How many songs are in the book?

The book contains over 30 titles, mixing classic hymns like 'Amazing Grace' and 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' with contemporary worship hits like 'How Great Is Our God' and 'Our God'.

Does this book include lyrics?

Yes. Full lyrics are printed above the staff for most songs, making it easy to sing along as you play — particularly useful for church and small group settings.

Is this suitable for a complete beginner with no piano experience?

It's best suited for someone who has learned basic note-reading and hand position. Total beginners with no prior instruction may struggle with the hand-position transitions between sections.

Can I use this for church accompaniment?

The arrangements are simplified, so they work best for personal practice, small groups, or Sunday school settings. For full congregational accompaniment, you'd likely need a more advanced arrangement.

Are there audio recordings included?

No physical audio CD is included with this edition. There is no online access code either, so you're working purely from the printed page.

Christian Hits: Easy Piano Review – Alfred Music · Cactus Academy

Quick Verdict

If you're an early beginner looking for recognizable Christian worship songs arranged for easy piano, Christian Hits: Easy Piano from Alfred Music delivers exactly what the title promises. The song selection is genuinely strong — a smart blend of enduring hymns and modern worship hits — and the arrangements are clean enough for a new player to tackle within a single sitting. I wouldn't recommend it if you have any real piano experience, and it won't replace a proper accompaniment book for church musicians. But for beginners who want music that actually means something to them to practice with? This book earns its spot on the music stand. I'd give it a solid 4.2 out of 5.

What Is Christian Hits: Easy Piano?

Christian Hits: Easy Piano is a sheet music collection published by Alfred Music — a name that's practically synonymous with beginner and educational piano music. The book features over 30 Christian and worship songs arranged at an easy-to-read level, mixing well-known hymns with more recent contemporary worship hits. Full lyrics are printed above the grand staff, making it as useful for singing along as it is for learning the keyboard. It sits squarely in the primer-to-level-1 range, so the target audience is pianists who can read basic notes and rhythms but aren't yet tackling intermediate repertoire.

The physical book is 64 pages, neatly bound in a practical softcover. Nothing fancy about the cover design — it looks and feels like a standard educational music book, which is exactly what it is. The page layout is spacious and easy on the eyes, a detail that matters more than you'd think when you're still decoding treble from bass clef under pressure.

Key Features

Over 30 songs spanning classic hymns and modern worship music
Easy piano notation with simplified右手 arrangements and chord symbols
Full lyrics printed above the grand staff for singing along
Alfred Music's established reputation in piano pedagogy
Softcover, 64 pages — compact and portable for church or travel
Appropriate for primer to level 1 piano students
No audio access required — works completely offline

Hands-On Review

I grabbed this on a slow afternoon when I wanted to see how a beginner book handled songs I actually cared about — not just drills and exercises. The first thing I noticed was the song list. 'Amazing Grace,' 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus,' 'Blessed Be Your Name,' 'Our God' — that's a lineup that actually makes you want to sit down and practice rather than dutifully working through generic exercises.

The arrangements are exactly what the title implies: simplified. Single-note melodies in the右手 with basic left-hand chord voicings underneath. Nothing fancy, nothing tricky. After a few bars of 'How Great Is Our God,' I could see what they'd done — they'd preserved the melodic shape and harmonic bones of each song while stripping away the ornamental passages that trip up early readers. It works. Not every simplification is graceful — a couple of the modern songs feel like they've lost some of their emotional lift in translation — but that's the inevitable trade-off at this level.

By page three I hit my first moment of honest hesitation. There's a transition in 'Better Is One Day' that requires a hand-position shift without any visual cue in the notation. As someone who's been playing for years, I read past it easily. For a brand-new student working without a teacher? That gap could cause a frustrating stutter. Alfred Music does include chord symbols throughout, which is genuinely helpful, but I wish the hand-position markings were a little more consistent in the early pages.

One thing nobody mentions in the listings: the absence of any audio component. There's no included CD and no online access code. That's fine if you already know how the songs go, but complete beginners who can't yet visualize the rhythm from notation alone will need to source the original recordings separately. It's a minor frustration, not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing before you buy.

Who Should Buy It?

Early beginner pianists who want to learn worship songs they recognize rather than generic exercises
Sunday school pianists or small group leaders who need basic lead sheets for Christian music
Parents of primer-level students looking for music that reinforces lessons with meaningful, familiar repertoire
Adult beginners returning to piano after a long break who want a low-pressure way back into reading music

Skip this if you have even six months of regular piano study under your belt — the arrangements will feel too stripped-back and you'll spend more time wanting more complexity than actually playing. Also skip it if you need audio support to learn; this is a print-only product. And if you're looking for church accompaniment music that will hold up with a live congregation, look for Alfred Music's intermediate-level companion volumes instead.

Alternatives Worth Considering

If Christian Hits: Easy Piano doesn't quite fit your needs, here are a couple of alternatives worth checking out:

Alfred Music Contemporary Christian Hits — a slightly more involved collection aimed at early intermediates, with fuller arrangements that retain more of the original song textures
Hal Leonard The Easy Big-Note Book of Worship Songs — a big-note edition specifically designed for true beginners and those with limited hand mobility, at the cost of some musical sophistication
Worship Piano Solos — Easy Piano Edition — offers a solo piano take on worship repertoire with minimal technical demands, though with less song variety than the Alfred collection

FAQ

It's designed for early beginners — roughly primer to level 1. If you can read a few notes on each staff and play basic rhythms, you should manage most of the arrangements comfortably.

Final Verdict

Christian Hits: Easy Piano is exactly what it sets out to be: an accessible, affordable collection of recognizable Christian songs arranged for early beginners. The song selection is the real win here — you get 'How Great Is Our God' sitting next to 'Softly and Tenderly,' which is a range most beginner books don't attempt. Arrangement quality is generally solid, though the most simplified songs lose a little of their original character, and the lack of audio support is a notable gap in a 2025 release. If you're a primer-level student, a church volunteer, or a returning adult learner who wants music that actually resonates while you build basic technique, this book is worth picking up. For anyone past the beginner stage, look to Alfred's intermediate-level collections instead.

Christian Hits: Easy Piano Review – Alfred Music (2025)