Need advice on a starter digital piano

[Chimpazilla]

Hey guyzzz. My husband and I are thinking of getting our son Tom a digital piano for Christmas. He is nine years old, and he and I will be taking some piano lessons next year. We are looking for a stand-alone keyboard that makes its own sounds (does not require a daw), and we don't want to spend too terribly much but it should have weighted keys, is that right? It would be great if it could plug into a daw at a later time, but that isn't super important now. Any suggestions?

[Garrett Williamson]

no clue what I'd give him, but always Yamaha.

aalllways Yamaha. at least that's what I believe.

I was given a Yamaha keyboard for Christmas when I was close to 8 years old and I've still got it and use it all the time. I believe it's a Yamaha PSR-275. it's lightweight keys, though. this keyboard is for writing music, not for playing piano all fancily.

if he's learning piano, it's best that they should be weighted keys, though I don't think it's required. it's better training for his fingers, though.

[Meteo Xavier]

Be sure it comes with a pedal too. Pedal training will be required.

[Garrett Williamson]

oh yeah definitely a pedal. I somehow got away with not having a pedal for my keyboard, but it became a problem because I had to train myself how to use a pedal properly and it took me a while and I'm still not amazing with it. I don't suck, but I'm not great with it either. don't make the same mistake I did.

[Rexy]

My first non-toy keyboard was a

. What I find with their workstations was that they were affordable, opened up a great imagination for those that just sit down and mess with them, and were really durable and lightweight.

I highly recommend getting your child a Yamaha PSR model if you want to get them their very first keyboard.

And yes, pedals ARE a must too. Just like with G-Mixer, there was no pedal port with mine and I didn't start learning how to use them until years after I got it. If they train in it now, they'll be ready for the future.

[XPRTNovice]

My opinion: make sure it has weighted keys and a pedal.

I use the Yamaha Arius, which is about $600 and might be more than you want to spend for just a test to see if your son wants to play it. But if you think he'll be serious about it, don't get him a casio with spring action keys; his hands will not develop proper technique if he's playing on that junk. Weighted keys are extremely important.

Feel free to post links to the ones you're considering here for group evaluation

This is mostly useless since the product is discontinued, but this is one I always liked and was relatively cheap

http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMN100

[Chimpazilla]

Looks like this is gonna be expensive afterall... is this a good one? Looks like it might even plug into a daw as well?

[XPRTNovice]

I don't know about this one specifically, but Yamahas are usually a good bet. I feel like you could find one cheaper though. I liked the nocturne because it had ZERO bells and whistles. It just played piano. You could probably find one of those used on ebay.

[theshaggyfreak]

I also suggest Yamaha when it comes to digital pianos. They generally make the most affordable stuff that's worth buying. We have an older semi-weighted piano that's done well for us for about 9 years. The Yamaha P-105 is a pretty good deal at about $600 and it'll last you for quite some time. It also has fully weighted action which is something that a piano teacher will really want for their student.

[Garrett Williamson]

yeah as you can see everyone's suggesting Yamaha hahaha

do NOT get a Casio or a Roland. of those two, though, I would definitely do a Roland. I absolutely hate Casio.

[Kanthos]

What you want to do is go to your local music store and talk to a sales rep. They'll be able to help you out far better than probably anyone else here. If you think Tom will be serious about lessons, you want to find a digital piano (or, maybe even a real one? You might be able to find a good deal on craigslist or something?) that has the three pedals a piano would have. A beginner isn't going to use anything more than the sustain pedal, but if he's interested in taking lessons long-term, the other two pedals could be essential as well.

If you're going digital, make sure that it either has MIDI out or MIDI Over USB; those are what you'd use to connect to a computer. (Probably unlikely that you'd find something with neither, but that'd still be what you want to check for). This is the proper term to use when you say "connects to a DAW".

Don't consider anything that doesn't have weighted keys. It may be a bit more expensive that way, but it's honestly a waste of time to take piano lessons on something with semi-weighted or synth action keys; those kinds of keybeds are better used for playing in a band setting and for different sounds than a piano. You *can* do it if you have to: I have a keyboard and a sound module - basically a keyboard without the keys - hooked up via MIDI, and my keyboard has semi-weighted keys so it's better suited for playing organ parts and synth parts than piano parts. But then, I'm playing rock music in bands, so I don't need the quality of the keys or the dynamic range that you'd get out of a weighted keyboard, so I can make do.

Ideally, if you have a pianist friend, take him or her to the music store with you. Buying a keyboard or piano often comes down to preference; there usually isn't a single obvious choice, and someone you trust might be able to give a different and potentially better perspective than a salesperson (really, that depends on how good the sales reps are, if they're more concerned with making the most profit for the store versus selling you the right thing).

[XPRTNovice]

What you want to do is go to your local music store and talk to a sales rep. They'll be able to help you out far better than probably anyone else here. If you think Tom will be serious about lessons, you want to find a digital piano (or, maybe even a real one? You might be able to find a good deal on craigslist or something?) that has the three pedals a piano would have. A beginner isn't going to use anything more than the sustain pedal, but if he's interested in taking lessons long-term, the other two pedals could be essential as well.

One last caveat - IMHO don't buy a used upright piano that is more than 20 years old, and have a technician check it out first. Older pianos are going to be the same as a digital piano in cost, it's outrageously bulky and annoying (you can't stick headphones into it) and antique pianos, unlike some other instruments, do not play well. The key action will degenerate as well as the soundboard, and you'll end up conditioning his hands to play on something like a cheap keyboard anyway -- except THIS piano requires semiannual servicing and constantly goes out of tune, buzzes, etc. That's why, believe it or not, you'll actually see a lot of "FREE PIANO!" ads on craigslist. If you're not willing to shell out a couple grand, stay away from used pianos.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Looks like this is gonna be expensive afterall... is this a good one? Looks like it might even plug into a daw as well?

I'm not really one to say, but my mother-in-law has one that looks like that and I trust she picked something that plays well. Felt ok to me though I'm not really a piano player.

--Eino

[Nabeel Ansari]

From my personal research on the matter, Yamahas have better "feel" but Casios have much better "sound", at least if you're talking in the $500-$1000.

Casio pianos are multi-velocity sampled (different recorded note when you press harder/softer) while Yamahas are more "soundfont"ish in nature (a note is one sample, played at different volume depending on key press). What matters is if you want it to feel super real compared to how good you really want it to sound.

One last caveat - IMHO don't buy a used upright piano that is more than 20 years old, and have a technician check it out first. Older pianos are going to be the same as a digital piano in cost, it's outrageously bulky and annoying (you can't stick headphones into it) and antique pianos, unlike some other instruments, do not play well. The key action will degenerate as well as the soundboard, and you'll end up conditioning his hands to play on something like a cheap keyboard anyway -- except THIS piano requires semiannual servicing and constantly goes out of tune, buzzes, etc. That's why, believe it or not, you'll actually see a lot of "FREE PIANO!" ads on craigslist. If you're not willing to shell out a couple grand, stay away from used pianos.

To add to this, we have a lot of old uprights in the practice rooms here at Drexel, and coming from someone who's only recently started studying piano, they sound awful. Not in the detuned, keys don't work sense, but in the sense that the damn thing is worn to such an extent that it plays brightly at whatever strength you hit the keys with. Extremely hard to practice dynamics. If you want a used piano, don't get a piano that is too used.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Neblix