I'd like to (re-)learn how to play the piano when I retire. I'd like to be able to play some popular classical pieces.

I have an upright piano (nothing special) but needs to be tuned (and a couple of stuck keys repaired). This seems like it will cost about $300-600.

Would a decent digital piano be a better investment? I don't know anything about them, just aware that they exist. I don't need fancy features - just an ability to mimic a real piano (sounds, 88 key keyboard size, key weight, nuanced sounds, etc)

Do these things need to be tuned / maintained as well? Do they sound like a real piano? Do they last a long time (what's the reasonable life expectancy)?

Any recommendations for a brand/model that may suit beginner / moderate needs? I heard that Yamaha, Roland, Kawai are popular but can cost upwards of $3000 (console type?).

If digital piano is a good alternative path to fixing / tuning / maintaining my (cheap?) acoustic upright piano, if I can get some starter recommendations I can grow into, I can look for used models.

I can't answer your questions, but I would assume it would stay in tune and last a long time. But the first thing that occurred to me would be it's portability. That could be very important.

Something else to consider is do the people sharing your home enjoy hearing you practice? If not, a digital piano will have a head phone input.

I would get the digital.....probably a Yamaha.

Your upright is worth "nothing." You could haul away used old uprights all day. Just look in Craigslist.

I've been playing for 70 years

Thanks guys.

Any recommendations on what to look for in a digital piano? Are the speakers upgradable? Or generally good enough? Upgradable preamp or amp? Or usually good enough?

I like yamaha (btw, cool retail store in Ginza Tokyo). How does Roland (Costco) compare with Yamaha?

What price am I looking at for a decent mid tier model?

My brother is a organist and pianist who has played the organ music for productions of Phantom of the Opera. He has a classic 8 foot grand piano however he believes digital is the way to go unless you have to have a traditional piano.

They take up less space, don't go out of tune, allow you to play different types of keyboard instruments depending on the music or your mood. And truthfully, you early music will be a strain on the hearing of anyone around you and digital allows you to wear headphones so you can "enjoy" your music until you get better.

I have both a Yamaha acoustic piano and a Roland digital piano. There are a lot of cheap pianos in both types (mostly made in China but not always).

The first question is how much money do you want to spend? Typically, digital pianos cost a lot less.

Next what are you really wanting to do? I play the Roland when I am practicing or at night so as to not annoy the family. I also play it when I want to add in sounds like an orchestra, organ, etc. When I want to have an authentic piano experience, I play the acoustic Yamaha.

With headphones, the Roland and the Yamaha Clavinova (same level as the Roland LX series I have and the most common quality digital lines out there IMO) sound superb. When the headphones are not used, not so much. You should play any digital piano before you buy it WITHOUT headphones.

There are exceptions to the last. Both Roland and Yamaha make digital grand pianos. Yamaha’s premier lines are the AvantGrand with the N3X at the top and the CLP series with the CLP-795 as the flagship. Roland’s flagship line is the GP series with the GP-9 at the top. Here is a link to a good comparison of the three. https://www.digitalpiano.com/d...pare-clp795-n3x-gp9/


If you want a digital piano that plays like an acoustic piano, I would buy an AvantGrand because it has an actual grand piano keyboard action inside of it. Nobody else does this. Every other model including Yamaha’s CLP have a weighted digital action and you can tell the difference even though it may be slight in the higher-end models. If that is not a concern and you want a digital piano that nearly plays like a grand piano but with more digital sound options than the AvantGrand series, then Yamaha’s CLP or Roland’s GP series are great options.

If I could only buy one piano and could not afford a Yamaha AvantGrant N3X, I would buy an acoustic piano. The action on a digital piano (the AvantGrand aside) are just different and it impacts playing. One thing you get with the Yamahas is they have digital sounds for the Yamaha CFX and the Bossendorfer 290 Imperial (you don’t get better than the 290). I prefer the Bosendorfer over any other piano brand out there. Roland, last I looked, modeled a variety of concert grands and gives you generic European and US sound options. I recently was finally able to play a Bosendorfer 290 Imperial - wow is all I can say! And I have played Steinway model Ds before.

For acoustic pianos, in the price range of the high-end digital ones I mentioned, I would look at Yamaha, Kawai, Seiler, or Boston. Many manufacturers make a silent option that allows headphones or reduces the volume through a felt liner for night playing. I would seriously consider that in any piano I bought.

