Reddit reviews Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - Book 1: Schirmer Library of Classics Volume 1071 Piano Technique (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)

First what you want to do is probably get a decent book of beginner songs and just work your way through them.

The piano literature series is popular, but I personally have not used them. I know volume 2 has a bunch of popular songs like Sonatina that everyone plays.

Burgmuller is also very popular among intermediate beginners.

You probably also want to get Hanon because everyone uses it for warm ups no matter what level, and it has all the scales.

And you might want Czerny, which are really short decent sounding pieces that people use for warmups.

These few books will get you started. Just start working through the books. Work on something from all three or four books.

Just a note. You'll probably be very enthusiastic in the beginning and get really bored before you reach your third month. You need to persist if you want to get good. I personally did not enjoy playing piano until I got pretty good and was able to play the more virtuoso piano pieces.

If you're going to print it you might as well just buy a published version, the pages will be larger and better quality and easier to read, it's on Amazon for $3.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Pianist-Sixty-Exercises-Piano/dp/tags-on-product/0793551218

You're right on the first point. On the second point, I would say to you that using good fingerings may be deceptively difficult, and it doesn't necessarily correspond with the difficulty of your piece. Something as simple as a closed position (within an octave) C major chord in 2nd inversion in the left hand can throw you off. Typically, you'd want to use 5 on the G, 2 on the C, and 1 on the E, but a lot of students try to use 5 on the G, 3 on the C, and 1 on the E. 5 - 2 - 1 is the better choice. I'm just talking about this chord as if it's an isolated thing, where you're coming from and where you're going will effect your fingering, so you might not be using 5 - 2 - 1. It depends.

You might think that you're using the best fingering because it feels most comfortable, but sometimes what's most comfortable isn't necessarily the best fingering, especially for beginners.

It might be a good idea to practice your major and minor scales and arpeggios with the correct fingering. Check out Hanon to learn all of your major and minor scales and arpeggios. If I remember correctly, they only have the harmonic minor scales, not melodic or natural. That wouldn't effect the fingering though.

Buy a Hanon book.

If you've been playing a good bit, get the original.

If you're really just getting started, consider getting the junior book. Most of the exercises serve the same purpose, the notation is just a bit easier to read.

Each exercise is a little different, and focuses on different skills and techniques that will help you boost finger strength and dexterity.

Hey man, glad you have picked up piano! I'm by far not the best pianist out there, but I can give you some advice on this.

When I was younger (elementary to middle school) I would practice each piano piece I knew 10 times a day and then continue to learn the piece I was on. I can tell you that while I did learn quickly, just as quickly I began to not like piano. Then on the opposing side, near the end of middle school throughout high school I would only play when I went to my piano teacher. As you can probably tell, my progress slowed down incredibly and I believe I only learned about 4 pieces over that time. Now I am finally back into piano after a 4 year hiatus and while I am practicing every day I still only put in about half an hour and on rare occasions will put in an hour.

My point in saying this is that you should prioritize playing and practicing so that you still enjoy it versus trying to hit some kind of benchmark because you feel you have to.

If you really feel like you want to be playing more than you are my tip is pretty simple and is one I employ all the time. Just have more than one practice session per day. I often will spend 10-15 minutes on the piano at a time but will go back multiple times a day whenever I feel an urge. It will all add up to an hour in the end and you won't feel like you are forcing yourself to continue playing when you don't want to.

As for scales, like I said i'm not the best player in the world, I only really know C major and A minor (the gimme ones because they have no flats or sharps). It is definitely important to know if you want to go into composing or are going to school for it, but for a casual player it isn't the end all be all if you don't know them. Knowing your scales is definitely important when you are sight reading hard pieces as you can pretty much just make an assumption as to how the continue the piece without having to dictate all of your energy to reading every note. That being said, it is still possible to sight read (albeit more slowly) pieces without knowing all the theory.

Finally, if you want to add something to your practice without having to learn new pieces or just work on the piece you are on you could definitely try out Henle's virtuoso pianist.

https://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Pianist-Exercises-Technique-Schirmers/dp/0793551218/ref=asc_df_0793551218/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312030486371&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3857077932830151143&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019572&hvtargid=pla-473618322154&psc=1

This will also help you with scale memorization and technique.