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I have had keyboard lessons for 1,5 years now and I've come to the conclusion that piano music is more of my style. I want to take piano lessons. Do I need to buy a piano? Do I need to start from the ground again? And for what price range do I need to think and are there cheaper but still perfect alternatives? Are there any other things I need to keep in mind?

EDIT: My budget is very low since i am just 14 years old and my parents don't a big piano. What do electric pianos cost and do they sound just as good as a real one?

eli brouwers
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I have played and loved playing both a Nord Electro and a Korg SV-1, so I am no detractor of electronic keyboards. However, there is a significant difference, in my view, when playing an acoustic piano - or at least a certain sort of acoustic piano.

The sort I mean has two features: acceptable key and pedal action, and pleasing tone.

There are many new and even expensive pianos that have neither. There are pianos people are trying to give away on Craig's List today that have both. Much like finding the love of your life, it requires you to look and it requires you to be lucky.

The only sort of piano I would warn you away from is a spinet. The best of them I have ever played lack both my requirements. Anyone who has had a different experience, please chime in. There are exceptions to everything in the world, are there not?

But there is something about my old 1924 upright, purchased almost 30 years ago for $900. It is a structure made mostly of wood. When I sit down at it, I sense the living material that welcomes me onto the bench, and sonically, into its arms.

The subtleties of touch and tone that an acoustic piano offers, the range of expression, feels grander, and yet smaller - perhaps more subtly scalable from subtlety to grandeur. If I could carry the thing to every gig, I would not hesitate.

As user18834 indicates, the point of contact between the instrument and you is your fingers - though your foot on the pedals is important, too. But given the way the sound swims around you, it is much more of a whole body - perhaps a whole soul - experience.

So, seek out the best piano you can acquire given your means. And the best will feel the best - great touch, tone that moves you, from the lowest to the highest key on the board. Don't jump at the first one that might do - hold out for the right one. You will play it the rest of your life.

memphisslim
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  • The grand piano in my university music hall used to take me places no other instrument ever has. Hours would pass in what seemed like minutes. – Dave Engineer Feb 11 '15 at 17:32
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In many cases they are the same and in fact I would consider the differences between them to be similar to the differences between an electric and acrostic guitar.

The two biggest difference is that keyboards tend to be unweigthed (although keyboards with weighted keys do exist) where in a piano they are always weighted and piano tends to make more use of pedals then a keyboard does. Most people who start learning to play piano use a keyboard to practice as it is more practical to buy and move around.

Most idea's like scales, chords, ect are exactly the same. There are only a few things that I think would change and that also would depend on what styles you are going to play. For example hand independence is typically a lot more important in piano music then keyboard music.

Dom
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All of the sound energy in a piano comes from your fingers. That requires a certain finger strength and will also provide a lot of opportunity for poignant play and constent articulation that is much less prevalent with typical keyboards, both regarding the keyboard action itself as well as the typical music's tendency to exploit it.

A hybrid form would be an electric piano with mechanical action like the Fender Rhodes.

user18834
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