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Hi,
My son started piano classes and teacher suggested to buy a simple weighted keyboard full size. i am confused with all the options and extras outthere. any help?
what features are important or i should be looking for? so far i know that i need 88 keys and weighted keyboard. i cannot afford to buy a piano, neither do i want to keep upgrading the DP in few yrs. i want one good one which my son can use for lessons/practice for the coming years.

Thanks!

Hi Nila. I purchased a Casio Celviano AP-220 from Amazon.com for just $900 and am extremely pleased with it. It's a full sized digital piano with weighted keys. Very nice.

I sure like my Yamaha P95, around 549. Casio Privia PX-130 pretty cool, too. Similar price, but three free goodies from Musician's Friend with no sales tax and no shipping. Keyboards feel similar to me, but there is an ongoing debate on which is better. I like both.

Frank

88 weighted keys is the minimum for any serious study. Beyond that starts to get intom how much do you want to spend, personal preferences on touch, bells and whistles, etc.

Thanks will look into that model, but 900 is little too much for me i guess.

Yup, even i have been debating between casio PX130 and yamaha P95. i am planning to go and check it in the store, never tried both of those, just checking reviews online only. casio looks a nice deal money wise, but dh likes the yamaha. will check this musician's friend website, never been there.

when i add the stand, pedal and bench it all adds up$$. how important is the pedal, sometimes i see 3 pedal and sometimes just 1 pedal which one should i buy? or can i buy it later after few months?

how are other brands like roland,korg..?

Thanks!

I've tried the Korg SP-170 and it is in my opinion a very good piano for the price. It has a powerfull sound and the keyboard touch is nice.

What I would suggest is that you get a 61-key unweighted portable keyboard to start off with. In the US these can be bought new for less than $100 (make sure it comes with the factory AC adaptor included in the box, because finding an adaptor with a jack that fits the keyboard jack can be almost impossible once you buy one). In the US, it is not uncommon for kids to take several years of classical lessons on one. They have little problem adapting to the upright or grand piano in the teacher's studio.

These don't have pedals, but your son won't be using the pedal for several months anyway. You only need one pedal, the right one on an upright or grand piano. The left and middle pedals don't need to be used in a lifetime of playing--I've never used anything but the right pedal in more than 30 yrs. of playing.

The dropout rate in piano is very high, so it makes sense to start off with something inexpensive to see how the student takes to the piano. If, after several months, or even several yrs., of playing, your son seems to take to the instrument, then you can look into getting something more elaborate. To give you some perspective on prices, I'm an experienced player and I use a Williams Overture digital console that I bought sight-unseen online in 2009 for $600. This is one of the cheapest digital consoles around, and yet I find it adequate for playing anything, from jazz improvisation to the biggest concertos.

Any of the Korg, Yamaha or Casio should be fine. I have the Casio PX-330 (same keyboard and basic sounds as the 130) and as long as there is access to a real piano at times it really should be good enough for pre-college/university work.

It comes with a cheap pedal that should suffice when starting from scratch. The left pedal does get used a fair bit (on a grand piano it shifts the action so the hammers only hit one key rather than three, but on most DPs it just quietens the sound, like it does on a typical upright piano). The right pedal lifts all the dampers up so the sound continues for longer and resonates other strings, its over use can muddy the sound as too many notes sustain and can be used as a crutch to hide sloppy keyboard technique. As the need arises, which I wouldn't think would be for two to three years at the earliest you could get a 3 pedal set, someway down the road when the investment of time has been made so you know the commitment is there.

As regards the potential for future upgrading, as you'll see from the NAMM threads there is still a lot of development in the DP world, so being committed to a low cost machine for sau 7/8 years if/when you reach the stage of feeling you really need to spend more money on a better quality machine you will a) have more money to spend and b) will be buying the new top of the range technology some years down the line when you really need it rather than today's top of the range technology which you don't really need for a number of years.

Don't spend $900 on a Casio. The the PX130 is the same thing (as far as your needs go) and is 1/2 the price.

What you care about for this use is only the quality of the key action. In fact you answered your own question with your first post. the teach said "simple weighted keyboard" because all the other features don't matter if the goal is to lean piano. So you don't need a weighted keyboard AND $500 of extras. No, wood-look case, he will not be using more than one pedal for years. Well do buy a stand and a bench, and decent headphones.

If you can spend about $1,000 or $1,500 then you can get into a better class of weighted key action. Above that price pianos with better key action are available. But below $1K, just go with either the PX130 or P95, I'm more of a Yamaha fan but at the $500 price point I think the Casio has better keys. Opinion varies so try each of them see which compares bast to the teacher's piano.

Hi Gyro,
Teacher is very particular abt the 88 weighted keyboard. yep my kid is very excited initially to learn anything new, then the interest goes downs, so if he doesn't continue i am hoping atleast my little girl might learn down the lane,just hoping they would both learn and i am also practicing along with my son.

Thankyou for telling me abt the pedal, good idea to buy it later, if he really continues the lessons.
Good point abt the DP development in future yrs and investing in a good one once they learn well.

What is wood look case? do u mean the stand?
Yes i am planning to buy the stand, bench and headphones along with the keyboard.



Thankyou everyone for the suggestions. hopefully this weekend i will go and check the casio 130 and yamaha p95.

Thanks!
Nila

Hi,
Thanks to everyone here. I finally ordered the P95 bundle. eagerly waiting for it.
Thanks!
Nila