Cheap(ish) keyboard for a 14 year old beginner?

[anonymous-user]

My daughter has started piano lessons and is currently using an old Technics KN800 that I bought about 15 years ago for £10 at a car boot sale.



She has recently passed her Grade one piano and is now telling me that this keyboard is no good and she needs a better one. Now I find this hard to believe, but I am happy to buy something new(er) if it is better and under £500. Second hand is OK, I am sure eBay is full of barely used keyboards where people lost interest. The way she was explaining it to me, the keyboard she uses when she has her lessons has more keys than this one.

What would you recommend for someone who is just starting out?

[deckster]

She's largely right, you can't effectively learn piano on a keyboard as they are different instruments. But also at grade 1 I can understand you don't want to spend hundreds and hundreds on something that might not keep her attention for very long.

For my money, this would be perfect for her for the next few grades at least https://www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/SD...

Longer term, this is a better instrument and much more like an actual piano https://www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/Ya...

Obviously you can spend as much as you like but there are any number of entirely decent options under £500.

[foreright]

For £500 you could get a pretty decent real piano could you not? - as said, it’s a completely different instrument and it’s best to learn dynamic control etc as early as possible.

[anonymous-user]

foreright said:

For £500 you could get a pretty decent real piano could you not? - as said, it’s a completely different instrument and it’s best to learn dynamic control etc as early as possible.

That would be the ideal solution, but space and having to have it tuned are an issue.

The Yamaha P45 was one that immediately came up in my search as did the Donner Dep 20

https://idonner.eu/products/donner-digital-piano-k...

I assume it is like everything in life, you get what you pay for and the Yamaha is the better keyboard of the two?

[deckster]

Joey Deacon said:

That would be the ideal solution, but space and having to have it tuned are an issue.

The Yamaha P45 was one that immediately came up in my search as did the Donner Dep 20

https://idonner.eu/products/donner-digital-piano-k...

I assume it is like everything in life, you get what you pay for and the Yamaha is the better keyboard of the two?

To an extent it's personal choice, but Yamaha are right up there and you won't go far wrong. The P45 is a great digital piano for anybody's money.

Donner are perfectly decent although a slightly more budget brand. Personally I'd pay a bit more for the P45 but you wouldn't regret buying the Donner.

[dudleybloke]

Does she want pedals?

[thebraketester]

She could probably get to about grade 5 on that keyboard she has already. I would speak with her teacher and ask them for advice to be honest.

I would look at FB marketplace and look at Clavinovas.. but again, speak to her teacher.

[deckster]

She might, possibly, get to piano grade 5 with a synth-action 5-octave arranger keyboard that's out of the ark. But it won't be fun and it won't teach her anything about good piano technique.

At the other end of the scale (ho ho) Clavinovas are lovely but expensive and also not significantly smaller than an actual piano.

[thebraketester]

deckster said:

She might, possibly, get to piano grade 5 with a synth-action 5-octave arranger keyboard that's out of the ark. But it won't be fun and it won't teach her anything about good piano technique.

At the other end of the scale (ho ho) Clavinovas are lovely but expensive and also not significantly smaller than an actual piano.

Well within budget second hand.

Real upright pianos are great but they are a pain in the arse.... I know. I've got one. Also when you've heard fur elise for the 400th time... the ability to use headphones with a digital piano will be most welcome.

[sjg]

We've got a Casio CDP-S100 (I think now replaced with the 110) which is around £300. You can get a stand for £80 or so which makes it more of a console style piano. Proper 88 weighted keys, decent sound, only a few instrument voices but it has USB for MIDI so you can hook up an iPad or computer to muck around with others. Single pedal but that should be good to grade 5 or so. Can even run off AA batteries if you're moving it around.

Was the recommended one for beginner piano at the kids school, it really does punch above its weight - here's a blindfolded test against some pricier stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqd_Dl301Uk

[dudleybloke]

In budget.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304919061970

[anonymous-user]

deckster said:

She might, possibly, get to piano grade 5 with a synth-action 5-octave arranger keyboard that's out of the ark. But it won't be fun and it won't teach her anything about good piano technique.

Fair enough, the only reason I gave her this keyboard was incase it was a five minute wonder and she lost interest. The fact she has passed her grade one shows she is enjoying it so I am happy to buy something decent.

The Casio looks good, I am going to find out what she uses in her lessons, but I think this and the Yamaha are in the running. I guess the best thing to do is just take her to a keyboard shop and see what she actually likes.

Thank you for all the advice and convincing me that the ancient synth she currently has is indeed a bit st for what she needs.

[foreright]

I sold my 15 year old top of the range Clavinova (clp 970 iirc) for £700 a few years ago. It was well over £3500 new. I would guess there’s deals like that on eBay now - in fact there’s a clp 970 for sale here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334802504767?hash=item4... Something like that will get you to a pretty decent level. I persuaded the wife that getting a Yamaha U1 was a good idea hence my trusty clavinova went At least one of my kids is about to start learning so the upright is a good idea for us albeit the repetitive scales etc. might drive us to get something electronic also

[sociopath]

Whatever you buy, if she's learning piano (as opposed to keyboard) , make sure it has full sized keys. The full 88 keys isn't strictly necessary, but full size keys will make the transition between her practice and her lessons much easier.