Hello,

Can you guys offer some piano suggestions based on my situation outlined below:

I am a rock musician and songwriter, drummer first and foremost, and keyboards & sequencing as well in my band. I'm 35 yrs old. I only recently started formal training last November using the John Thompson Adult Book 1 which I'm 85% through. Priot to this I learned playing by ear and intuitively. I use the piano a lot to write songs and that's the main goal with lessons... to become a more fluid player so as to be help my song ideas as they come.

Piano-wise I recently purchased a Baldwin Hamilton upright as a starter piano to get the ball rolling on an acoustic piano right away.

Now that I have the Baldwin I'm trying to set my next goal to save up for a better piano, specifically a baby grand or grand piano that is decent quality for my needs. Again I won't be a concert pianist, that's not my goal. I'll only ever use it to write songs and record on our albums, as well as practice for my weekly lessons.

So if I were to save up money towards a baby grand or grand, what are your recommendations? I know that a vague question will yield vague answers so with that said, being that I don't know much about pianos, here are my basic tonal & aesthetic piano preferences:

* I generally like warmer, darker tones with nice bass, not interested in a very bright piano. I like satin ebony finish for sure. Budget-wise I'm not sure but is $7-$10k a decent budget to work towards for something decent?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated, thanks!

Start saving and go shopping!

If you are considering a used grand, you might find something which will suit you within your budget.

For a new piano, there are some excellent grands, with the tone you prefer, in the $15-20K range.

Yes feel free to recommend used models too, I'm definitely open to that, so long as its in good condition and still young in age like maybe a few years old is ok.

John,

The best thing to do is to start shopping around and see which brands appeal to you. The dealerships are there for test drives. At this point, its better if you become familiar with all sorts of pianos and then you can start to narrow it down.

Also, "the A&D Piano Buyer" is a good way to start your shopping adventure. Then, if you are in a larger city, you will have lots of pianos to play and hear.

(You did well with the Hamilton.)

I suggest going for something a little bigger than a baby grand. I'm not sure that will satisfy you.

Thanks PhantomFive, yes I've been wondering about this and still trying to figure out if a grand or baby grand will meet my needs as a songwriter.

Although I know that some baby grands are able to produce a really good range in the bass (some even better than lower end grands), I'm wondering what will suit me the best. I played a Yamaha baby grand GB1 I believe, the other day and it sounded pretty good. But my piano teacher has a Yamaha grand and whenever I go there for my weekly lesson, I always notice the nice low, warm bass. But I'm wondering if certain baby grand models shine in the area of warm, low tones even the lower bass notes?

Still debating this one, but again open to suggestion. Would love some model recommendations as I research this further in stores as you guys have kindly suggested.

Best.

Marty thanks for the recommendation. I just checked out the Piano Buyer site per your suggestion, tons of pages here... where should I start navigating to on this page to get the ball rolling on my research?

John,

You might start with pages 42 & 43 which are the general prices by categories. I always buy a print copy because there is so much info and I find it much easier to page around and browse.

Update: I went yesterday and played some baby grands and grands at some stores here in L.A.

I think that a baby grand will suit my needs as a songwriter, although the grands definitely sounded great too.

A couple models I'm considering are the Kawai KG-1, or the Yamaha G1 or GH1.

Some of the Kawai's I played sounded pretty darn good and had that darker, warmer, mellower tone going that I like. But the Yamaha's sounded good too.

Any other models comparable to the KG-1, G1 & GH1 that you suggest I play and compare with these 3 as a starting point?