Buying a piano

[UCGal]

NicMM – can you hire your kid’s piano instructor to inspect potential piano’s? That’s what we did. We sent her the craigslist ads – some she could look at the picture and reject outright based on something she saw. She came out with us when we bought the piano in Carmel Valley – she played it, made sure it was in good shape, well tuned, etc.

[CBad]

[quote=NicMM]CBad, what kind of keyboard do you have? Do you recommend it?[/quote]

It’s a Yamaha YPG535 and yes I would recommend it. I inherited this from my brother (bought it for his daughter who ended up quitting). From my perspective it sounds great and has a pretty decent feel. The keys are semi weighted so it’s not as much like an acoustic as the pricier keyboards with fully weighted keys. It has a ton of features that I never use but my kids like playing around with them. The one feature I like is recording songs. My kids are good at learning by ear so they like me to play and record a song to help them learn it. Since this was given to me, I didn’t shop around and compare so I don’t know if I would have bought this particular one or not. But for what you need it for it will do the job.

[CBad]

[quote=NicMM]CBad, what kind of keyboard do you have? Do you recommend it?[/quote]

It’s a Yamaha YPG535 and yes I would recommend it. I inherited this from my brother (bought it for his daughter who ended up quitting). From my perspective it sounds great and has a pretty decent feel. The keys are semi weighted so it’s not as much like an acoustic as the pricier keyboards with fully weighted keys. It has a ton of features that I never use but my kids like playing around with them. The one feature I like is recording songs. My kids are good at learning by ear so they like me to play and record a song to help them learn it. Since this was given to me, I didn’t shop around and compare so I don’t know if I would have bought this particular one or not. But for what you need it for it will do the job.

[CBad]

[quote=NicMM]CBad, what kind of keyboard do you have? Do you recommend it?[/quote]

It’s a Yamaha YPG535 and yes I would recommend it. I inherited this from my brother (bought it for his daughter who ended up quitting). From my perspective it sounds great and has a pretty decent feel. The keys are semi weighted so it’s not as much like an acoustic as the pricier keyboards with fully weighted keys. It has a ton of features that I never use but my kids like playing around with them. The one feature I like is recording songs. My kids are good at learning by ear so they like me to play and record a song to help them learn it. Since this was given to me, I didn’t shop around and compare so I don’t know if I would have bought this particular one or not. But for what you need it for it will do the job.

[CBad]

[quote=NicMM]CBad, what kind of keyboard do you have? Do you recommend it?[/quote]

It’s a Yamaha YPG535 and yes I would recommend it. I inherited this from my brother (bought it for his daughter who ended up quitting). From my perspective it sounds great and has a pretty decent feel. The keys are semi weighted so it’s not as much like an acoustic as the pricier keyboards with fully weighted keys. It has a ton of features that I never use but my kids like playing around with them. The one feature I like is recording songs. My kids are good at learning by ear so they like me to play and record a song to help them learn it. Since this was given to me, I didn’t shop around and compare so I don’t know if I would have bought this particular one or not. But for what you need it for it will do the job.

[CBad]

[quote=NicMM]CBad, what kind of keyboard do you have? Do you recommend it?[/quote]

It’s a Yamaha YPG535 and yes I would recommend it. I inherited this from my brother (bought it for his daughter who ended up quitting). From my perspective it sounds great and has a pretty decent feel. The keys are semi weighted so it’s not as much like an acoustic as the pricier keyboards with fully weighted keys. It has a ton of features that I never use but my kids like playing around with them. The one feature I like is recording songs. My kids are good at learning by ear so they like me to play and record a song to help them learn it. Since this was given to me, I didn’t shop around and compare so I don’t know if I would have bought this particular one or not. But for what you need it for it will do the job.

[TemekuT]

[quote=briansd1]Great thread. Good to know that there’s musical talent around.

I wish I played the piano.[/quote]

Never too late. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a grand piano and lessons.

[TemekuT]

[quote=briansd1]Great thread. Good to know that there’s musical talent around.

I wish I played the piano.[/quote]

Never too late. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a grand piano and lessons.

[TemekuT]

[quote=briansd1]Great thread. Good to know that there’s musical talent around.

I wish I played the piano.[/quote]

Never too late. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a grand piano and lessons.

[TemekuT]

[quote=briansd1]Great thread. Good to know that there’s musical talent around.

I wish I played the piano.[/quote]

Never too late. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a grand piano and lessons.

[TemekuT]

[quote=briansd1]Great thread. Good to know that there’s musical talent around.

I wish I played the piano.[/quote]

Never too late. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a grand piano and lessons.

