Find the best selection of piano method books, songbooks, theory books, recital books, piano sheet music, and more, to learn the piano and improve your skills. You need not worry in case you do not have access to a piano tutor near you. Here we have listed several bestselling piano books, for various categories of students and skill levels. You will need some of these books to get started, and some to excel at the piano.
Why Learn from Piano Books?
There are several methods available to learn to play the piano and to improve one’s skills. Using piano books is one of them.
- We all have been trained to read books and learn from books, so using piano books lets us leverage that advantage.
- It’s easy to carry around and you can easily go to some specific page in the book that interests you. If you don’t have access to a full-time teacher, you can continue learning from books.
- Most piano lesson books are nowadays accompanied by CDs (or they have audio files on their website) so that you can listen to the exercises and songs and understand how it sounds, which makes them even more useful.
- Despite the availability of several piano learning software, piano instruction books have their own charm. There are lots of books available on various topics and they able to get the point across, which is what most piano students are really after.
Here we have listed the books as per various categories – kids, adults, intermediate players, specific techniques, genres, etc. – to make it easier for you to pick the right ones, as per your needs.
So, you can get started with books for complete beginners (to learn the piano), and then move on to higher-grade books. you will also find excellent piano books on specific topics (playing in a specific style, runs/ riffs, chord substitutions, composing, and more) that will appeal to intermediate/advanced players
While books are great for learning, you should use age and skill-appropriate books. You do not want a book that introduces complex concepts even before the learner is confident with the simpler concepts. This results in frustration because things appear much more difficult. Some piano books may try to rush into the matter a lot quicker, even before the basic concepts are cleared. So, select books from the right categories else you may be disappointed with the contents later.
As a beginner, you can begin with method books, which should keep you busy for a few months. As you get past the basics stage, you will need more books to help you in specific areas.
We have listed several bestsellers, that you will actually use (and keep on referring for a long time). Many students and teachers use them, so you can trust these books.
Piano Books for Little Beginners (Children)
Piano Books for kids are more colorful, in terms of looks, feel and illustrations, and include popular nursery rhymes. Here are the best children’s piano books.
Teaching Little Fingers to Play: A Book for the Earliest Beginner – This is a wonderful first piano book for kids. The book is full of colorful illustrations making it easy for small kids to understand. Even parents with limited knowledge of music can teach the basics of piano playing to their kids using this book.
The songs are arranged in the perfect order of difficulty and each song teaches something new to the student. This book includes some really easy tunes that beginners can play and get more confidence about playing the piano.
Music for Little Mozarts
From Alfred publishing, this book is designed for preschool age students and there are several books in this series that will help kids advance to the next level on the piano.
Piano Books for Adult Beginners
Piano books for adult beginners usually have more coverage of topics (compared to those meant for kids) and have popular songs (also opposed to only nursery and folk songs), and are written in a style that appeals more to adults. They will start right from the basics, introduce to simple chords, and will teach you to play simple songs.
Piano for Dummies by Blake Neely – Gives you a good overview on Piano/Keyboards. It is suited more for adults than for kids. Written in a humorous way but does not contain lots of exercise/songs!
Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course by Willard A. Palmer – This is a great “beginner piano book” irrespective of whether you are an adult or not! You can also look at the other Piano books in the ‘Alfred’ series of books.
Piano Method Books
Method books cover a bit of everything, starting from the basics, and are suitable for beginners.
These are all-in-one books that cover everything – basics, theory, technique, songs, and more. A piano method book takes you through various concepts step-by-step, and also provides you with music/songs for variety. These books include chapters on reading notes, playing basic melodies, and then moves to more intricate pieces.
Popular piano Method books include those from Alfred’s, Bastien, John W. Schaum, John Thompson, Piano Adventures, Suzuki Piano School.
Alfred Piano Books: Alfred Music Publishing is the world’s largest educational music publisher and a leading name in the world of piano education. Alfred’s range of Piano Books include method books, music theory books, piano library, teachers resources, adult piano courses, and more. Read more on Alfreds piano methods.
Books for Intermediate to Advanced Players
These books assume you to have at least beginner-level music reading ability, and you will of course need a piano to practice.
How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons by Ward Cannel & Fred Marx – A truly entertaining approach to learning how to play the piano, it breaks down music theory into visual concepts which are fun and easy to grasp.
The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering Piano by Carl Humphries – Another great book for advanced players! It contains information on all aspects of piano – history, brands, theory, styles, etc. It also gives you hundreds of songs to play.
