My kids are interested in learning piano (& I wouldn’t mind picking up a little myself). I’ve been poking around the web for a decent keyboard & see that there is a HUGE range & many of them also have built in software to assist w/ the learning process.
I don’t want to spend an arm & a leg…so has anyone been down this road or may have any recommendations on a decent keyboard that they/we could grow into? Thanks!
My kids are interested in learning piano (& I wouldn’t mind picking up a little myself). I’ve been poking around the web for a decent keyboard & see that there is a HUGE range & many of them also have built in software to assist w/ the learning process.
I don’t want to spend an arm & a leg…so has anyone been down this road or may have any recommendations on a decent keyboard that they/we could grow into? Thanks!
12 years of lessons on an upright piano, played in highschool and college, and I still play once in a while when I’m drunk, want to show off, or at the occasional “jam” session at the local bar.
It all depends on what you (or your child) are trying to get out of the experience. If you want to self teach or dabble, than any Casio in the 66 key range will do fine. If you intend to do what I did, take private lessons for years and play in highschool, college, and after, it is probably best to have a real piano, or a high end electronic piano.
I currently own a Yamaha DGX-530 (about a $500 unit new). It sounds and feels like a real piano, but its electric and does all those cool things, plus it doesn’t take up a lot of room. You can find them on Ebay and CL all the time. About any Yamaha P series or similar will work.
Stay away from work station from Roland and others. Most of them require a MIDI driver, not a good thing for the beginner. You want an internally voiced unit.
Probably the best idea is to talk to the music teacher you intend to use and see what they suggest.
I agree. If your kids are taking lessons get a real piano. The keyboards, and all the gimmicks are just going to distract–get the real deal. You can rent them. There are frequently “free…if you haul it” pianos available on craigslist. Or you can just buy a used piano. If you’re a musician or want to be one a half decent upright is a nice thing to have around, and a Bösendorfer is a REALLY nice thing to have around, but uh…those cost a lot.
My kids are interested in learning piano (& I wouldn’t mind picking up a little myself). I’ve been poking around the web for a decent keyboard & see that there is a HUGE range & many of them also have built in software to assist w/ the learning process.
I don’t want to spend an arm & a leg…so has anyone been down this road or may have any recommendations on a decent keyboard that they/we could grow into? Thanks!
By a cheap casio and if your kids stay with it longer than a month or so you can take it from there.
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
As much as I would like to get a real piano, we just don’t have the room at the moment & as chainpin mentioned, I don’t want to necessarily go the *full monty *until I know there’s going to be some level of commitment from the kids. I’ll also chat w/ a local teacher & get their feedback as well.
Thanks again, have a good weekend!
My two youngest starting taking lessons this past summer and they love it. We had a 66 key Casio sitting in the basement so I can’t provide any insight there. Back in the day, my wife took a 1 credit piano class as an undergrad and I guess my in-laws were a little enthusiastic about encouraging a hobby that never took hold with my wife. Good luck.
How much space are you going to say by getting a keyboard v. a piano - 1-2 sq. ft?
Get a nice used Yamaha upright. It shouldn’t be much more than a decent keyboard.
i’ve played and enjoyed a few yamaha clavinovas. i’m not much of a keyboardist, so take it with some salt if you like. i will say the clavinovas have nicely weighted, full-sized keys, so even though they’re electric keyboards, they feel “real.” this might be a plus later on, if the kids take to it and want to switch over. also, i think the clavinovas tend to hold their value fairly well, so although they’re not cheap, you’ll recoup a fair deal on resale.
will also suggest, as the others have, to keep an eye on the classifieds. it’s amazing how cheap a piano will go for, sometimes. note that real pianos don’t age terribly well (compared to, say, guitars or violins). so factor in the price of a tuning/tune-up when you see that upright for $50 in the paper!
