What piano should I buy?
A look at the differences between acoustic pianos, digital pianos and keyboards.
This is the first of a two blog post concerning buying a piano and all of its perils. It’s a small question, but one that has many answers and it all depends on you — the piano player. Every player, or aspiring player, must ask themselves a few questions before you even begin to start searching for pianos to buy. In fact, this is the humble beginning for most players.
I wrote this little guide to (hopefully) help you make the best decision for your level right now. But, always remember, a player’s needs change over time and pianos aren’t the most portable of instruments! Here’s a couple questions that we should all keep in mind when searching for the best instrument to meet our needs, be it upright, keyboard or baby-grand:
What level do you play at?
What do you want to use the piano for? Composing, song writing, performance, improving technical ability, learning to play the instrument?
Do you have space and the time to play an acoustic piano without complaints from neighbours, housemates, family or siblings?
Are you playing for yourself or others? Do you wish to become professional performer, composer, songwriter, teacher in piano?
What is your price range?
So let’s unpack these quickly for you all. If you’re a beginner, it’s not as important to have an acoustic piano within the first year or two. Having weekly access to an acoustic piano with your teacher should suffice to keep progress moving. That being said, a weighted-key digital piano is really the only suitable alternative for players. A keyboard, unfortunately, doesn’t provide the same feel and responsiveness required to really progress at piano.
A keyboard is only really, at most, a stop-gap for a few weeks. Without the weighted keys the student will not progress on the acoustic piano, they will progress at keyboard, which is fine but that is not the instrument or style they originally wished to learn to play. Weighted keys mean they require the same, or comparable, pressure to depress a key as on an acoustic piano. As with most things in life, there are varying price levels, and all brands are not equal. I’m always happy to share my recommendations with people, and may actually write a post in the future about my preferences!
However, if you really love the keyboard you bought, and are not inspired to play classical or jazz music, then the lessons need to change not the instrument. The weighted keys issue only matters for people wishing to get to certain levels of jazz or classical technique on the piano. If you, or your student, do not want to work towards this level of technical ability yet, or even ever, then do not worry about weighted keys. Feel free to go in the direction of stage pianos and keyboards. Again, these vary in quality and price enormously so due diligence is required.
Stage pianos and keyboards are great for some styles
Stage pianos and keyboards are everywhere, popularised by DJs, pop-artists, rock musicians — quite literally everyone across the spectrum. For instance, the popular electronic band — Disclosure — well known for their work with vocalist Sam Smith, utilise keyboards and stage pianos as part of their live show.
For those into heavier genres like Rock, Metal and Opera combined, Dream Theatre are an excellent group to look at. The band use keyboards and stage pianos in a modern approach to heavier genres and are all top level performing musicians. Groups like these can give a beginner an idea of just how far you can go with keyboards and other effects nowadays, rather than considering classical piano performances or jazz the be-all-or-end-all.
What do I have?
I, myself, have both a weighted key digital piano, of the lower-quality price bracket, and a beautiful Kawai upright acoustic piano which is played daily. The digital piano is used for composing and other tasks, like sight reading with the headphones on, so as not to disturb others. That being said, I, personally, love my acoustic piano.
I’m lucky enough to be able to play it at any time during the day without disturbing others. So, although a higher quality weighted-key digital piano is on the cards, it is not needed right now. I do prefer my acoustic over the digital piano and would choose to play that before the digital in most instances. Although my preferences may shift with a high-quality digital piano, I’m not entirely sure of that and would worry that an expensive keyboard may be left for days at a time collecting dust.
Circumstances do change though, and if I had to work on technique, musicianship and feel of pieces on a digital piano I would opt to buy the best I could afford at the highest quality. Such digital pianos can be the same price as buying an acoustic piano new. The level at which I play (above grade 8), and the pieces I study and practice, introduce certain constraints on piano-choice. I, like most more advanced pianists, would do myself an injury trying to play these complex pieces on a cheap digital piano every day.
Why is this the case?
The cheaper digitals don’t have the same resistance in the keys as a wooden weighted-key digital piano, and even less so compared with an acoustic. Wooden-key digital pianos are, as you would expect, in the higher price bracket. They are also much heavier and not as portable as standard keyboards or digital stage pianos.
The main benefit of the cheaper digital piano is that the headphones can be put on and the child or adult can play and practise without disturbing others, and this helps for those who are very self-aware of their playing in the beginning. They are also fantastic for those interested in composing and/or song writing as most of them can act as a midi keyboard, and you can record much easier from a digital piano then from an acoustic piano. Recording an acoustic piano requires microphones — yes, plural if you want to capture the underside of the piano in your recording — and is, therefore, costlier and more time consuming.
Unfortunately, after anywhere from a year to two years, depending on the student, or if they are continuing above Grade 5 in classical piano or jazz piano, they will suffer considerably with cheaper keyboards. Without an acoustic piano or wooden-weighted keyboard to play daily, they will never get to the same level of technique mastery. This is the real drawback of the lower price range, non-wooden weighted-key digital pianos over time.