I’m not exactly an accomplished pianist, but I did study piano for a few years in high school, and I’ve missed it ever since – I don’t have a piano of my own, and my mom’s piano is now 2000 miles away, so it’s a bit impractical to pop over there for a quick practice session.
From what I remember of the few times I tried it previously, playing on an electronic keyboard just didn’t feel the same. However, as I currently 1) live in an apartment, and 2) am strapped for cash, an electronic keyboard is probably the only way I can get to play the piano on a regular basis.
So for you pianists out there: is it worth it, or should I just wait until my situation allows me to get an actual piano? Will playing on a keyboard screw me up for regular piano playing? And if I should get a keyboard, which one? I’m totally clueless.
Any advice, guidance, suggestions, etc., are welcome.
You can buy an electronic piano with weighted keys that feel very similar to the feel of a ‘real’ piano.
For example, here is the Yamaha P200 digital piano, boasting weighted keys and other mysterious stuff to make the keys feel natural like a ‘real’ piano.
OTOH:
The Yamaha above goes for about $1800, where a starvation-level piano could be bought or rented for much less. There are probably cheaper, perhaps just-as-good alternatives, but I haven’t kept up with digital piano prices/features.
The sound of any digitial piano, IMHO, doesn’t come within even the ballpark of even a really crappy ‘real’ piano.
I’ve got a Casio CTK-671 (it’s the one that’s in the $199-$299 price range), but I wouldn’t recommend it for serious keyboard-pounders, as I only fool around with it a bit and I’m already noticing that the middle section that gets the most play is starting to feel…different…looser, somehow, so I’m easing up on it.
It’s not intended for serious keyboard-pounders anyway, I realized that when I bought it.
The touch is also quintessential “electronic” keyboard, nothing at all like a real piano.
Suggestion: Find a church that won’t mind if you come in during the week and play their piano. You don’t have to attend there on Sundays–just go in and talk to the secretary and/or the pastor, convince them you’re not going to set fires in the waste baskets or something.
Another suggestion: College music departments sometimes allow you to use their piano practice rooms even if you aren’t actually enrolled there.
Hmm, re-reading your question, here’s some additional thoughts:
Playing a keyboard won’t screw up your technique – at least it won’t screw it up more than not playing at all, which is what you’re doing now. When you move back to a ‘real’ piano, you’ll adapt again fairly quickly; you won’t be maimed for life.
What to buy: a keyboard with piano (and other) tones you find acceptable that has key velocity and as many keys as possible. Forget sustain pedels or other things that you’d use on a real piano. A 61-key keyboard is what you’ll probably end up with in a reasonable price range. I have an older Yamaha PSR5something that is quite fun at times, but I really prefer my piano.
Here is a Yamaha PSR-260 keyboard w/ 61 keys, touch-sensitivity, and what is claimed to be a “Stereo Sampled Grand Piano Voice”, which I’d bet sounds just barely acceptable (but perhaps I’m too picky). Around $150 on Yahoo Shopping. Hard to go wrong at that price.
OTOH, you should probably wander into an electronics or music store and get a demo and play one of these lower-priced beasties and see if you’ll be happy. Buying an instrument that you’ll hate is not a fun experience. For a synth in this price range, I’d recommend buying online rather than through a store.
If you’re going to invest any money, you’ll want at least a 76 key instrument that’s weighted (they tend to come in 61, 76, and 88 key varieties).
I learned on a Yamaha 76 key weighted electric piano, which I was very pleased with. Now, almost 12 years down the road, the action on it is shot, but it was excellent for most of the time I had it. It was something like this.
Note that this has pedals, and speakers built in. Another route would be to just buy a keyboard, like this or this (both 76 keys), or this (an 88 key option). With these though, you’d have to buy a stand, cables, pedal, and an amplifier. While it might come out cheaper, you’ve got to be willing to spend time on setup, and to just deal with something that isn’t an “all-in-one” kind of thing.
If you have the space, I see used upright pianos in the want-ads from $300-500 on a regular basis, a lot of times even less. I even noticed a free one, provided the buyer came and got it. Aren’t they quiet enough for apartment use, potentially? A real piano, if you can get it, is great. If you are aware of the difference between an electronic version of an acoustic instrument and a real one, it’s painfully obvious everytime you play it, in my experience, and the thought will constantly hang over your head throughout your practicing/session/performance. This, of course, is all depending on how you wish to devote yourself to playing. My short answer? Get the real thing, if possible.
As a pretty particular pianist, I’d agree that the Yamaha keys feel fairly close to a “real” console piano.
Your touch wouldn’t be permanantly damanged even with a much worse keyboard, however. (Think of organs!)
I personally would put less value on getting 88 keys than on something that sounds good. That, more than anything else, is liable to shock you, and hurt your playing. Again, a Yamaha is a reasonable option. I had a Kurzweil that sounds considerably better. (I don’t like Yamaha regular pianos, either.)
Add to the cost of a reasonable electronic piano some way of listening to it – the piano’s speakers themselves will not be anywhere near as good a sound as the piano can produce. A $200 set of headphones would be the cheapest way. In an apartment you could play all hours. There’s a Sony model which lifts off the ears completely, so you can hear ambient sounds as well as the piano. Very comfortable.
I would recommend staying away from a 61 key keyboard. I bought Casio 61 Key keyboard, and I find it extremely annoying in that I’m always transpositing it up and down to play various pieces of music. Plus, it gets confusing to have to move your hands to different spots on the keyboard to be able to stay in range for the song.
