Best Digital Pianos For Beginners

How To Choose A Keyboard For Beginners

What keyboard should I buy for beginners? We hear this question all the time, and theres no easy answer. The answer depends, in part, on what the students goals are.A student who wants to compose her own tunes has slightly different needs than a student who plans to transition from a keyboard to a piano .

Having said that, a good beginner keyboard should have certain characteristics.

Acoustic Piano For Beginners

An acoustic piano is a graceful instrument with a rich history a timeless masterpiece that comes with an allure of elegance and prestige. At the hands of skilled musicians, they can create powerful sounds that elicit profound auditory sensations.

Buying the majestic acoustic piano is an ambitious first choice. Its the equivalent of buying a Ferrari as your first car. As a beginner, you simply cant appreciate the qualities of a premium instrument.

While these instruments are a work of art, theyre not the best piano to buy for beginners. Acoustic pianos are far more expensive and take up more space. As far as instruments go, its a BIG investment, and if youre just starting, you wont be able to make the most of an acoustic piano.

An acoustic piano isnt the best instrument to buy as a beginner, but it can serve as a reward for hard work and practice.

Best Digital Pianos For Beginners

There are a few different types of digital pianos for beginners. The most common type is the keyboard piano. Keyboard pianos have a set of keys that you can press to play notes. They also have a set of pedals that you can use to create different sounds.

Another type of digital piano for beginners is the midi piano. Midi pianos use a computer to create the sound of the piano. They usually have a lot of different sounds that you can choose from.

The last type of digital piano for beginners is the acoustic piano. Acoustic pianos use real strings and hammers to create the sound of the piano. They are the most expensive type of digital piano, but they also have the best sound.

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Buying New Keyboards For Beginners

Buying a new keyboard gives you the opportunity to discuss with store staff what type of keyboard is best for your needs. At School of Rock, we offer all the information and accessories you need to make your purchase.

Advantages of a New Keyboard

• More likely to include the features you need
• Usually comes with a good warranty

Disadvantages of a New Keyboard

• They can sometimes be more expensive, although many non-name-brand keyboards are affordably priced

Why Choose Frank And Camilles

Our unparalleled, award-winning staff are true piano professionals, ready to share their expertise in helping you select the perfect piano that meets your needs. From our industry-leading rental program to affordable financing and leasing options, we have the know-how and array of brands and models to help you select the perfect piano at the perfect price.

BIGGEST SELECTION OF NEW PIANOS

Since 1976, Frank and Camilles® has continued the distinctive tradition of showcasing some of the worlds finest instruments from manufacturers spanning the globe.

LOWEST ADVERTISED PRICE GUARANTEE

Frank and Camilles® offers a lowest advertised price guarantee for 90 days. If you find the same new piano for a lower price, Frank and Camilles will refund the difference. Guaranteed!

LIFETIME FULL TRADE-UP OPTION

Frank and Camilles® is the only piano dealership to offer a full trade-up option, giving you the flexibility to upgrade your current piano for a better/bigger model as long as it is double the price you paid for your original piano.

HAND-PICKED COLLECTION OF PRE-OWNED PIANOS

Frank and Camilles® offers the widest array of Certified Pre-Owned pianos and used pianos, including those sold on consignment, showcasing an unparalleled selection of pianos in every style and at every price.

AFFORDABLE PAYMENT OPTIONS

“TRY BEFORE YOU BUYâ PIANO RENTAL PROGRAM

MASTER PIANO TECHNICIANS

TOP QUALIFIED PIANO TEACHERS

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Top 10 Best Digital Piano For Beginners

One of the most common questions my Piano students ask me is which is the best digital piano for beginners should I buy. You must buy a piano that is beginner-friendly and affordable at the same time. I did some initial research of 20 odd keyboards and digital pianos and came out with my list of the 10 best digital pianos for beginners.

These digital pianos are selected based on 7 criteria and they are as follows:

Best Performance: Yamaha Dgx660

Including the DGX660 in this list of the best digital piano for a beginner is cheating a bit. This is a beast of a machine that’s often more at home in mid-range and even professional roundups.

But I understand that there are some beginners out there with the budget for a truly serious experience. And if that’s you, you would fall in love with the DGX660. It’s not just the best beginner digital piano it’s the best mid-range, intermediate piano as well.

Design

The size and the weight of this digital piano do not make it very portable. Aside from the size, it comes with accessories like a matching stand, and it is quite easy to install. It comes in black and white hues.

It comes with an LCD screen that we observed made it easier to use the keyboard. The screen display lessons and other things that make it great for beginners.

Performance

The weighted keys make it easy to use this piano. Weighted keys are great for beginners as it helps them when they graduate to using similar keys on professional pianos.

The sound from the keyboard is quite clear and sound convincing. It comes with 10 different piano sounds and a plethora of other instruments sounds.

