There are many books out there so it’s hard to know where to start. There are also many helpful videos on YouTube. I’ll recommend some videos as we go, but first I’ll tell you how to find the right books for you. Then we’ll look at some of the most widely recommended books for beginners and how they might be helpful to independent learners.

Not everyone learns the same way, so a book that works well for someone else may not be exactly right for you. There will be some trial and error in finding the best books for you to learn from.

There are so many great books that are different in approach and content, so if you find one book to be less than helpful, you can just move along to the next one. The more popular books can be purchased used for very little on the popular auction sites, and even new they are not usually prohibitively expensive. Just buy what looks most interesting to you, and pay attention to the reviews if they exist.

Another way to find good beginner methods for self-teaching is to ask a local music teacher or professional piano player, if you know one. As part of your research, you could ask a teacher or school director for recommendations on what books would prepare you for taking lessons.

Even if you decide not to take lessons, it’s a good idea to have a professional Piano Teacher observe your playing at some point and give you some feedback. Finding a Teacher involves talking to them about what they offer, and it’s appropriate to ask what method books they recommend for beginners.

Once you start googling and talking to teachers about the books, you might notice that many would recommend the same books. There’s a reason for that. Here are some of the tried-and-true method books you can turn to for learning to play piano on your own:

You’ll find that nearly everyone recommends this. Alfred’s piano method books have been around for about a century, and countless students have used their books. Their books are concise, well-written and clearly organized, with detailed descriptions and pictures of what to do broken down into short, easy-to-master steps.

Alfred’s also offers more complete versions of piano methods for adult beginners, such as Alfred’s All In One Adult Piano Course, Alfred’s Self Teaching Adult Piano Course, and Alfred’s Teach Yourself To Play Piano.

You could even pick up one of their books for kids, as they have simple piano performance pieces and easy-to-understand text, along with illustrations to make learning fun. An example is the Alfred’s Basic Piano Library which is a series of books covering playing techniques, exercises, basic Music Theory, and offering recital pieces as well. These books are leveled, so for quick learners there is always a next book to learn from as they improve.

Here’s a thorough explanation from Piano Lessons On The Web about what’s inside the Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Level 1 book, and how you can use it to teach yourself piano:

Starting with Book 1, the Faber method is an all-in-one course on learning piano that includes music theory, basic reading, performance pieces, and offers access to online instructional videos to help you get through it all. There is also a standard Faber Piano Adventures book with additional pieces to play.

Piano Roadmap offers a side-by-side comparison of two of the top piano method books, Alfred’s All In One Adult Piano Course and Faber Adult Piano Adventures:

The Bastien series of books also come in levels. Level 1 is the starting place for the complete beginner, and although it’s a relatively short method book, you can learn a lot from it. Similar to the Alfred’s method books, each level is broken out into four areas: Performance, Theory, Technique, and Piano Pieces. This means you should probably buy the first four books as a set.

Bastien also has the book Piano for the Young Beginner for kids age 5 and up. Anyone can learn from books designed for kids. You don’t need to be a kid, to have fun with learning piano! Bastien offers many other piano method books also worth a look for adult beginners.

It’s hard to go wrong with any of these method books, since they’ve been used and enjoyed by many thousands of kids and adult learners through the years.

While it’s not possible to offer a fully inclusive list of great books to learn from on your own, nor is it my intention, here are a handful of other books recommended by top piano teachers you might look at:

• Keyboard Musicianship: Piano for Adults Book One by Authors J. Lyke, T. Caramia, R. Alexander, G. Haydon, and R. Chioldi. Used in many college and university keyboard classes for non-piano players. There is also a Book 2 available.
• The Lang Lang Piano Method Level 1: The Lang Lang Academy method is great for beginner piano students with lots of clear explanations and illustrations, including cartoon characters. There are five levels with each one progressively more challenging. It’s a fun and creative method by Lang Lang, a world-renowned Concert Pianist and Teacher.

Concert Pianist and educator Lang Lang enthusiastically introduces his beginner piano method books in this short video:

• Piano Book for Adult Beginners: Teach Yourself How to Play Famous Piano Songs, Read Music, Theory & Technique: This book and streaming video course by Damon Ferrante is recommended by Rolling Stone Magazine as the best beginner piano book. Easy to follow, interactive, and fun, it offers a step-by-step method to learning classic songs such as House of the Rising Sun, Danny Boy, Amazing Grace, and others, with no music reading required.
• The Older Beginner Piano Course: by James Bastien is specifically written for absolute beginners interested in self-teaching, and allows you to build on your new knowledge as you progress through the book.
• Simple Songs – The Easiest Easy Piano Songs: Hal Leonard is one of the largest publisher of music education books in the world and has a wide variety of titles to choose from. This book of easy songs has some of the best known traditional, popular, and modern tunes to help build your repertoire.
• All-In-One Piano Lessons Book A: Also from Hal Leonard, this book has large print and illustrations which makes it easier to read while figuring out what to do with your fingers.

This brief video compares a number of beginner method books, showing the strongest and weakest points. Though many are for kids, some would also be appropriate for older learners.

If you’ve decided to learn piano and are looking for books to teach yourself, there should be some method to your madness. First off, consider why you want to learn. Are you just looking to get some basic ability to have fun playing by yourself or with others? Or are you planning to get serious and take it as far as you can possibly go?

Thinking about your goals is the proper starting point for figuring out how to proceed and the next logical steps. It’s okay to aim high. As motivational book author Norman Vincent Peale famously wrote: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

Once you’re clear-eyed about your goals, consider how you learn best. Do you like to read text or prefer to look at pictures or graphic illustrations? You might take that into account when you are choosing a book to learn from.

Regardless, the explanations should be clear and easy for you to understand. The good books all have easy to understand language and clear step-by-step instructions on what to do. Some books come with a CD or DVD that lets you hear the musical examples or might mirror the experience you’d get with an in-person lesson.

The method used is also important, so read the introduction section or preface to see if the teaching content matches your learning style and goals. Look at the table of contents and a few of the lessons to see if the progression of the steps make sense to you. If there’s an index at the back, you could look at that to get more of an idea about what is contained in the book.

Learning music initially involves playing simple songs, exercises, and small snippets of existing pieces. Check to see if there are any songs in the book you already know, and if there’s a variety of styles represented.

The best piano methods usually have high quality music that beginners can play. You will start with very simple music, but it should get more challenging as you go. You’ll have more fun if you are playing music you like.

Finally, you might consider whether the music focus of the book is suitable for different kinds of keyboard instruments. Some books are only for piano, while others are designed to help learners take advantage of the wider variety of sounds offered by electronic keyboards.

One of the best kept secrets of teaching and learning is that when you teach someone, it also helps you to learn, because you must relearn the material as you teach it to another. Even a beginner, after some brief period of learning to play, could sit down and teach what they’ve learned to another stark beginner.

This suggestion might not be for everyone, but if you can find it in your heart and within your capability to teach another student something new, it will help you to solidify the knowledge yourself. It’s worth trying.

There are literally hundreds of piano books available today suitable for learning to play on your own. It’s going to take some sleuthing and research on your part to find the best ones for you to learn from. Getting recommendations from those in the know could help. You can also try a few of the ones recommended here, as you can’t go wrong with those.

A veteran piano teacher reviews favorite recommended books for beginning piano students:

The difference between adult and child learners is explained along with reviews of multiple method books for adult piano learners:

Some additional reviews of beginner books for adult or teen students: