Ask any student of a Legacy Learning course, and they will tell you the same thing... Legacy Learners never have to learn alone. Our student support site is where we all come together to ask questions, share our difficulties, and celebrate our successes. Our instructors are there to help when you get stuck. Your fellow students are there when you need encouragement. And soon enough, you may even find yourself offering some pointers of your own to those coming behind you. Either way, we sure hope you join us!
If you are an intermediate player, chances are you've learned by picking things up here and there on your own. You may have taken a few lessons. You may have read a few books or watched a few videos. You may or may not have learned to read music. You've enjoyed being able to play the basics, but now you're ready to move beyond that. Learn & Master Piano is your answer.
- Learn how to develop your ear to hear melodies and chord progressions and how to find them on the keyboard.
- Learn to play the piano using a simple, logical, step-by-step approach free from endless, dry exercises and uninteresting music.
- Learn to incorporate simple chord substitution tricks to transform a basic chord progression into something memorable.
- Learn the chord voicings the pros use to create the sounds you hear on the radio every day.
- Learn how to build creative and melodic chord progressions by connecting and embellishing chords efficiently.
- Learn the licks and stylistic techniques to transform melodies to fit a wide variety of styles.
- Learn how to beautifully accompany a singer by creating a musically interesting part that really complements the lyrics.
- Gain a solid foundation of musical understanding ranging from reading music to basic and advanced chord construction and improvisation.
- Learn to play many different genres of piano music, including rock, blues, jazz, country, ragtime, and boogie-woogie.
The biggest advantage to using Learn & Master Piano is simply that everything you need to know is laid out in one course... step-by-step, start to finish. There's no need to search for all kinds of different materials while trying to piece together your own training program. The concepts in Learn & Master Piano build upon each other in a logical, step-by-step format so that you never feel lost. If you already have the basics down, just skip through the first few lessons and get to the good stuff.
Haven't you messed around long enough? Invest in yourself. Invest in your music. Imagine, in less than a year you can go from where you are now to truly owning the keys, playing like a pro in any musical genre. You just provide the piano and the practice time. Everything else you need is right here!
The core of the Learn & Master Piano Home Study Course is its video instruction. This comes to you on fourteen fully produced DVDs, each packed with lessons designed to guide you step-by-step on your road to mastery of the keys.
Each of the many lessons contains an instructional portion where Grammy-winning pianist Will Barrow teaches you the day's concepts in detail, followed by a workshop time where you practice them together playing popular songs you already know. The on-screen graphics make it easy to follow along. There's even an animated keyboard which shows exactly what is being played.
Here are a few screenshots to give you a sense for what these videos look like.
Most students quickly discover that the Play-Along CDs are their favorite part of the Learn & Master Piano course. These CDs allow you to practice your songs with an actual band. And we're not talking about cheesy loops and generic sounding computer tracks either. These recordings were made with professional musicians in a real studio and are designed to help you make beautiful music—right from the start!
Thanks to the Play-Along CDs, you are going to LOVE your practice times. They also make playing for your friends and family a whole lot more impressive. No one will believe how quickly you're starting to sound like a pro!
What's more, the 120+ tracks included in the Play-Along CDs are mixed both with and without the piano part. This allows you to play along with Will when you're first learning the song, and then solo with the band whenever you're ready.
You'll also notice that the Play-Along tracks play at different speeds (slow, medium, and fast) so that you can gradually pick up your pace as you improve. You won't need this later on, but it's incredibly helpful when you're first starting.
The Play-Along CDs have over 120 tracks for you to play along with! We obviously can't list them all, but here are some sample clips just to give you a taste. As you listen, imagine yourself playing the piano parts. With Learn & Master Piano, you soon will be!
These clips are from some of the very first songs you'll learn. Your Play-Along CDs will have "slow" and "medium" and "fast" versions of all of these songs. They may not be very exciting, but hey, you have to start somewhere!
- When The Saints Go Marchin' In (Medium)
- Joy To The World (Slow)
- Amazing Grace (Medium)
Once you have a few more weeks of practice, you'll be able to begin playing along with some more popular favorites. Here are a few examples.
- Lovin' You
- Moondance
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Blue Berry Hill
- Oye Como Va
And many more ... 120 in all!
Remember, these clips represent just a tiny sampling of all the great music included in Learn & Master Piano. Your Play-Along CDs contain each and every song covered in this course — over 120 in all!
Learn and Master Piano covers everything from the very basics through the most advanced techniques. There's no way we could list everything here, but here are a few of the things you will learn—and master!
- Layout of the Keyboard
- Good Practice Habits
- Playing Chords and Melodies Within the First Two Sessions
- Major & Minor Chords
- Reading Music & Chord Charts
- Major, Minor, Pentatonic & Blues Scales
- Tips to Piano Accompanying
- Learning Chords by Numbers & Chord Shapes
- Learning Chord Progressions & Melodies by Ear
- Chord Inversions
- Reading Rhythms & Syncopation
- Keys & Key Signatures
- Playing on the Black Keys
- Reading Sharps & Flats
- Connecting Chords in Chord Progressions
- Left Hand Accompaniment
- Alternate Bass Chords
- Arpeggios
- Chord Cadences
- Rhythmic Rockin’ Piano Playing
- Melodic Phrasing & Flow
- Seventh Chords
- Creative Chord Voicings
- The Sound of the Blues
- Blues Licks
- Boogie-Woogie Piano
- Transposing
- Vital Musical Concepts
- Tips of the Pros
- Harmonizing a Melody with Chords
- Advanced Chords
- Country Piano Playing
- Modern Pop Piano Playing
- Walking Bass Lines
- Ragtime
- Jazz Piano Voicings
- Improvising
- Latin Piano
- Classical Piano Concepts
And, of course, you'll learn all of these things while playing familiar melodies to some of the most classic and recognizable piano songs of all time.
One of the first things people want to know is "What style of piano will I learn to play?" We all have our favorite styles of music, so it's only natural that you'd be most interested in playing what you like. Unlike most piano courses, Learn & Master Piano is complete enough to offer training in all of the most popular styles. You can study them all or just the ones that interest you most.
From early Rock classics like "Blueberry Hill," to Van Morrison’s legendary "Moondance," rock piano with its rockin' Jerry Lee Lewis style eighth notes and syncopation is covered in detail.
Many of piano’s most recognizable melodies, like Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” or the hauntingly beautiful Erik Satie "Gymnopedie," as well as many others, are covered in an easy-to-understand way.
From Scott Joplin’s "The Entertainer," to Fats Waller, the infectious upbeat fun of ragtime piano is covered in great detail.
Learn the secrets of country piano from an artist who plays at the Grand Ole Opry regularly. Learn how to take any melody and harmonize it to make the slides and embellishments that make country piano legendary.
Learn to create the characteristic sounds of the latest contemporary songs you hear on the radio every day.
No course on piano would be complete without the rollicking rhythms of Boogie-Woogie. You will learn them well.
Learn the 12-bar blues and blues riffs that you can incorporate into your downplaying. You'll cover the full blues landscape from New Orleans to Memphis to St. Louis.
Straight from playing with some of the world’s finest musicians in the New York jazz scene, Will offers valuable insight to theorizing, chord accompanying, and improvising that are the heart of jazz piano.
Learn how to play a fiery montuno rhythm or a cool bossa groove to give your playing some Latin spice.
So what kind of piano do you want to play? Learn and Master Piano is your ticket to a whole world of stylistic piano.
So what happens if you begin the course, but then have a question? What if you get stuck on something? Who can you go to for help? How do you get input and feedback on your progress?
