The Ultimate Piano Workout

The Ultimate Piano Workout

Excellent Piano practice book. As a novice on the piano, this really helps me with a structured approach to scales and arpeggios. I also appreciate the narrative in the first part of the book.

I’m a self taught Piano player. I’m 78 years old and I bought a digital piano keyboard when the COVID virus started. I saw someone playing a music piece that I liked very much so I bought the sheet music and started learning the keys pretty quickly. I learned the music after about 4 years but it didn’t sound good. I bought more sheet music and tried to learn the songs, but I did very badly. I tried to learn scales but I quickly lost interest.
Then I saw David play on YouTube and was amazed by his ability so I read about his music books. I realized that his “The Ultimate Piano Workout Book” was what I needed.
Now I practice these exercises everyday. I find that I’m not bored like before but instead enjoy learning scales. This is what I have been missing all along. If you are serious about learning piano, get his books and it will save you years of frustration. Thanks David
Your friend Pablo Berumen

À ma famille et mes amis en France,

Avis 5 étoiles pour “Ultimate Piano Workout”

Franchement, si tu veux vraiment améliorer ton niveau au piano, Ultimate Piano Workout est juste incroyable ! Ce bouquin est bourré d’exercices qui boostent non seulement ta technique, mais aussi ta musicalité et ta dextérité. L’approche est super bien organisée, donc tu peux facilement suivre tes progrès, et la diversité des exercices te permet de bosser sur tout ce qui compte : gammes, arpèges, dynamiques, etc. Ce que j’adore, c’est qu’il mélange des exos de base avec des défis plus costauds, donc ça convient à tout le monde, débutant ou pro. Si tu veux peaufiner ta technique, c’est LE livre à avoir. Je te le recommande à 100 % !

Not having a routine which is solid often result myself getting lost in an already not very musical to do Workouts. The Ultimate Piano Workout is making a streamline to achieve a step-by-step approach which is guaranteed by Mr David Hicken is quite promising me to achieve my goal of practicing piano. Thank you Mr David.

This is my second review of this book (same five stars) as I found a way to organize (package) the contents into a manageable daily routine that has a repeatable structure. For the background, I am an upper intermediate / early advanced pianist with most of my repertoir being David's. Hanon has been my go-to warm-ups however I noticed that I sort of stalled technique-wise, so wanted to layer more technical exercises to my daily practices. And David called it in this book: Hanon is great for finger strength and technical repetition skills but it is all white keys:) So, when I printed this book out, I played switch-e-roo with the pages and got all of the Major scales, their arpeggios (incl 1 and 2 inversions) together. Then after that I did the same with the harmonic minors and melodic minors (one set of arpeggios, for both, clearly, to follow) - which resulted in 3 main sections that you can either go through as a routine on the same day, or do all majors and their arpeggios together one day (till your household members cannot take it anymore) and the next day - same with the minors. When you master that, the next section could be the same things but a third and 6th apart (again, shuffle the pages) with broken cords to be added. That will give you section 3 and 4, etc. So ultimately, the book stops seeming overwhelming with you not knowing how to fit it logically into a limited amount of practice time you may have, and starts growing on you. Ultimately, you will memorize the routine in each section, and won't need the book - but at first, this is a great visual / logical organization option to make sure you move through the book and advance the skill with each following section being harder than the previous one. The scales in all thirds are my challenge right now. Again, David - thank you for putting this together and making it available for additional practice, I am getting the most out of it.

This is an excellent book containing credible and detailed advice, explanations and exercise regimes for anyone looking to enhance their 1) understanding of music and 2) piano-playing technique and experience!

Systematic, simple to follow, detailed and comprehensive. Great for honing my piano skills.

The Ultimate Piano Workout

I am practicing the piano as a self-taught person (although I studied guitar at the Conservatory). I have great artistic admiration for David, also for his amazing technique. The book starts the activity from scratch, well planned and detailed. The advice is clear and relevant and David gets the best motivation: the desire to have discipline. I've only been working for a month, but I'm being rigorous, studying every day. I enjoy studying scales and other techniques. The Ultimate Piano Workout is a success, even for those of us who are 61 years old.

The book starts with great explanations, why these workarounds are the ones and important to get fluent over. There is great advice as well how to do so efficiently. Chords are nothing new, compare to the musical theory in general, yet this book is very well focused on bringing them to life. Allow to enjoy playing the plain the cords as much as it is possible to enjoy a musical piece. Even when starting the workarounds for a short time being, my fingers just find themself on and above the piano. There are harder to master workaround as well towards the end, just in case it gets too easy. This relationship with my fingers is a new feeling compare to earlier methods where I always looked where to strike next, even after I completely learned a piece. Therefore I have far more time, during I play. It feels like after the workouts, the musical pieces just fit easily into the place which the workout made familiar already. Finally I am able to focus on the expression part even more.

This tutorial has the correct title. It is the Ultimate Piano Wortkout! You will benefit a lot from it!

I never had formal scale training when I was learning piano and this book has them all. There is a recommend specific progression and I have no reason to doubt its effectiveness. It will take me years to make it all the way through it - but I can see/feel improvements since I've been at it for the past 6 months or so. I doubt I will ever be as fleet of the finger as Daivd, but even at 50+, I'm seeing improvements!

The Ultimate Piano Workout

If you work these pages faithfully 10-15 minutes/day, your technique will spread across your keyboard.

I had piano lessons as a child (8 to 11) but quit in desperation as I was bad at it, and I mean it. Back in February (2022), after a 51 year gap I decided to go back to learning as my dream is to be able to play Isis from David’s album Goddess, and eventually his softer pieces. I just love doing my scales, which I find therapeutic, and if a day goes by and I do not practice it feels as if something is missing. I learnt more in these 3 months than I did as a child and though I know I still have a long, long , long way to go I can say that the Ultimate Piano Workout is an excellent manual even for a beginner like me!