I think I’d be happy with 76 kets for an entry level piano, but 88 is obviously best.
I liked my 76-key Casio. The keys are not weighted, but I found it very easy to adapt to an acoustic piano when I finally got one. Plus I liked being able to play any time I wanted to, with headphones, in apartments. There were only a few pieces where I had to transpose the bass, and again it was easy to switch back. And I had fun using pedals and an amp. We paid about $900 for it in 1990.
If I were buying a digital piano today, I’d definitely want weighted keys and a transpose function. If I could afford it, I’d get 88 keys, but I’d be happy with 76.
Seconds on DDG’s church and college ideas. My school’s (crappy) practice pianos helped keep me “in shape” when I was a cash-poor student.
Yeah, let me second (or third) the fact that a 61 key keyboard or less will be no end of frustration, and a waste. A five octave range on the piano will limit you immensely. Many many pieces will just not be playable as written.
I have a Korg “Sampling Grand”, 88 keys, about fifteen years old. I like it a lot, but it was expensive: about $2000 in the mid 80’s. Also, you would need a stand ($50 - $100), possibly a bench and an amplifier. (Or you could use an existing chair and headphones if you have them.) It took a proprietary cartridge that added additional sounds, but I don’t believe that anyone ever bought them. There was also a 76 key model.
Don’t know if this model is still around (e-Bay?), but when I shopped for it, I also liked Roland equipment.
My information is probably out of date, but anyway, my point is that you can buy a good keyboard for less than a good piano. Or about the price of any okay piano. I disagree with those who say that the electronic won’t sound good.
The electronic is more portable and doesn’t require tuning. The piano is nicer to look at, and if it breaks, there are actually people who can fix it.
Many “piano” stores now sell both real and electronics. Go and try them out.
I spend a fair amount of time shopping for a weighted key keyboard. It wasn’t so much the sounds I needed but the feel of a real piano. I settled on a Kurzweil PC88 (88 keys). The keys feel the most like a piano then any others I tested. the sounds are pretty good as well. It doesn’t have built in speakers but a pair of self powered computer speakers would fit the bill in a pinch.
The drawback is, it wasn’t cheap. I forget how much I paid at the time but it was in the several grand range. But at the end of the day it’s been a great replacement for my real piano -which has been in storage for 6 years (no space at the old house) and arrives at my new house next week. YEAH!
Considering you are “strapped for cash” you might see about hitting up a few pawn shops or second hand music stores. Who knows what you’ll dig up.
I’ve been bouncing between piano and keyboards for years now and you learn to adapt between the different feels. If you plan on continuing down this dark path, it doesn’t hurt to get comfortable playing both. Much like someone who plays electric and acoustic guitar.
Of course I’m bias, but I say buy the first keyboard you see and play it until your fingers bleed.
Thank you for the advice, everyone. I did check the classified listings in the local paper, and as predicted, there are many upright pianos for sale for $1000 or less – this is well within my price range for a piano. Also, I talked to one of my friends who has had a piano in three previous apartments she’s lived in, and her opinion is that as long as you can fit the piano in somewhere and as long as you’re not obnoxious about playing it after hours, apartment living and pianos go fine together. I know just the bookcase I’m going to move out of the way, too…
Anyway, mostly what decided me is that the keyboards I’d be interested in buying if I went the keyboard route are actually more expensive than some of the used pianos on sale, so I think I will definitely be getting the piano. Now my only question is, whether to continue with lessons or not. Without lessons, I tend to just keep playing the same ten pieces of music that I’m relatively good at, and frankly, I can only expect MrWhatsit to listen to “Maple Leaf Rag” so many times before imploding.
it’s always hard to guess follow what somebody else’s chain of reasoning is as they read through a thread, so I’m not sure who or what you’re responding to, but . . . are you saying that a $1000 upright is a better piano than the Yamaha / Korg / Kurzweil electronic keyboards mentioned here?
That is absolutely not the case. If you’d like a “second” opinion, contact a piano teacher and ask them the best option for an inexpensive piano to learn on. Please!
$1000 upright pianos are not suitable for ANY learner. You’ll be frustrated and unhappy.
partly_warmer, I’m confused. You say that a $1000 piano is unacceptable (why, by the way?) but then say I should call a piano teacher and ask them the best option for an inexpensive piano. So are inexpensive pianos unacceptable or not?
I mean, the Pacific Northwest Ballet often has sales to sell off their used practice pianos, and a few years ago I went down there to test drive one, and it sounded and felt pretty good to me, and was priced at $1600, which is not much above some of the prices I saw in the classifieds. What’s wrong with that?
I think partly_warmer’s concern is that there are a lot of really awful pianos out there, and if you end up with one that is maybe not so hot, you may end up kicking yourself later. Be really sure that the piano you get is one you’ll be happy with for years, because it’ll be a lot harder to resell an actual upright piano than an electric keyboard.
I bought a Technic 88-key electric piano about 10 years ago and I love it. After years taking lessons on a grand, playing gramma’s baby grand, and playing my mother’s upright I didn’t see enough of a difference to not buy it. If anything, my only complaint is that there’s not enough room on top of the piano to put stuff on it.
I bought it for much the same reason you’re looking for one: apartment living. It has a headphone jack so I don’t annoy the neighbors. Also, as I was military, I had to keep weight in mind - the military only allows you so much when you move.
Weighted keys, damper and una corda pedals, .midi compatable, and about 100 pounds. And it’s yours for 500 bucks plus shipping. Damn Carpal-Tunnel…