This is where Learn & Master Piano's free online support comes in. Once you purchase the course, you will be allowed to post questions and discuss your progress on our Student Support Discussion Board. You will quickly find that you are not learning alone, but with a whole community of Learn & Master Piano students, all of whom love to help and encourage each other. There is also a Community Website where students often post clips and videos for feedback, offer each other encouragement and support, and freely discuss their successes, setbacks, and challenges. Students also blog about their progress, chat in our chat room, and even plan events. You can participate as much or as little as you'd like, but we're here to help.
You wouldn't normally get access to the full support site until you'd purchased the course, but for a limited time, we're opening it up to be viewed by the public. For starters, check out the Student Support Discussion Board, and if you're really ambitious, feel free to browse around the Student Community Site as well. Please remember, though, that these sites are for Learn & Master Piano students, so please be respectful of our community and limit any postings to discussions of the course.
We want you to be delighted with Learn & Master Piano. If you are not, simply return the course within sixty days for a full refund of the purchase price. No questions asked.
"The course is outstanding. I have tried and tried, but I cannot come up with a single way you could improve this course, other than to offer a Learn & Master Piano Part II! Will is an awesome teacher—he is easy to understand and he hits on so many important elements of learning to play the piano while also making it a lot of fun! I was thrilled to see Suzy Bogguss singing "Someone to Watch Over Me" as I personally am a huge fan! It is evident how much time and attention to detail went into producing this course, and how much Will's students' needs are considered, and I for one am very impressed! I also love how so many genres of music are incorporated into the course. I personally love all genres, and this makes it especially fun and inspiring for me. Congratulations on a job well done!"
— Heather Jo Woodward
Nampa, ID
"Learn & Master Piano contains much more information than other courses by going beyond just learning how to play chords, teaching the student to play the right and left hands independently with reading notes, chords, and rhythms. Also, what elevates this course is the addition of basic music theory and ear training. Learn & Master Piano is exceptional when it comes to learning to play and contains everything a student needs to know to become proficient! Learn & Master Piano is THE course to own!"
— Cindy Johnson
Levittown, PA
"This is an amazing course... a worthy successor to Learn & Master Guitar. The instruction is extremely thorough, the pace of advancement is very manageable, and the later lessons indicate you will develop quite sophisticated skills if you follow all the way through. The production quality is superior to even Learn & Master Guitar, which I had already thought was very well produced. If this is going to be priced similarly to Learn & Master Guitar, it will be a screaming deal!"
— David Owen
Dallas, TX
"My name is MacKenzie. I’m a thirteen year old girl from Rhode Island. My father bought me the Legacy Learning System, Learn and Master Piano after my sister started taking piano but I liked it more than she did. Here’s what I think:
I like how you learn a lot and can choose your own pace for the lessons. I enjoy how I can sit down whenever I want and am not obligated to attend any regular lessons. I also appreciate that I can pause the program and take a break or have a snack in the middle of the lesson and come back later when if I’m with a teacher I cannot. I have not yet tried any other methods of home-schooling piano,but from what I have experienced, I hope to continue these lessons."
— MacKenzie Langlais, Home-school Student
Mapleville, RI
"This course is another sure fire winner. Will Barrow seems to answer your questions just as questions pop into your head. I though that Steve was the master of that approach, on Learn & Master Guitar, but Will also has it in his piano lessons. I know that Legacy offers a no quibble money back guarantee, but to be quite frank, such an offer is pretty much a waste of time, since no one could possibly need it!"
— Peter King
Oxon, UK
"My wife and I both agreed that beginning Learn & Master Piano was very exciting, (much like I felt when I began your guitar course). As soon as we began working through the sessions, we felt very encouraged. Learn & Master Piano jumps right in and gets you on the keyboard. By the end of the first session, we already felt like we had a handle on how the keyboard is laid out.
We both thought the pace of the sessions was great. They move along enough to keep you engaged, but not so much that you feel lost. The music theory that you need to understand the piano is worked into the course, at the appropriate time and rate, so that you learn it by applying it, and it never seems overwhelming.
The feeling we got was encouraging and empowering. Especially for beginners, a little bit of confidence goes a long way!
— Jim Ruff
Ridgefield Park, NJ