Play Piano in a Flash!: Play Your Favorite Songs Like a Pro -- Whether You've Had Lessons or Not!

by Scott Houston

As seen on public television stations nationwide, a revolutionary new approach to playing non-classical music on the piano. Have you ever wished you could play the piano? Well, now you can! Scott "The Piano Guy" Houston teaches you to play the way the pros play, in a style enormously simpler than traditional classical piano and with an absolute minimum of note-reading. By focusing on playing the melody with the right hand (one note at a time) and simple chords with the left hand, Houston gives you the tools you need for a lifetime of musical enjoyment. Best of all, your tour guide to this adventure forces you to have fun along the way!

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Anna Dalvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few great points in this book:

1. Play, don't practice (practice will inevitably sneak in there while you play anyway, but it's much more fun to play music rather than practice, and the mindset makes a big difference)

2. It's the prerogative of the person playing to interpret/change/embellish the piece as they see fit

3. Play music you enjoy

And finally, the person you have to please while playing music is yourself. It's totally fine to be "selfish" and play only music you yourself enjoy, if that's what you want to do.

I did also like the comment about piano playing being like target practice. I often say, tongue in cheek, "it's really easy - you just have to press the right key at the right time, and then it just works" (unlike some other instruments).

All that said, this book is a great oversimplification. No doubt it works to play music using chords and a melody-line, plus whatever embellishments you'd like. But it takes practice (or lots of playing time, if you want to put it that way) to get there. In my mind, it's an enjoyable process, for sure, and I'll never stop playing the piano - but I think it would be hard to learn even the basics from this book alone, so I think he's overselling the book a bit.

[Ann Perry]

I read this in a flash and learned so many new things! Who knew there are three basic chords and a scale including only 6 notes that make up almost all of blues playing! Scott gives hope to people who just want to learn to play by ear and do it quickly. I introduced my non-piano-playing brother to this concept and he bought Scott's book immediately and gave me a hug after I showed him how to play. Scott's simple approach is to pick your favorite song then learn its chords and master that one song. It's a game changer for new pianists and for those of us who were classically trained. I have since bought his fake book #2.

[Eric Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is only one secret: dumbing down traditional sheet music to lead sheet. The rest are mostly some pep talk and random tricks as fillers. As a lazy newbie, this turns out to be precisely what I needed. As my rule stands, life-changing books automatically get five stars.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up based on the author's Youtube channel and public television program - both of which are outstanding for someone trying to add some non-classical music to their repertoire. The book, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.
It says "whether you've had lessons or not," but he really means "only if you haven't had lessons."
I can see this being good for someone who wants to pick up a song or two on piano and not spend a couple years on weekly lessons, but it's pretty useless if you have more than about a year of lessons under your belt. You might pick up one or two tricks from this book, but you will be much better served by picking up a "how to play from a fake book" text.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational book about learning piano by playing the melody line with the right hand and chords with the left rather than practicing scales and memorizing chords. In this way, the learner begins to play his/her favorite tunes right away. This is the way my piano teacher is teaching me, and he has helped me keep up my enthusiasm for learning by choosing music I like, rather than working my way through an instructional method book. The book reiterated many techniques my teacher is showing me. It helps me to have this book to refer to for spicing up my playing.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually looking for popular beginner sheet music, which this book has extremely little of. (I've seen Row Row Row your Boat and Jingle Bells). However on skimming through it looks like a useful introduction to chord symbols, which I think every pianist should learn. The writing style is chatty, and it has handy diagrams of the notes in each chord as an Appendix.

I'm not sure whether a beginner could actually learn to play chords solely through using this book, but a classical pianist certainly could.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one in November 2009. Last week I found a copy in a thrift store and bought it again for my granddaughter. I learned to play the piano in a two-night non-Scott-Houston-related workshop about 20 years ago, have enjoyed seeing this author's promos on TV, and thought the book might be worth another look-through. I wish the man who taught the workshop I went to would produce a book - he was simpler.

[Tatyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found that Scott Houston made it really easy to pick up the basics of music theory! I thought it was going to be a long painful and grueling process to learn these things but it was really simple. I also love that Scott Houston made the book humorous and entertaining so it keeps your attention. I say if you're tired of the same old, same old you need to pick up this book :) and at the end he has a chord chart! Win! Win!

[Troy Soos · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is brief, barely a hundred pages, but it could have been distilled into just five words: "Play from a lead sheet." The rest of it is pretty much a pep talk on how easy and fun it will be to play piano by using this approach.

[Rhonda Breiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this approach to playing piano. I checked it out from the library to see if it was worth trying. Since I'm now going to buy it, I think it will improve my piano playing.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I figured this would be a quick and easy read and it was, a lot of cajoling for ppl who might be on the fence about learning and then incredibly simple stuff to memorize going into playing piano. I did learn some stuff, but it’s a little embarrassing because I probably should’ve already known it. But it was mostly a humorous guide to some basic stuff. Can be read in less than an hour. This guy seems cool too!

[Laura Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read, awesome intro into piano for beginners! I was able to pick out some times immediately after reading this book! Highly recommend.

[Rkrynak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very, very helpful and Houston's enthusiastic approach to playing piano was refreshing.

[LadyS · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of this book in my opinion, is an oversell. Admittedly the author is jovial in his approach. However, I don't think the approach is as effective as the title implies. It will be probably more helpful to skip this book and go directly to the authors visual lessons.

[Nellie K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book on PBS TV station about 15 years ago or even more, and I only bought it in 2021. Love it, I've been playing piano since 6 or 7 or something, and taking lessons on and off, and I wanted to go back to basics, I consider myself an intermediate level piano player for now, I can play a lot of contemporary pop and jazz tunes, simplified and some classical pieces. I'll take one or more free webinars of his. Great book in my piano book in my opinion, and I also bought piano/music theory books from other authors, so I understand and appreciate music and note reading better, and it's like a refresher course. Thanks.

[Gina Weibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this little book. Neatly written with explanations that even my kids can understand about how to create each type of chord and apply them to music. I feel that when they're playing with chording method piano instead of just read-and-play, they create more music. Improvising and being artistic are good!

I'd love to take one of Scott's workshops, and I hope to get my kids to play using the chording method as well as classical methods!

[Elke · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot of mumble jumble in between his key points. The reason why the book gets five stars from me is because of page 34- where he lays out the basic ideas behind chords. If you are like me and never could remember what a C minor seventh chord is, Scott Houston's little steps will be be so helpful!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and easy read, and very helpful for the low-expectation piano playing I aspire to.

[Idalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instructional, motivating, and full of answers to your questions. However, it was too brief.