Dan Coates Complete / Advanced Piano Solos by Dan Coates – Most satisfying Piano music book for advanced players. The songs are challenging and contain some beautiful arrangements.
Advanced Piano Solos Christmas Encyclopedia – Very good collection of solo piano Christmas music! This book is more for intermediate level players (difficulty wise) than for very advanced players.
Re-Introduction Etudes book by Chilly Gonzales: Chilly Gonzales is a Canadian pianist who feels very strongly about rekindling the passion for playing piano in the lives of lapsed amateur pianists. Re-Introduction Etudes tries to unravel some of the mysteries or laborious practices surrounding the keyboard instrument. The book consists of 24 piano pieces specifically designed to “unlock musical mysteries for those who gave it up”. This book also includes a companion CD of Chilly Gonzales’s own recordings, each song highlights the masterful techniques for composing and playing, as well as demystifying the way melodies and harmonies work. Also includes useful piano-playing secrets. So this is your opportunity to take a private lesson from the eccentric pianist. Books by Chilly Gonzales
Style based Books
Once you have gained some mastery over the Piano, you would also want to have a look at style based books to improve your playing further. These are some of the books which you could go through. Of course, at this stage it should be comparatively easy for you to decide if a particular book suits you or not.
- The Pop Piano Book – by Mark Harrison
- The Jazz Piano Book – by Mark Levine
- The Library of Piano Classics
Books to Increase Repertoire of Songs
These piano music books are great to build a repertoire of songs. You can choose piano music books for particular genre, music composer, or from 70s, 80s and so on.
You can use piano music books to learn new songs, to learn songs of particular composers, genres, time-periods, and so on. Most of these songbooks and sheet music are arranged for the piano and voice with guitar chord frames.
Find artist folios, fake books, composer collections, Broadway vocal selections, EKM (Easy Electronic Keyboard Music), organ publications, and more.
Choose from a huge catalogue of music books for piano.
- Big book of Beginners piano classics
- The library of piano classics
- The Disney collection (Easy piano series)
- A first book of Christmas songs for the beginning pianist.
Christmas songs for piano on Sheetmusicplus
Sheet Music / Sheet Music Books for the Piano
You may not find all your favorite songs and pieces in one single book. In that case, you can buy sheet music for those particular pieces.
There is a wide collection of sheet music available.
You will find sheet music for popular classical pieces, or theme music from movies. You will also find sheet music based on some theme or genre or for some composer.
These are great for practicing and for reading music.
Interstellar Digital Sheet Music
More Books
Naked on the Bench: My Adventures in Pianoland
This is a great read for those in the entertainment business, or even if you just like a great read! Robin Spielberg plays the piano, writes music, and acts, and now she writes great books too!
Waltz of the Asparagus People: The Further Adventures of Piano Girl
Life is full of funny moments, but it also has its wrenching times, and the author shares some of those. Her reflections are humorous and human and her words paint unforgettable images and stories. A new laugh out loud book by the Piano Girl! If you read her first book, you already know you need this one. If you haven’t, you should read them both. Caution, known to cause uncontrollable laughter!
Piano Lessons: A Memoir
Its not a ‘learn to play piano’ book! The author, Goldsworthy provides a well-balanced perspective on music and music competitions. Its well written and compelling to read for anyone interested in music and particularly if you ever aspired to be a concert pianist. The book looks at her experiences as she went from beginner to concert pianist. Although many things came relatively easy to her (she breezed through academics), she quickly learned there is a lot more to playing piano at the top levels than merely being able to play the notes.
Final Thoughts
Music is a popular topic and there’s a huge assortment of books that is dedicated to music education, including several on learning to play the piano. Some of these books are excellent and will help you develop your skills further. In fact, there are several beginner books that come with an accompanying CD/DVD (audio files) that gives an idea of how the various exercises and songs are ideally supposed to sound, which makes it much easier to learn. Such courses put it all together, so in addition to reading a book, you can also hear the instructions and hear/see those demonstrations on speakers/computer screens.
Doesn’t matter if you’re already taking lessons in a music school or self-studying using some piano software, these piano books are great resources to further sharpen your skills and to hone your talent. So do check them out.
More Useful Links
Buying a Piano: You can go through this comprehensive guide on keyboard instruments in case you are planning to buy a new piano or planning to upgrade to a better keyboard instrument. You will find a range of keyboards and pianos for various budgets.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
These are all very good books but I do prefer the mango piano method for beginners aged 6-16. You should give it a try