If it were me, I would buy a Yamaha. I like their quality and prices. And, as much as I like the N3X digital, if I only bought one piano, I would not buy a digital as I highly doubt they will last as long as an acoustic piano. And if the power goes out, you can still play the acoustic but not the digital piano.

This website will take you to all piano brands, types, and sizes. You can sort by size, price, brand, type (upright or grand) and then go from there. https://pianopricepoint.com/#prices

Finally, if you can afford it, buy a grand piano as they have a richer fuller sound and a better action. This is one time where size really does make a difference. If you have the size of home get a grand piano no smaller than 6’.

We used to own a Mason and Hamlin Model BB 7 foot grand, which we were able to buy from a dealer going out of business. The sound was fantastic; our daughter and son could play it, then son moved away; and we had to move. We ended up selling it for practical reasons but I (I don't play darnit), miss the sound. Thought of buying a used Mason and Hamlin Pianodisc to have recorded live piano, but never did that, and it's no longer practical for us.

My daughter now has a Yamaha, we have an upright Petrov, as does our son; at our rental house we have a Korg.

For any digital piano, ensure that the keyboard has an action that you prefer. Lower cost units do not have the same feel as a true piano. Often the preferred action is called "a weighted action."

Another benefit of the digital piano is how it can interface with a computer. It is easier to synchronize the piano sound with the music sound through the headphones when the piano and computer are connected.

BB61, I concur with your thoughts. I’m a musician and have the Roland RD2000 and a Yamaha Studio upright made in 1976. I consider these two of the best on the market. The Yamaha would be difficult to replicate today. If I only had one , I would have the acoustic because I am primarily a classical/jazz pianist. However, I have encouraged my sons and many students to purchase either of the electronic brands BB61 mentioned. I haven’t tried all of the newer models but I trust those two brands to provide a realistic piano sound with decent weighted/touch sensitive action.I use a Roland or a Behringer keyboard amp and never headphones because of hearing problems. The advantage of the digital keyboard is I can turn the volume down and not disturb anyone at night. I also enjoy using other settings such as electric pianos from the 70s and 80s as well as the Roland RD 2000 has a decent rotary organ sound aka Hammond B3. I’ll mention I use the Roland as a midi controller when I compose in Cubase.

In these parts,
Older piano's can be found for $100.00- $300.00.

I saw one being given away.

Tuning them range from
$150.00 - $400.00.

The old 52" tall jobs can be challenging to relocate, even a p.i.t.a.

We have both for our son. We started with the digital, a Yamaha DGX. As his playing improved over the years, we bought a one-owner used U1.

Digital is good and can take you a long way, but you can't beat the sound and feel of an acoustic.

My music performance teacher has an electric piano in her studio. She (or I) can bluetooth from a cell phone to the piano to hear the song better over the piano's speakers. The tuning can be tweaked up or down to match a recorded song (lots of recordings are not in A440). It can be transposed up or down, so if you know the piece in one key it can be played in another.

At home we have an old baby grand. It needs some work, and it doesn't have any of the above features.

For a formal concert, yeah a physical piano is king, but the electronic has useful features for learning and just having fun.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

The old 52" tall jobs can be challenging to relocate, even a p.i.t.a.

My grandmother had one of those. One day two guys showed up wanting to buy it because the first one they bought for their mother for her birthday broke one of the tie-down rope and flipped out of the back of their pickup truck as they went around a curve too fast! My grandmother wasn’t interested in selling but I’ll never forget how she laughed when she told the story. The guys showed up in the same pickup truck and she said she suspected they were still planning to use the same ropes.

Thanks guys!! Lots of info and insights. I have quite a bit to read.

At this point, I'm not worried about bothering other people when learning, practicing or playing. That being said, I don't have a lot of space. I have an upright so whatever I get would have to fit into that space for now.

I guess if acoustic is the way to go, I should just fix and tune my existing upright. At least while I learn the basics (few years if I play diligently?).

But given that it would cost about $400+, I was thinking that perhaps a digital piano would carry me longer (and not really require regular tuning and such).

While I'm thinking I probably couldn't discern differences in sound between a digital and an acoustic now, it seems that digital may be somewhat lacking in the long run (feel and sound).

While the CLP-795GP seems really attractive, I certainly can't afford or justify $9000 at the beginning. But I'll keep an eye for a used one if $3000-4000 seems reasonable.

