Enlighten Me: Learning Piano, Selecting a "Method"

I think I'd heard the phrase before, but despite having a little musical background, I'd never really gotten the meaning of the term "piano method". Now it seems to me that a bit like my grade school "Suzuki method" recorder education, there are a number of different... Uh... Philosophies/curriculums/progressions/books for learning piano.

Heck, a nearby music store has a bullet list of the methods for which they stock books!

• Alfred (Premier & Basic Piano Library)
• Bastien
• Hal Leonard (Faber & Faber/Piano Adventures)
• Royal Conservatory
• Snell
• Thompson

My wife and I have a keyboard to start practicing with and are on a collision course with a Real Piano. For the same mayhemtastic reasons that we are not in the same time and place as the real piano right now, we are also not ready to dive into working with an instructor (though we plan to do so).

So how do we choose a method, especially knowing that we will have an instructor later, but don't know which method they'll use, if any?

And... Does it even matter? Or shall we just grab something and start plinking and assume that any progress is better than no progress?

My kid plays, and plays well.  He's had a number of different teachers in the six or seven years he's been playing.  I think a good teacher is going to be the thing.

That said, if you are serious about learning and can give yourself the time to practice every day, you can teach yourself.  This guy's book was fun and inspiring and it avoids the drudgery that marks beginning piano lessons.

https://www.amazon.com/Play-Piano-Flash-Scott-Houston/dp/B002DZG85G

Edit:  Oops!  Wrong link.  Get the paperback.  Unless you really like DVD's.  I got my copy from the local library.

Both my kids started on piano in first grade.  We went with a basic old fashioned teacher, daily screaming about practicing, standard books, and memorization for note reading.  My daughter used flash cards to learn her notes.  

This week during her second year of high school marching band and her playing some fancy xylophone thing (pit) the director asked her if she played the piano because he saw some fancy musical type talent thingie in her.  

Go basic and practice.  

^what he said^ 

Practice, practice, practice. Piano is just the same as any other instrument. Even the best teacher won't be able to help you if you don't practice. With youtube at your disposal and a couple beginners books from any local music store you can make great headway. 

I took piano lessons 3 different times (age 6, 10 and 15) and still cant really play. Guess why. 

I had a friend show me the most basic of basics on guitar and "this really cool website that has all the guitar music for the best songs" and 20 years and thousands of hours of practice later, I'd say I can play fairly well, without ever taking a lesson.

The only other input I have is to stay humble. Neil Peart, considered to be one of the best drummers ever, decided to take lessons from someone he looked up to years after he was already world famous and idolized himself. Takes humility to know that no matter how good you get, you still have more to learn. Find a teacher you like and learn everything you can and when they no longer have anything to teach you, go find someone who does.

Do you want to play classical music or modern. Do you want to learn theory or just play. 

If you just want to play and you don;t care about theory then learning "fake book" is the quickest way forward. I can get you playing in two or three hours most modern popular songs that way. There are only like 10 chords used in most modern popular music. 

Thanks, everyone! Maybe I should've given more context to avoid the "ask a specific question without background, get answers as to why you're asking the wrong question" issue :-)

I'm an okay-for-punk-rock guitarist who took a year of music theory and some  keyboard 25 years ago, and had three guitar instructors at periods over time, though not for a years at this point. My wife doesn't play an instrument, but her dad was a professional guitarist for a long time, so she got an introduction to the sort of practice necessary to get good.

Thanks to rust and a lack of follow-up after school, my ability to read music is basically useless. She hasn't really started on learning it. We both want to get functional at reading music, and I'd like to refresh and expand the music theory I started.

My primary interest is probably classical, though I'm sure we'll both wander around considerably. I listen to a lot of random stuff, and that influences what you want to play, you know?

We're both aware that a teacher is better than a book, and that nothing happens without practice.

Now... about that original question of method selection. Does it matter? Is anyone familiar with it? I don't expect to pick the "wrong" one and wind up hopelessly at odds with a teacher when we get there, but if it makes any difference at all, this would be the time to educate our guess.

Our current plan, to be bullet-point specific, is:

1. Acquire a lesson book or two
2. Practice
3. Move to new house and finish doing full-Kermit-arms
4. Engage instructor
5. Practice

We're pretty much at step 1 right now, though I'm slowly working my way through Für Elise just because I like it.

I don't think you can choose the "wrong" method.  The fact that all of them are found side by side in music stores around the world gives them a certain credibility.  Sure, there are instructors who will prefer one over the other, and so with students, but it boils down to personal preference.  Good luck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae2J4XAkxXQ

Note:  Media embed did not work for me.

I’ve grown to appreciate the talent the kids in marching band and orchestra have.