any suggestion to start learning piano?

[gfunk 121]

i want to learn some more piano everybody tells me that a bass player should learn a little bit of piano to understand better theory and its great for ear training as well.so i was wondering if you guys could give some suggestion on books to learn from i went gc last night but i found nothing that would suit my needs any help would be appreciated..i know its not really a theory question but i didnt really get any responses at the general instruction forum.thnaks

[oliebrice]

Mark Levine's book 'The Jazz Piano Book' is good, mainly a theory book from a piano perspective, rather than technical pianist excersises.

[fcleff]

Bartok's 'Mikrokosmos Vols. 1-6' are good. They are not really jazz oriented but they work your ears, hands, eyes, and brain. They start easy but get hard pretty quick. If you have never played piano before then don't expect to get past Vol. 3 anytime soon.

[Andy Allen]

There's an 'introduction to piano' chapter in Rufus Reid's "Evolving Bassist." That's a must-have book anyway, and that chapter will help you get off the ground. Chris Fitgerald, our highly esteemed moderator, has some introductory exercises on his website - you could PM him for more details.

A good book, if you don't expect to be a piano player but want to use the piano to improve your bass playing, is "Jazz Piano Voicings for the Non-Pianist" by Mike Tracy. I bought this from the Aebersold web site.

I've been dipping into the piano this year since buying one for my small children last Christmas. I don't get a lot of time with it, and mostly what I've learned is that I'll never be a piano player .

Andy

[hdiddy]

Check out Phil DeGreg's Jazz Keyboard Harmony. My bass teach had me working out of this book and it's pretty good and cuts to the chase for what you need to know. I played piano for a long time prior to playing jazz and it works pretty well, but I think it's also good for beginner pianists who know some music already.