Play Piano in a Flash! Full Video Set DVD

Description

For about the cost of 2 piano lessons, this video (both VHS and DVD formats are available) will provide readers with years of musical enjoyment. If truth be known, there is another way to learn how to play piano rather than going to weekly lessons and spending thousands of dollars in the process.

The secret is learning to play the way the pros play. Learning to play in that style is enormously simpler than traditional classical piano lessons. Even better, it takes an absolute minimum amount of note reading ability.

Best of all, your tour guide for this adventure, Scott "The Piano Guy" Houston, forces you to have fun along the way!

Is this DVD going to prepare the viewer for a career as a concert pianist? Absolutely not! However, if you simply want to play some piano for the simple goal of enjoying yourself, then get ready to knock a lifelong dream from your "to-do" list. Have fun!

This is the same presentation as seen by millions of viewers on public television stations for their fund raising pledge drives. In addition there is another 80 minutes of bonus material never seen on TV!

There is also a "Play Piano in a Flash!" book and a "Play Piano in a Flash!" book examples audio CD available from Amazon to help round out your instructional collection.

Customer Reviews:

Play Piano in a Flash.......2007-06-06

I purchased this item over two years ago and I have watched it several times. The DVD works great. I gave it a four star only because it really did help me get started. I was an absolute ground zero piano beginner at the time....and I was 55 years old.... I would have probably given up on learning had I not watched this DVD.....I give it a one star, or no star, if you think this DVD is going to teach you how to play a piano.....learning to play takes dedication and lots of practice......over two years ago I purchased several DVDs on learning to play the piano.....and they are all junk...what a total waste of my good money.....however, Scott's is probably the best of the DVD bunch.....but you're not going to learn anything in a flash......for me the DVD was more of a motivation thing because after watching it several times, I took the next step and got myself a very good certified piano teacher.....who was willing to teach me to be only a Piano Player using only a fake book. The one thing that this DVD did teach me is that there are really two kinds of people who play the piano.....there are the real Pianist, not me, who spend years and years learning the right way and who can read sheet music like a book and who can play classical music........and then there is the second group.....Piano Players, me......who just sit down at the keyboard and have fun playing the piano...we like to throw in cheap tricks and junk to really spice up the song, etc......real Pianist laugh and throw-up at us Piano Players.....which is what Scott Houston is trying to teach here....I have learned 50 songs in two years by practicing one hour every day.....Us Piano Players don't do much of anything right but at least it usually sounds good enough for my grandkids and we have a lot of fun......I have all the respect in the world for the real Pianist......but I also believe that some of them need to get a real life, loosen up some, and start really enjoying what they already know how to do so well......just play the darn piano and have fun....I recommend this DVD only as a motivation thing to help keep you trying to learn to be a Piano Player.....not a Pianist

Waste of time and money.......2007-03-14

There are many issues with the content. Scott would like you to believe that playing the piano is much easier than it really is. The message is play what you like and you will have fun. And so he goes on to playing Amazing Grace. How many people will have a blast playing one note to the beat Amazing Grace, with no harmonics whatsoever?
He would also like the audience to believe that music theory is plain useless, that classically trained player have been learning all of these scales for no reason. Well some theory certainly is useless. But you need a bare minimum. You need at least enough to be able to construct chords.
There is a part that keeps you somewhat entertained. It's what he calls cheap tricks. That's a good way to have fun for a little while. He will show you how to play a simple C Major arpeggio. That's fair. Unfortunately, he falls short of showing you how to use it in a tune. It shows you it can be used, but he doesn't show how...
Perhaps most disappointing, he will show you how if you listen to him, you can play a tune just like him. He picks Misty, a nice Erroll Garner's ballad. Beautiful tune. And slow, so you might be fooled into thinking what he does is easy, and you have the appropriate skills already. He even uses his cheap tricks. How nice. Unfortunately, he only taught you 2 chords, C major and F major. You have no clue what he's really doing there. Not only that but he re-harmonizes quite a lot, alters chord beautifully. He can play, no doubt about it. But I guarantee there's a lot more theory to what he plays than what he'd like the audience to believe.

I seriously doubt anyone will be able to start playing piano after sitting and listening to Scott's lessons. I don't even think you'll be entertained watching the video. It's that bad. He just talks too much.
If you are serious about playing the piano, get yourself a good teacher, one that will understand how to teach adults. The cheaper option is to pick up something like "how to play from a fake book" and start discovering music.

WAY TOO MUCH TALK .......2007-02-24

I SAW THIS ON PBS AND THIS GUY TALKS ON AND ON AND ON AGAIN,VERY LITTLE INSTRUCTION. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY SOMETHING DON'T GET THIS ONE .p.s. some video's like this one have a type of anti piracy encoding that blocks it playing on PC's and I guess buy the G5 users comment same goes for MAC because most piraters rip dvds with their computer, but for a learning dvd this is unacceptable this guy spent more time on the video graphics than on educating.His approach is like a salesman's he is trying to make you believe how great he is rather than just being great.

Don't Buy Houston's DVD's.......2007-01-24

I wanted to learn the basics of playing an electronic keyboard I recently acquired. I frequently watch Houston's TV show on satellite and subsequently purchased all three of his DVD's, (1) Play Piano in a Flash; (2) Tips and Tricks Volume I; (3) Tips and Trick Volume II. With the exception of his repeated focus on the chords of C, F, and G, there is very little to learn from these DVD's. I wasted $90 to watch something I learned on line for free. Don't waste your time and money buying these videos, they are horrible. Much of the video content is nothing more than video clips from various shows with featured guests. In my opinion, Houston should be ashamed of himself for selling these under the guise of a learning process.

I did not heed that other reviews and was sorry........2006-11-11

I put this into my new DVD player. The DVD would not pause, slow down, speed up, etc. So I put it into my computer DVD player (also new). It did not play at all. Color me "caveat emptor".

The good news is that the Amazon return was easy (thanks Amazon).

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