How to choose your first piano or keyboard: purchase guide
Acoustic, digital or keyboard: What specifications really matter to learn piano, what to have at the store and what to check if you buy them used.
If you are serious about studying piano, the most practical thing to start with is a digital piano with 88 counterpitted keys with touch sensitivity and a true maintenance pedal. A acoustic piano is the best experience if you have space, good relationship with neighbours and who tunes it. A 61-key keyboard serves to scout or to start with the smaller ones but remains short in a few months.
Here's what's important about matching, what to have at the store and what to check if you buy them used. We're talking about features, and we're talking about brands: the right instrument's what meets these points and fits at your place.
To sum up
- To learn piano, look for 88 full-size, counteracted and touch sensitive keys.
- A light keyboard serves to explore but does not develop the force and finger control requested by the piano.
- In an apartment, a digital with hearing aids resolves the noise in the air and the blow of the keys and the pedal also travels through the floor.
- A used acoustic piano is only paid after a technical checks clamp, hammers, harmonic board and tuning.
- Ask your teacher to prove his instrument, or to watch a video, before we pay.
Acoustic, digital or keyboard: what really changes
The three have black and white keys but they do not answer the same. The difference lies with the mechanism of the keys, with the sound and with what they demand from your house.
| Vertical acoustic Piano | Digital Piano | Portable keyboard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teclas | 88 with actual hammer mechanism | 88, contrapesadas in models for study | Generally 61 or 76 light |
| Tacto | The reference: weight and response of the mechanism | Imitates piano weight and varies widely between models | A light and does not develop finger force |
| Sonido | Retiring and actual wood | Pian-engraved samples, depending on speakers | A lot of sounds and rhythms and piano's less realistic |
| Volume | No shutting down, some have tidal pedal | Adjustable volume and hearing aids | Adjustable volume and hearing aids |
| Mantenimiento | Regular tuning by a technician | Almost none | Almost none |
| Espacio | Heavy and fixed against a wall | Compact or support furniture | It's put up in a closet. |
| To whom | Students with space and long-term projection | Most beginners, children and adults | Initiation, exploration, popular keyboard or production |
If you have an issue with an issue with a digital and a keyboard, at digital piano or keyboard: differences We have both been closely compared and focused here on how to decide and what to check while buying.
The specifications that do matter for a beginner
To learn piano, check these and leave the rest for later:
| Specification | What to look for | Why does it matter? |
|---|---|---|
| Number of keys | 88, standard size | The Repertoire soon uses serious and acute ends |
| Action | "Counteracted" or "hammer action," best if she's a graduate | Serious keys feel heavier, as with an acoustic |
| Touch sensitibility | Several levels, activated by default | Without her there's no forte or piano or expression |
| Pedal | Piano pedal form and ideal if half pedal supported | The square plastic pedal slips and doesn't grade |
| Polyphony | 64 voices at least and 128 or more are more comfortable | The pedal and his notes are built up and his first are cut |
| Conexiones | A hearing aids (best if two) and USB output | Practice at night and use applications or virtual classes |
I have an eye with the word "semicontrapesada": they have something more resistance than a keyboard but they have nothing to do with the weight and return of a piano. And they lose confidence with children's keyboards with more narrow keys than usual: they get their hands bad.
Support and Bank Also Count
A high-height bench with a high height and a high height bench with an x-height that moves while you play strong is uncomfortable and insecure. It looks for a firm or movable bearing and a adjustable height bench: the height of the seat changes the posture of the hands more than it looks.
Space, Apartment and Neighbors
Before you fall in love with an instrument, measure the place you will live. A digital type of furniture occupies something similar to a narrow desk. A acoustic vertical is deeper, easily more than 200 kilos and needs an inner wall, far from direct sun and kitchen windows.
- Noise in the air: an acoustic is heard in the neighbouring apartments but soft touches. Some vertically have a central timing pedal that goes down quite a while to study.
- Impact noise: Even with hearing aids, the pounding of the keys and pedal goes through the plate. A thick cover or an anti-vibration base under the support helps, especially at high floors.
- Hours: agree with your family and your neighbours with a band to play with speakers and leave their hearing aids for the night.
