The 52 week Crash Course starts out using the "pointer system" in which the index finger points to the root of the chord and you are playing triads, so these are played in second inversion (fifth on the bottom).  The left hand is playing the chords and the right hand is playing the melody.  The songs are simple, public domain tunes such as "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow, Can Can, and similar.  The melodies fit mostly under the five fingers of the right hand and then gradually start to expand beyond this.  You are reading the melody, but playing the chords from symbols, since the pointer system takes care of the chord form.  Within the next two lessons, we start reading the chords as notes and then begin to move away from the pointer system, and over time, expanding into all manner of technique that teaches both reading and playing by chords so you can play from a lead sheet making your own arrangement by the end of the course.

It would be typical for an adult to see the early stages of this course and quickly determine it is not right - too simply, corny tunes, etc.  However, in the beginning, even these tunes are a challenge while our hands are "learning the shape of the keyboard" as David Sudnow used to say.  At this stage, it really doesn't matter what tunes we are playing.  We need a strong simple melody that we all know, and the chords to go with it.  We need step by step instruction that is paced such that we don't get too bored, nor overwhelmed.  For me, the pace here is just about right - once I have settled down in my expectations and embraced the fact that I need to start at the beginning and work through the steps if I am to achieve my goal of learning to play the piano in the manner that I desire.

Mine is the typical story of the self-teaching adult.  I have jumped around from this course to that course over the years, and the result is that if I were asked to actually play something, I might stumble through some music long forgotten.  Had I stuck to the Duane Shinn 52 week course when I bought it back around ten years ago, I would be playing and enjoying the piano today rather than attempting yet again to start anew.  Though it may sound like it in this paragraph, I am really not kicking myself about it, but it is worth saying the truth as a reminder to me and possibly to others taking the self-teaching path, that this sort of thing is a real problem that must be addressed if one is to get anywhere at all with the piano.

We see the one philosophy that would work well for us in this situation when we see movies such as the "Karate Kid" or the old "Kung Fu" series in which the student ("grasshopper") is being constantly reminded that the willingness to start at the beginning, coupled with a large dose of patience (together, these are really a part of "humility", in a sense), are key to the learning process.