the piano is all about confidence. Every musician will ultimately play for an audience, even if it’s imaginary, even if it’s just the neighbors, or your mom, or your little brother. We want you to feel really confident – not only when you are performing, but also confident that you can continually improve your playing. For that, work through our method books systematically. Try these books – to be found in our learning section – to boost your confidence in your abilities as a piano player!
1. You Are an Adult Piano Beginner
It’s never too late to start learning your favorite instrument, and adult first-time learners actually have quite a few advantages compared to child learners – they are more consistent, better organized, and more often than not have some experience playing another instrument. So yes, you, too can play the piano! You can even teach yourself how to. Sit down with OKTAV, and choose a book like “It’s Never Too Late to Play Piano” or “Piano Basics 1” by Pam Wedgwood.
2. You Need to Re-Learn Sight-Reading
Years ago, you were quite fluent when it came to reading sheet music, but nowadays you feel your rusty sight-reading is holding you back from making progress? No worries, this is easily cured. Just work your way through Paul Harris’ wonderful series “Improve Your Sight-Reading” – and remember, reading sheet music is just a matter of training, so a little daily practice goes a long, long way.
3. You’ve Got the Blues
OKTAV was lucky to enter into a partnership with one of the most renowned Jazz and Blues authors/ piano teachers from California – Andrew D. Gordon. His books will teach you everything you need to know about “The Blues Scale”, “100 Ultimate Blues Riffs for Keyboard/Piano” and much more, including Soul, Funk, and Rhythm& Blues! His books come complete with sound files so you know what you’re aiming to sound like!
4. You’re A Latin Lover
Is it the Salsa that sizzles through your veins? Or one of the other rhythmically intricate Latin American music styles? Then we would like to tempt you to groove your way to “The Latin Solo Series” by Andrew D. Gordon (if you write to him he’ll give you access to the sound samples – see above!) or try “Salsa & Afro Cuban Montunos” by former Berklee College music teacher Carlos Campos.
5. All that Jazz
This section is again ruled by the prolific world-renowned Andrew D. Gordon. Try his books “100 Ultimate Jazz Riffs for Piano/Keyboards” or “Ultra Smooth Jazz Grooves for Piano/Keyboards” – drop him a line here and he’ll make sure you’ll get the audio samples to all the exercises!
6. Child Play
You’re a kid? Get a teacher! And then, together, work your way through Pam Wedgwood’s “Piano Basics” and/or Paul Harris’ “Improve Your Sight-Reading – Piano Initial Grade”. Do this for starters, then check out our song section, for fun.
A Growing Piano Community
At OKTAV, we believe in giving you everything you could want when you sit down in front of a piano – we believe in great sheet music, a fantastic experience that lets you discover the musician in you, and lots of options to steer and organize your playing. And we believe in having fun. You, on the other hand, don’t have to believe us anything – see for yourself!