-mike
I currently own a Yamaha DGX-530 (about a $500 unit new). It sounds and feels like a real piano, but its electric and does all those cool things, plus it doesn’t take up a lot of room. You can find them on Ebay and CL all the time. About any Yamaha P series or similar will work.
Yamaha’s website says that the DGX-530 has a “graded soft touch” action, rather than a “real” weighted action like their DGX-630.
How do you like the 530 action? And, how does it compare to a conventional piano?
It’s the same “feel” with a softer action, if that make sense. When I play a real piano the action feels heavy - I have to concentrate on what my fingers are doing, unlike on the Yamaha where my fingers just do their thing. If I spent a few hours on a real piano I would adjust, but I don’t have one anymore, and rarely play anywhere there is one.
The last time I played a real piano was as an accompanist for a trumpet player at a state band contest, and even then I was playing a Rhodes 88 suit case (remember those things?) that was in the performance room at the high school. They ran out of pianos and gave us the choice of waiting, using a Casio, or the Rhodes. Before that we had rehearsed with my Yamaha and then run through it one time on a very nice Spinet. Should have taken the Yamaha.
I would suggest an 88-key electric piano with fully weighted keys (as opposed to merely velocity-sensitive). Any touch-responsive keys will give you the ability to control dynamics, and sound good when demonstrated in the store, but you really don’t have to advance very far at all before fully weighted keys make a very big difference in the feel and playability. The Yamaha 600-series mentioned above is a lot of instrument for the money.
Step 1 - go cheap and get them anything from Best Buy. If they are young, they won’t know the difference. I learned on a cheap keyboard.
Step 2 - if they stick with it for a year, buy a digital piano with weighted keys. Mine cost $2500 10 years ago. I’m assuming they must be very affordable these days. You can get a good portable one (still has 88 keys, but isn;t the size of an upright) and put it on a keyboard stand. These things really sound amazing these days.
Where do you live? My wife said you can have our Yamaha PSR-280.
I agree. If your kids are taking lessons get a real piano. The keyboards, and all the gimmicks are just going to distract–get the real deal.
x2. Nothing is quite like a real acoustic piano, both in terms of timbre and in terms of touch.
a Bösendorfer is a REALLY nice thing to have around, but uh…those cost a lot.
Now that really would be cool to have!
Personally, I learned on a simple spinet, which was good enough for me to rise to a highly advanced level. Now that I’m an adult and can afford to own a good grand, I’m totally spoiled. 
my parents had a pretty ok upright piano. Bottom octave and a half never stayed tuned, but it was a pretty decent instrument otherwise. My teacher however, when I was 10, cut the roof off his house, and had a Bösendorfer dropped in with a crane. So I played the Bösendorfer once a week for 7 or 8 years. It took a long time to get used to the heavy action. I played really badly in lessons for about 3 months until I had it sorted out.
To some extent, I had to go through the same adaptation going from a spinet to a Steinway. But can you imagine having to make that transition coming from a light-action electronic keyboard?
jkca,
Thanks for the offer!
We’re in NJ (USA) & could obviously arrange for shipping, so please shoot me a PM or an e-mail (Brian@PersonalBestNutrition.com) & we’ll see if we can figure something out…maybe we could *scratch your back *w/ some product
My kids are interested in learning piano (& I wouldn’t mind picking up a little myself). I’ve been poking around the web for a decent keyboard & see that there is a HUGE range & many of them also have built in software to assist w/ the learning process.
I don’t want to spend an arm & a leg…so has anyone been down this road or may have any recommendations on a decent keyboard that they/we could grow into? Thanks!
No expert, My wife plays and my son is learning. We have a digital piano. When my sone went to college we found a nice yamaha 66key for about $325. One think I recall my wife saying was import was the weighted key action. Some cheap casios do not have that. I’m not sure how much that would throw off the lessons if you don’t have that. Another thing is have a sustain pedal. Maybe neither of these are required when you are first learning, but you might want to ask piano teacher for their opinion on the minimum keyboard vs piano.