It gives a realistic piano experience and has many useful features. One particular feature that we like is the ability to use a microphone to amplify your voice.

What We Dont Like

For beginners, the amount of features that this piano comes with can be intimidating. It is also relatively heavy.

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How We Test Digital Pianos

It’s essential that we put the instruments through several tests to ensure they are worthy of being included in this guide to the best digital pianos. There are so many digital pianos on the market, and only the instruments we rate highly will make it on the list.

The first test – and most important for us – is how the piano feels to play. This is, of course, a combination of the key action as well as the feel of the physical key. To test the key action, we’ll first play the piano at various dynamics – and musical styles – to see how the instrument responds. A good digital piano should feel as close to an acoustic piano as possible and most definitely not like a keyboard.

This goes hand in hand with the texture of the keys themselves. The best digital pianos go out of their way to recreate the feel of real ivory and ebony, resulting in a more authentic playing experience.

Next up is the sound. We will carefully go through the list of inbuilt voices while paying close attention to the frequency range of the speakers. A real piano produces a massive range of tones, from extreme lows to fierce highs, and while a digital can’t recreate this perfectly, we should be getting close with today’s technology. It’s also important to try the piano via headphones, as this is how many players will practice.

Top 5 Best Digital Pianos

Each digital piano is ranked in relation to a number of characteristics and features such as: key sensitivity, key quantity, speaker quality, sound, polyphony and many more.

These must all be taken into account when forming an opinion on any specific model. Reaching a decision is very difficult, especially when youre just beginning.

Because selecting the right piano can obviously be pretty time consuming, weve done most of the heavy lifting for you.

Weve reviewed several digital pianos in different price and complexity ranges. After careful comparison, we decided to further mention these models among our best digital piano picks. We decided to include options for beginners, advanced and professional level musicians alike.

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Best Digital Pianos With 88 Weighted Keys Conclusion

Digital pianos are great for students, hobbyists, recording musicians, and even pros, depending on the application. They are less cumbersome than acoustic pianos, are more portable, tend to come with more tonal options than an acoustic piano , and are usually more affordable.

Are they great for everything? No. But most pianists tend not to haul an entire grand piano around when gigging. If theyre a concert pianist, they probably didnt have to move the grand piano into place in the first place.

Digital pianos are getting better and better over time, and will continue to evolve and inspire pianists and keyboard players.

P.S. Remember though, none of what you’ve learned will matter if you don’t know how to get your music out there and earn from it. Want to learn how to do that? Then get our free 5 Steps To Profitable Youtube Music Career’ ebook emailed directly to you!

The Difference Between Keyboards & Digital Pianos

Keyboards typically have more sounds, cheap plastic keys, and usually start at a more budget-friendly price.

Digital pianos, on the other hand, generally have weighted keys, which help tremendously while learning how to play the piano properly.

Both keyboards and digital pianos can be portable, but I highly suggest starting on a digital piano as a beginner.

If youre a beginner but cant afford the following options, check out my roundup of the best digital pianos for under $300.

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The 8 Best Keyboards And Digital Pianos For Beginners In 2022

Choosing the best keyboard for beginners can make the difference between sticking with it or giving up. We have reviewed keyboards and digital pianos for all levels and budgets, but that first keyboard is often the most important.

Our list of beginner-friendly choices has something to offer all ages, budgets, and expectations.

Baldwin Pianos The Interior Designer’s Piano Of Choice

Baldwin pianos come exquisitely crafted to enhance the interior design of any room suitable for a piano. Interior Designers have long appreciated the vibrantly rich finishes to complement the look and feel of their designs. A Baldwin piano’s cabinetry is available in traditional, modern and transitional designs, along with these handcrafted finishes: high-polish ebony, high-polish mahogany, high-polish walnut, high-polish white and satin ebony.

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Buying A Piano For Beginners: A Keyboard Instrument For Your Home

There are three basic categories of piano keyboard instruments. The largest and most expensive, and also the best when it comes to developing piano skills, are the acoustic pianos. There are also many good digital pianos, which are smaller, less expensive, and do a decent job of mimicking the sound and feel of an acoustic instrument. A third category, the electronic keyboard, is the least expensive option, but an electronic keyboard may not have the right touch to develop hand strength for a beginning pianist, or enough keys to play a wide range of music.

and receive over 300 video lessons accessible on any smart device.

What Should I Look For In A Digital Piano

Though the basic functionality of a digital piano is comparable across the board, they arent all the same. There are different brands and models, different types of keys, different speaker systems, different sounds and effects, and so on.

So, whats right for another may not be right for you. Its worth doing a little bit of research and digging before you decide.

Here are a few questions that can help you decide on a digital piano.

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Sound Quality And Other Sound Options

Mainly, we purchase the best digital piano for kids to play the piano sound.

