<p>Hello, I’m just starting to learn how to play the piano (I’ve played the clarinet for a while now) and was wondering which keyboard piano I should get as a beginner. I live in a small apartment so I’m trying not to buy a real piano. </p>
<p>I thought I’d post this here because there seemed to many musical parents on CC.</p>
<p>[Piano</a> World - Home of the world famous Piano Forums. The most piano information on the Web](<a href=“http://pianoworld.com/]Piano”>http://pianoworld.com/). Click on PianoForums link.</p>
<p>Here is another useful site:
[Piano</a> Keyboard : Piano Keyboard Reviews](<a href=“http://www.piano-keyboard-reviews.com/piano-keyboard-reviews.html]Piano”>http://www.piano-keyboard-reviews.com/piano-keyboard-reviews.html)</p>
<p>Here are a few things I tell my students to look for:</p>
<p>88 (full-size) or 76 keys. You will outgrow 61 keys quickly.
Weighted keys.
Touch sensitive (that means they get louder when you hit harder).
Input jack for pedal – buy the pedal, too.<br>
Stand and bench that will allow you to sit properly (right height, right posture).</p>
<p>If you can afford it, a digital piano would be even better than a keyboard.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should post this question in the Music Major forum. I’m sure there are lots of knowledgeable folks there.</p>
<p>That said, D just bought a Yahama P85 digital piano because her real piano won’t fit in her apartment. She narrowed her choices to the Yamaha and a Casio model (sorry, don’t remember which one), but she ultimately chose the Yahama because she felt the tone was better.</p>
<p>For $600, she got the piano, sustain pedal, stand, bench, and headphones.</p>
<p>Good luck with your search!</p>
<p>As a pianist, my 2 cents are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Try to get as much keyboard feel as possible. Traditional “keyboards” have none and even if they’re touch sensitive you get louder by hitting them harder not by playing like on a real piano. This subject is one of the two holy grails in digital pianos as you go up the price scale. The top end digital pianos have actual mechanical actions so they feel on your fingers like a regular grand piano. Don’t confuse adjusting touch feel with adjusting the action; the latter is the literal feel of the key as you press it.</p></li>
<li><p>A real digital piano is barely bigger than a keyboard. A real digital piano is an instrument the size of a small spinet piano - sometimes even without the bulky body. It should sound like a very good grand piano. Problem is many manufacturers now stick these in piano looking boxes.</p></li>
<li><p>Ignore the extras. You don’t need seventy five digital instruments and 162 rhythms. You need a piano, different reverb settings and some way to record and playback - like a USB jack for flash drives, etc. You don’t need a fake clarinet sound. You might want some string effects if you like doing arrangements and maybe you want to rock out on a pretend full organ but this stuff is not important. I mention reverb settings because there’s a huge freaking difference in sound between playing in a small and a large room and you can adjust that.</p></li>
<li><p>Quality of the speakers is not that important for me and likely not for you. One of the great things about a digital piano is that you can play it for yourself in headphones. I mostly play that way because it’s easier to hear. If you’re an audiophile, you’ll want to look at the sound output because you can maybe feed it to other speakers. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I play on a Yamaha. I like it. Yamaha action can be a little heavy but I prefer the sound - which is a Yamaha grand - to the Roland. </p>
<p>Used digital pianos are often a really good deal, meaning ones sold by dealers.</p>
<p>BTW, one of my cousins is a well known classical composer and he’s written many things on a cheapo Casio keyboard, the kind that kids balance on their laps. For him, it’s about getting the notes into a sequencer on the computer, not about the sound.</p>