A lot of my adult students enjoy playing pop as well as classical music on the piano. However, finding pop piano books for adult beginners has not always been easy. There are two different approaches to playing pop music. The first is playing from sheet music arrangements (either for solo piano or with backing tracks) – and the second is from lead/chord sheets. This is where you have the chords written under the lyrics or a vocal line.
It is relatively easy to find the chords to a pop song online – ultimate guitar and e-chords are two of many sites. The app, irealpro, is also brilliant for this as it has hundreds of songs with the chords and a drum track backing – and is a lot of fun!
The books I focus on in this post are either solo piano arrangements or piano arrangements with accompanying backing tracks (and also the chords written above). You will be able to find a sheet music piano arrangement of most pop songs – however, not all songs translate well to solo piano. Pop songs that were written on piano originally, or feature piano heavily (eg. Elton John, ABBA, Coldplay, Adele) tend to translate best.
Playing with backing tracks can be a great option as the piano will be part of ‘the band’. My students love playing along with the backing tracks as it’s a nice change from being a soloist! These arrangements are often more chord-based and the piano part will usually consist of accompanying harmonies to the vocal/melody line. There are pop piano books for adult beginners that fall into both categories.
So which pop piano books for adult beginners would I recommend?
Solo Piano Arrangements
There are lots of fantastic pop arrangements for solo piano and there is a good choice of books for beginners. My three favourites are as follows:
Pam Wedgwood: Up-Grade! Pop Piano Grades 0-1
Pam’s book has some thoughtfully arranged well-known songs, as well as some of her own compositions in a pop style. A favourite of my students is her arrangement of Angels by Robbie Williams, as well as Material Girl by Madonna.
One thing I would say is that some of the arrangements are definitely more a Grade 1 level then pre-Grade 1, so this book is best for those students who have been playing a couple of years.
Faber: Adult Piano Adventures Popular 1
A great companion to the Adult Piano Adventures All-in-One Piano Course, this book comprises 34 popular songs from across the decades. What I like about this book is that the pieces start very simply with minimal hand position changes, progressing through to songs with more changes and harmonies. So this book is definitely suitable for a complete beginner.
There are songs from the musicals, theme tunes and chart hits included, many of which have some fantastic duet parts that really bring the pieces to life. My students love me playing along with them!
ABRSM: Pop Performer! Grades Initial-3
This book was only released in 2022 and consequently has a diverse range of songs from the 1960s right through to recent chart-toppers. What I particularly like about this book is that the songs are categorised by 4 levels of difficulty (with 5 in each group). Particular favourites of my students include Clocks by Coldplay, Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake and We are the Champions by Queen.
There are also recordings of the songs available to download, accessible by inputting a code into the Hal Leonard website. These are useful to gain an understanding of the arrangement and exactly how the song should sound.
Piano Arrangements with Backing Tracks
Playing a piano part with a backing track didn’t exist when I was younger – I would have loved to have done this when learning. Thankfully, now there are a few different options. Both the Trinity College Rock & Pop and the Rockschool series have some great arrangements ranging from a beginner level (as listed below) right up to an advanced (Grade 8 UK) level.
Trinity College Rock & Pop: Initial Keyboards
There are some great choices of songs in this book – favourites amongst my students are Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Three Little Birds. Naturally, due to the beginner level and simple chord progressions of the songs, the piano parts are somewhat repetitive. However, I’ve found this hasn’t taken away the joy of playing with a backing track!
Playing with a backing track requires a solid foundation in feeling a pulse and understanding subdivision of notes. However, the trick is to try and keep going and not let a mistake put you off. My students have found these (although sometimes difficult at first, especially with a fast track) a lot of fun as they really feel part of a band. The book has an audio download code at the back to access the backing tracks and demos.
Rockschool Piano Debut
This book also has a very good choice of songs and some interesting background information about each one (where the inspiration came from, more about the artist, chart position etc). There are also some useful technique tips in the Notes section of each piece.
The Rockschool books consist of 6 pieces split into 3 categories – solo, vocal and melody & accompaniment. The solo arrangements are performed without backing tracks and the melody & accompaniment arrangements with full band backing tracks. The vocal arrangements have backing tracks featuring vocalists – the piano part is reflective of what a session pianist would perform in a studio or live setting.
What I particularly like about this book is the different categories of arrangements and how the piano part can vary depending on this. It’s a great introduction to playing pop music. This book also has an audio file download code at the front to access the backing tracks.
I hope you have found my post useful – please also have a look at my recommended method piano books for adults.
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