But, having many different sound options are a delight, too. This lets your kids creativity run wild.

You have to remember that since your kid is just beginning to learn the piano, its important to get the one that sounds just like a real traditional piano. This way, he/she will have an idea of what the real deal is like.

Whats The Best Digital Piano For Beginners

When it comes to musical instruments, the choices are endless. How do you decide which one is right for you, especially if youre just getting started? In the case of pianos, there are so many different types and manufacturers that its almost impossible to figure out which way to go.

Digital pianos are an excellent option for players at all levels, not just beginners. They have the same number of keys as a real piano, are much, much lighter than real pianos, they dont take up much space in your house, and, because they are electronic, you dont need to worry about tuning.

So where do you begin? How exactly do you select the best digital piano for a beginner? Well, lets start with some basics.

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How To Choose A Digital Piano For Beginners

As the price of digital pianos varies from $200 to several thousand, so its important to set a budget before considering other factors.

If your budget is under $500, then you can choose digital pianos with acceptable high-quality sound and relatively realistic touch and feel. If your budget is about $1000, you dont need to compromise the quality. The digital pianos in this price range often come with more realistic sound and authentic touch compared with digital pianos under $500. For a beginner who wants to learn to play the piano seriously, key action and sound quality matter a lot.

After setting your budget, taking space, portability, educational functionality, and other tech features including Bluetooth MIDI connectivity and recording function into consideration. Together with the reviews of 10 digital pianos above, youll find your favorite one!

Whats The Difference Between A Keyboard And A Digital Piano

When people talk about keyboards and digital pianos, it can get a bit confusing for a newbie. You think you understand, then you start to hear terms like keyboard piano, and you are back to square one.To keep things simple, lets start with the most obvious difference. Keyboards are portable instruments, and digital pianos are often stationary because they have a wooden stand or cabinet.

Its important to know there are exceptions a digital piano might come with a detachable wooden stand, turning it into a portable keyboard. But, at a basic level, one is portable, and one is stationary.

The next difference is that a digital piano will almost always have 88 keys just like a real piano. However, a portable keyboard can have anything from 25 keys to 88 keys. Digital pianos usually have weighted keys to simulate the feel of a real piano. Keyboards tend to have non-weighted, velocity-sensitive keys until they start going beyond 61 keys, then many are weighted.

Keyboards usually have many more sounds/voices than digital pianos, covering a far wider range of instruments. Digital pianos tend to have a handful of sounds but focus mainly on a strong piano tone.

Everything about a typical digital piano, from the sound to the look, is meant to create the impression of sitting at a real piano. If you hear terms like keyboard piano that bundle both together, you can think of it as a portable keyboard that focuses mainly on a piano sound and feel .

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Skip All Fancy Features

In the must have feature list for digital pianos, you get quality keys.

In the good to have list, you have sound engine, 88 keys, and learning tools .

Finally, in the nice to have but not necessary list you have all the features marketers like to trumpet on sales pages: 256-note polyphony, hundreds of built-in sounds, etc.

The first of these oft-marketed fancy features is 256-note polyphony. On paper, it sounds great you can play 256-notes at the same time!

But unless you’re a centipede, you’re not going to ever have a situation where you need to have 256-sounds playing simultaneously.

The most you truly need is 128-note polyphony. And even entry-level digital pianos offer that.

The next: built-in sounds.

This is another good on paper feature. Who wouldn’t want a digital piano that can play organ, xylophone, clavichord and harpsichord sounds?

Except that most of these built-in sounds are usually cheap . Moreover, outside of novelty situations, you’ll almost never want to play a harpsichord.

If you’re getting these features without paying extra, go ahead and get them.

But if you’re being charged a premium because of these features, choose something else.

How Much Does A Digital Keyboard Piano Cost

Let’s talk dollars – a portable keyboard piano can cost you anywhere between $50 and $1000, or more! The price difference determines features, build, sound quality, number of effects, brand, and much more!

Since we’ve specifically curated this list for people looking for budget-friendly portable keyboard options, you’ll find most of our selected keyboards in the $50 – $200 range.

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The One Smart Piano 88

The ONE Smart Piano is the oddball on this list, because its designed specifically for practice. It features a free app that gives you access to video lessons, sheet music, and games. It also has built-in LED lights, which show you which notes to play next. It has 88 weighted keys, professional stereo sound, three piano pedals, and is made for beginners. It doesnt come with a bench, so you may want to add that to your purchase if you opt for this unit.

To be fair, the cost might be a slight bit prohibitive for a beginner, and while customers have had good things to say about this offering via The ONE, it isnt quite as highly rated as other pianos mentioned here.

Since it is a tech-heavy unit compared to the others, its fair to say there may be a few glitches too, but in most cases, it should be functional.