The Manual of Scales, Broken Chords and Arpeggios (ABRSM Scales & Arpeggios)

I've played other instruments for decades, but just now decided to learn piano. This book has the basic scales, arp's, and etc in one book and easy to locate what you need instead of a couple pages or this book here and there, then a few page later on. So find it nice to just put on music stand when I start to practice to check myself as needed.

This is a very comprehensive piano scales, broken chords and arpeggios book. I have lots of practicing to do but am looking forward to the task at hand. Also, the reduced price I paid for this book is outstanding!My husband reviewed it after I received it and he was very impressed. That says it all, as he attended graduate school years ago from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.I highly recommend this book!

Great book

Information is laid out in a logical way. Very comprehensive.

The features in this edition which I especially appreciate are the Introduction, the organization of all practices relating to a scale in one section, expansion of the arpeggios, inclusion of whole-tone scales and the Leschetizky's 'Scale of Scales' The 1997 edition of the Manual did not include these.

Another ABRSM completely pointless modern book. I say pointless, because you can also buy the scales books per grade. If you really can't work out the scales yourself, Google them.There's no polyrhythms, just both hands doing the same thing.Proper books:1. Schmitt Op 16. Preparatory Exercises for piano2. Oscar Beringer Daily Technical Studies3. Charles L. Hanon - The Virtuoso Pianist Complete4. Czerny - School of Velocity

As has been pointed out before, this book is more a purchase of necessity rather than want.At first, the book may seem a little difficult to navigate. It took a couple of minutes to realise that the diatonic scales were ordered by cycle of fifths, as other scale manuals tend to introduce by consecutive letter names. It also surprised me slightly that the major and minor scales for a particular note are introduced together, rather than introducing the minors with their relative majors.However, once the small stumbling block is over with, it becomes a valuable resource for finding scales and helping to strengthen awareness of patterns. The fingerings are given for guidance, and often an alternative fingering is given, thus allowing adaptation to preference.I have one minor gripe (no pun intended). The book does not make even passing reference to the natural minor. Though this was not part of the ABRSM syllabus until 2012 (and then only for G1-2, to my knowledge), the book touts itself as containing "all the standard scale and arpeggio patterns".I grant that the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Locrian modes are neither mentioned nor shown, as these are non-standard patterns. But the Aeolian (natural minor) is a useful stepping-stone to understanding fully the musical relationship between the major and minor keys. Indeed, the natural minor is the progression-point between the Ionian and the harmonic and melodic minors.The additional suggestions in the front mention "beginning on any degree of the scale", but there is no reference to the relationship between this, modality, and the minor key.Otherwise, the book is a very useful resource.

Really great scale exercises in this book. I'm doing the ABRSM jazz grades and the scales book for that is much less comprehensive than what's included in this. I think this is an invaluable book for anyone learning jazz.For each key, it gives the major scale, in several forms - the normal octave apart with each hand, then the right hand as a third above while the left does the normal scale, then similar to that a sixth apart. Those three scales are then given in contrary motion. It continued with each hand playing two notes - first as thirds, then sixths, then octaves. It goes on to do the minor scales for each key in these various ways too. The next section gives chromatic scales in all these patterns, then whole note scales and the last section has broken chords and then arpeggios.It doesn't include the pentatonic, blues scales and modes that the jazz syllabus scale book has, but I think this is a brilliant book for anyone trying to learn jazz and struggling with all those books that say (without providing any reference) now do that in 12 keys!

A very comprehensive book but I don't like the way it's structured at all. Every kind of exercise, be it scales, arpeggios or whatever, is included on the pages devoted to each single key in turn, instead of being grouped by exercise (all the scales, all the arpeggios, all the double thirds etc), To my mind this is bafflingly impractical - one works on scales, arpeggios or whatever it may be, not on covering every aspect of one key at a time, and it renders the book far less user-friendly than it needs to be.

This book is really good and has all of the scales. It’s everything you need. Would be nice if it was grouped by ‘Grades’ but as not everyone takes graded exams that’s easily forgiven. This is a brilliant one-stop shop for every diatonic scale, arpeggio and broken chord you’ll ever need. I’d recommend.