[ybitz]

[quote=joec]ybitz, do you have a quick link of some of those weighed key keyboards with full keys? I remember maybe 10 years ago checking a piano store out and seeing them and couldn’t tell the difference from a regular piano. I think back then, it was like 2-3k or something though.

I definitely wouldn’t mind having something like that around the house to screw around with (hated practicing, probably played for 5-7 years, but glad I learned since I can still read music) and would love to play again…[/quote]

I haven’t done research into specific models. But just doing a quick search i think something like the Yamaha P80 would be pretty good.

Disclaimer…I have not used this keyboard and can’t vouch for it. Just listing it as an example.
You don’t need a keyboard with lots of bell and whistles (for mimicking other instruments). Just a normal keyboard with good weighted keys would be sufficient to practice on.
I think weighted keys on modern keyboard have come a long ways. I can tell if a keyboard has good keys or not in seconds just by playing trills on it; any decent pianist should be able to do the same. Yes, there is a difference between keyboard and upright and grand piano, but the difference is small and will not affect the way you practice or your enjoyment. Weighted keys on keyboards are often better than cheap used upright’s, in my opinion.

[ybitz]

[quote=joec]ybitz, do you have a quick link of some of those weighed key keyboards with full keys? I remember maybe 10 years ago checking a piano store out and seeing them and couldn’t tell the difference from a regular piano. I think back then, it was like 2-3k or something though.

I definitely wouldn’t mind having something like that around the house to screw around with (hated practicing, probably played for 5-7 years, but glad I learned since I can still read music) and would love to play again…[/quote]

I haven’t done research into specific models. But just doing a quick search i think something like the Yamaha P80 would be pretty good.

Disclaimer…I have not used this keyboard and can’t vouch for it. Just listing it as an example.
You don’t need a keyboard with lots of bell and whistles (for mimicking other instruments). Just a normal keyboard with good weighted keys would be sufficient to practice on.
I think weighted keys on modern keyboard have come a long ways. I can tell if a keyboard has good keys or not in seconds just by playing trills on it; any decent pianist should be able to do the same. Yes, there is a difference between keyboard and upright and grand piano, but the difference is small and will not affect the way you practice or your enjoyment. Weighted keys on keyboards are often better than cheap used upright’s, in my opinion.

[ybitz]

[quote=joec]ybitz, do you have a quick link of some of those weighed key keyboards with full keys? I remember maybe 10 years ago checking a piano store out and seeing them and couldn’t tell the difference from a regular piano. I think back then, it was like 2-3k or something though.

I definitely wouldn’t mind having something like that around the house to screw around with (hated practicing, probably played for 5-7 years, but glad I learned since I can still read music) and would love to play again…[/quote]

I haven’t done research into specific models. But just doing a quick search i think something like the Yamaha P80 would be pretty good.

Disclaimer…I have not used this keyboard and can’t vouch for it. Just listing it as an example.
You don’t need a keyboard with lots of bell and whistles (for mimicking other instruments). Just a normal keyboard with good weighted keys would be sufficient to practice on.
I think weighted keys on modern keyboard have come a long ways. I can tell if a keyboard has good keys or not in seconds just by playing trills on it; any decent pianist should be able to do the same. Yes, there is a difference between keyboard and upright and grand piano, but the difference is small and will not affect the way you practice or your enjoyment. Weighted keys on keyboards are often better than cheap used upright’s, in my opinion.

[ybitz]

[quote=joec]ybitz, do you have a quick link of some of those weighed key keyboards with full keys? I remember maybe 10 years ago checking a piano store out and seeing them and couldn’t tell the difference from a regular piano. I think back then, it was like 2-3k or something though.

I definitely wouldn’t mind having something like that around the house to screw around with (hated practicing, probably played for 5-7 years, but glad I learned since I can still read music) and would love to play again…[/quote]

I haven’t done research into specific models. But just doing a quick search i think something like the Yamaha P80 would be pretty good.

Disclaimer…I have not used this keyboard and can’t vouch for it. Just listing it as an example.
You don’t need a keyboard with lots of bell and whistles (for mimicking other instruments). Just a normal keyboard with good weighted keys would be sufficient to practice on.
I think weighted keys on modern keyboard have come a long ways. I can tell if a keyboard has good keys or not in seconds just by playing trills on it; any decent pianist should be able to do the same. Yes, there is a difference between keyboard and upright and grand piano, but the difference is small and will not affect the way you practice or your enjoyment. Weighted keys on keyboards are often better than cheap used upright’s, in my opinion.

[Author]

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