Excerpt: 'Play Piano in a Flash'

March 22 -- In Play Piano in a Flash musician Scott Houston says it does not have to take years to learn how to play the piano like a pro, in a style that is much simpler than traditional classic piano.

Excerpt 1

Here is some good, and equally true, news. If you want to learn how to play non-classical popular style piano, you simply need to learn a basic set of rules and techniques and you can start sounding fairly hip right away (as in hours or days, not years). Will you want to keep learning and playing and otherwise keep getting better for the next 5 to 10 years? YES! But, you'll be having the time of your life on the way there. Why? Because you'll be playing instead of practicing.

Now I'm sure you're saying to yourself, "Sounds great, Scott, but how can it be that easy to teach?" Well, the reason playing non-classical piano is so much easier to teach someone is that it removes the "A-Number-1 Top-of-the-List" reason that most people never learn to play classical piano at any level of proficiency. That, my friends, is notation reading.

You know, getting your hands around a piano is a relatively simple thing to do compared to most other instruments. It's all target practice! Seriously, as long as you get your finger over the right note at the right time, you are good to go. You can't control if the piano is in or out of tune. You don't have to worry about taking a deep enough breath. Pianists don't have to worry about getting their mouths in some correctly contorted position (known as an embouchure) like horn players. Think about poor brass players who's lips get all swollen and puffy and hurt like crazy when they play high notes. Or how about oboe players who must be (at least I know I would be) concerned about their brains squeezing out their ears when they play. Or how about any of you who have had sons or daughters start out on a reed instrument like a clarinet or saxophone. I mean, a better goose call has yet to be invented than the first week of a reed players musical life.