Piano Book for Adult Beginners

A more modern, streamlined approach to piano learning that pairs a compact book with 42 streaming video lessons. Damon Ferrante, a Julliard-trained piano professor, designed this course for adults who want to start playing recognizable songs quickly without wading through hundreds of pages of exercises first. Recommended by Rolling Stone as one of the best piano books for beginners.

Why Consider This One

Where the Alfred and Faber methods are thorough, structured courses that build systematically over months, Ferrante’s book takes a faster path to playing real music. The 122-page book is roughly half the length of its competitors, and the video lessons carry much of the instructional weight. If you learn better by watching and imitating rather than reading notation on a page, this approach may click more naturally.

The book covers music theory, technique, and sight reading alongside its song-based curriculum. It is not a shortcuts-only approach. But it does prioritize getting you to play famous piano pieces early, which can be the difference between sticking with piano and letting the keyboard collect dust after a few weeks.

What to Expect

A concise 122-page book with 42 companion video lessons and 75 MP3 audio tracks. The learning curve is gentle, and the multimedia support means you are never left guessing how something should sound. Best suited for self-taught learners who want a modern, video-first approach to complement their reading.