- Mudanza: an acoustic does not come up any stairwell or fit into any elevator. Check the entrance to the building and hire specialized transport and after the operation, it requires tuning.
- Climate: On hot ground moisture can have the keys stick and the ropes rustle. At Bogotá, temperature changes next to windows also affect them. We tell you how to handle them at how to care and clear a piano.
What to try at the tent, step by step
Do you have to listen without the noise of the place?
- Touch the same key very soft and then very strong. It should change the volume and also the color of the sound.
- Compare a bad end key with an acute one: in a graduated action, bad one feels a little heavier.
- Repeat a quick note several times. The key should come back up without delay or rare noise.
- Fold the pedal, play a chord and release your hands: the sound should be held and turned off at foot rise. Also try to put it half-up.
- Drop the volume and listen to the mechanism: a strong hit or an unequal click greatly annoying with months.
- It connects the hearing aids and confirms that the speakers turn off and that there's no buzzing.
- Sit at the bench you're about to use: forearms have to be more or less parallel to the ground.
- Ask what includes: support, pedal, current adapter, atril and bench. Sometimes they come apart.
Warning signs
- narrow or senseless keys, presented as "ideal for piano learning."
- The keys that are sunk, sound different from their neighbours or they don't sound.
- The speaker vibrates or crosses at medium volume.
- A stand that's staggering as you play with force.
New or used?
A used digital piano can be a good purchase if you check it calmly. A used acoustic as well, but there's a higher risk, because serious problems aren't seen at all.
| What to review | Used Digital Piano | Retirement |
|---|---|---|
| Teclas | The 88's, one by one, soft and strong | That none of them stick or get up slow |
| Pedales | That the maintenance works without noise | That every pedal does his or her function |
| Sonido | Fingerless speakers and hearing aids | General suscitation, notes off or buzzing |
| Estructura | Fitted Connectors and Original Adapter | Clag, harmonic board, hammers and felt: an appraisal by a technician |
| Climate and pests | Not applicable | Moth in felt, oxide in string, broken wood |
If an acoustic does not hold tuning because the clamps are loose in the clamp, the repair can come more expensive than the instrument. That's why it's paid only after a tuning technician's review. To other instruments, check our [new or used instrument's] guide](/blog/instrumento-nuevo-o-usado-que-revisar-antes-de-comprar).
What to choose by age and goal
| Status | Reasonable choice | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| A child from 4 to 6 years old with a musical initiation | 61-key keyboard with standard and touch sensitive size | At this stage we play with pulse, singing and exploration |
| A child from 6 or 7 with piano classes | 88-key digital Piano counteracted | Developes finger force and control from the start |
| Beginner adult | Digital with 88 counterpitted keys, or acoustic with space | Avoid changing instrument a year |
| Popular keyboard, accompaniment or production | Keyboard or controller with good sensitivities | They weigh more the sounds and connections than the weight of the keys |
| Preparation for an admission test | Digital studio range or acoustic, more hours in an acoustic | The hearing's usually an acoustic piano and the touch's been felt. |
If you go to the final row, check our [music preschooler] as well.](/preuniversitario-musica). and if you're gonna start [piano class]](/clases/piano), check with his teacher before buying: Know what his level needs today and within a year.
Frequently asked questions
Can you learn piano with a 61-key keyboard?
For the first few months, yes, especially with small children or to explore. The problem appears when pieces ask for notes outside that range and when fingers get used to light keys: passing to a piano costs monitoring the volume. If you already know that you are going to study piano, start with 88 counterpitted keys.
Can a digital piano be used to study classical piano?
Yes, as long as she has hammer action, good sensitivities and a real pedal. Many students advanced for years with one. The ideal thing is to play from time to time with an acoustic, class or an essay room, to get to know the difference of touch and sound.
What height does the piano bench have to have?
That that allows you to have the forearms more or less parallel to the ground, the dolls up to the keys and feet supported. For children, a adjustable bench and a backpack solve the problem as they grow up.
Is a keyboard with light keys or jobs to learn worth?
They can motivate especially children but they do not replace the essentials: 88 keys, weight and sensitivities. If you have to choose, prioritize touch over extra functions and use applications as a complement to classes, and not as a substitute.