Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Just bought Williams Symphony for $400

Hi everyone, I am new here, and I just bought my first piano which is a Williams Symphony. I know it's not the best but I got it for $400 from a neighbor (the piano has a few months of use and actually it still have the pedal plastic covers and the clear plastic cover in the display, so practically is a new item.

Do you think I can learn on that digital piano or should I definitely buy another one? I am 27 years old and new to playing piano but not new to music, I already play trumpet, guitar, harmonica and flute.

Thanks in advance for your advice/comments/encouragements/complaints/etc...

Leonardo.

It's fine to learn on. Do it for a year and then re-evaluate the situation. 10 years ago I bought a $200 61 key unweighted Yamaha keyboard. After sticking with it for a couple of years (learning the "fake" technique from books and piddling around) I invested $2200 in a Yamaha PF-500 DP which is still my primary instrument today (though I have it connected to Pianoteq for better sound). You can always upgrade.

You know what learning a new instrument is like then. First you have to learn how to move your fingers and for example the "shape" of chords on the fretboard. Then later you worry abut fine points like tone and expression. I think to learn these finer point on a Piano you need weighted keys. If your piano has decent weighted keys you're set, for a while at least. If it lacks the weighted keys then it can serve you a little shorter time

Thanks for your comments Alpha.

I will do as you say, keep this Williams for a year and then consider again about upgrading.

what do you mean by "fake" technique? I don't understand.

thanks

Leo.

Hello ChrisA, thanks for your comments. It has weighted keys actually.

I do know how is to learn a new instrument but I've read a lot about learning piano and many people say that it is very important to start with a decent piano, and actually I think that for any instrument is better to start with a decent one, not the best, but sometimes is discouraging to feel you are learning very slow or just can't make the instrument sound good just because of a bad quality instrument. Even I've read comments saying that learning in a "normal" electronic keyboard is almost useless when you actually play a real piano. I don't know if that is absolutely true but it is what I've read.

I think the new concept for me with piano is the bass clef, I've never read music in key of F before, and I get confused sometimes because I am very used to read music only in normal G key.

Anyway... these are the complete specs of the Williams Symphony:


* Console style piano with keycover, pedalboard, and modesty panel
* 88-note keyboard with genuine hammer action
* 4 levels of touch sensitivity
* 32-note polyphony
* Transpose pitch up or down up to 24 semitones
* 138 voices
* 10 drum/percussion kits
* Split and dual modes
* Reverb and chorus effects
* Metronome
* 3-track/4-song sequencer
* 10 demo songs
* 50 practice songs with accompaniment/melody (songbook included)
* 100 auto-accompaniment styles
* 16-character LCD display
* 2 x 20W stereo speakers
* MIDI I/O
* Stereo line out
* Stereo line in
* 2 stereo headphone outputs
* Microphone input
* USB device port (MIDI via USB)
* Sustain, sostenuto and soft pedals
* Dark woodgrain PVC finish
* Music rest

regards

Leo.

Looks like a great deal for $400.

Enjoy learning a new instrument!

Cheers,
James
x

Congratulations on your new piano! I haven't actually tried a Williams because they're not sold in my country, but people have reported that they aren't exactly top-notch. However, I'm surprised at the specs you provided...seems quite good, even with the 32 note polyphony. I wish my DPs had 128 voices too! I don't think you'll have to replace it soon. Maybe a couple of years down the road, if not more. I think the most important thing for a beginner are the weighted keys, and in that sense you already have the advantage than if you started out with a cheap unweighted keyboard. From personal experience, I can say that learning on those is almost useless once you play on a real acoustic. But as I always say, I'd rather have a perfectly working digital piano than play a crappy acoustic.

The hardest thing about piano is learning to read those 2 clefs and coordinating your hands at the same time! I'm still working on that (beginner that I am), but it does get better with practice. Good luck and happy learning!

Hey Marimorimo, thanks for the nice comments. yo know, I feel right now like I want to eat the whole world, do you understand?
like i want to learn to play all Beethoven in one day. I am so excited about learning piano. I've always said that is the most complete instrument because you can play simply everything on a piano, and in most other instruments you can't (except for guitar that is another great and super complete instrument).

Many times before I listened a nice tune in my mind in my imagination and feel that I just needed a piano to express what I have in my mind, some tunes sound great on the guitar or flute, but the piano has a very unique quality, I think you all in this forum understand very well what I am talking about...

I hope I expressed myself good, because my primary language is not English, as I live in Mexico.

Leo.

I have a Suzuki SS90 which supposedly is related to the Williams.
It is built like a tank and has lots of volume.
They tend to be a bit fragile around the plug ins, so don't trip over your cords.
This digital piano should be fine to get your study going and I would think would be fine up through say Grade 6 of the ABRSM grades.
www.abrsm.org

The "fake" technique is playing chords with the left and hand melody / improvisation with the right hand. i don't like the term "fake" because it's not really... fake.

I "faked" for many years. I started taking piano lessons less than 3 months ago and my first recital is in 3 days. I created the backing track using the "fake" knowledge I've aquired (and my teacher wants me to play live with that jazz combo track for two different recital groups).

If I hadn't done all that "faking" I would not be at this level in 3 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cc43GWXlOc

By the specs you've listed you have a pretty decent piano. You should not be needing to upgrade until at some point you just don't like the tone of the instrument.

The advice about not learning on a "normal keyboard" is not bad (it is the standard ultra-conservative advice) but yours is not a normal keyboard because of the "hammer action" keys.

Normal "synth action" keys offer no resistance to being pushed and are best used for playing non-piano sounds, like woodwind, strings or whatever.