I guess what I'm hearing from the advice given above, going digital for the long term is expensive and a compromise vs acoustic. For the learning phase, it sounds like it would be expected to pay about $4000+ to get a decent digital vs $500 to fix and tune my existing upright acoustic. Choices may be different if I didn't already have an upright. But since I have one, it sounds like it would be a better path to use it rather than switch to digital to learn and then switch back to acoustic if/when I'm more accomplished.

Sound about right?

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I'd like to (re-)learn how to play the piano when I retire. I'd like to be able to play some popular classical pieces.

I have an upright piano (nothing special) but needs to be tuned (and a couple of stuck keys repaired). This seems like it will cost about $300-600.

Would a decent digital piano be a better investment? I don't know anything about them, just aware that they exist. I don't need fancy features - just an ability to mimic a real piano (sounds, 88 key keyboard size, key weight, nuanced sounds, etc)

Do these things need to be tuned / maintained as well? Do they sound like a real piano? Do they last a long time (what's the reasonable life expectancy)?

Any recommendations for a brand/model that may suit beginner / moderate needs? I heard that Yamaha, Roland, Kawai are popular but can cost upwards of $3000 (console type?).

If digital piano is a good alternative path to fixing / tuning / maintaining my (cheap?) acoustic upright piano, if I can get some starter recommendations I can grow into, I can look for used models.

My 11 year old has been taking lessons for about a year and a half and we a more entry level Kawai digital piano at home for her. We got it used from another homeschool family for $300, as I recall. Original price was around $1300, I think.

One of the pedals doesn't work (I couldn't tell you which one) but I am told she isn't at the level where it is an issue.

It sounds pretty good, actually. Before my current job in corrections I mixed live music at a large venue and have plenty of experience with both real pianos and digital pianos and keyboards.... this thing sounds better than pretty much every upright I've ever mic'd, honestly. The 9 foot Yamaha grand we had in our main room sounded much better, of course, but I can't imagine what that thing cost.

For casual playing, if you have no hang up on having to be "real", I'd say go for a digital from a well known brand.

An anecdotal note: just recently my daughter performed in her first recital which was at a large church in a smaller meeting room and it had a baby Steinway grand... it sounded terrible to me. Just terrible.

I'm way out of my place here, but a quick search revealed this:

https://www.musiciansfriend.co...iano/m06632000001000

This is far less cost-wise, but the reviews sound pretty great to me. I'm all about buying quality and crying once, but given your situation, this might be a good starting point to get you back into learning. It's portable, takes up far less space than your upright, don't have to tune it and will save by not having to tune yours. If it doesn't fulfill your needs/wants in the future, I'm sure it's sellable for a decent price.

Just throwing it out there.

You might just get your current upright tuned and the few keys repaired (stuck keys are not too tricky to repair). Then give it a few months of practicing to see if your mindset and determination remain the same. If yes, then a digital piano is almost certainly the best route for you. Tunings will be needed on your acoustic at least twice a year, and there is added expense if your pedals need work, or you need other work done. A few years ago, we bought a 7' Steinway built in '54 knowing it would need work. We had the entire instrument restrung, new hammers. It was an investment, but now we have a wonderful instrument. Now we also have Roland PF 30(not sure of the Model #, and we are not home for a while yet). Digital keyboards need no tuning maintenance, or maintenance of anything. The Roland has a small amplifier in it w/speakers or headphone. It works very well, and cost about $2K. If you do end going the digital route, make sure you get a full keyboard (88 keys), and that you get weighted keys that mimic the feel of mechanical action. There are lots of keyboards yet with no weighted keys (just push the key down as with an organ) and not full size (52-56, 76 keys are not uncommon). The problem with that is if you learn on a short keyboard, if you play a full keyboard anytime, you won't recognize where middle C is. We previously had a Kurzweil, which also sounded great. Kurtweil, Roland, and Yamaha all share the same logrhythm for the sound generation, and they all have the best sound that mimics a good grand piano. Unless Kurzweil has changed their action, it previously used springs for the keywork touch, and they would start making strange sounds after a few years. We are very happy with Roland. Yamaha also has a very good product, but I think they tend to cost a bit more. Incidentally, Mm wife and I are both professional musicians.

Thanks again guys. Great info and experience.

If I got a digital, it would definitely be 88 keys and weighted - as close as possible to feel like playing an acoustic.

That being said, I don't really know what playing an acoustic feels like. I have one but I haven't played in decades. Would be starting from scratch. And so, in order to buy a digital that feels like an acoustic, I guess it seems I should start by learning on an acoustic since I have one already.

Okay - leaning toward fixing/tuning the upright and start learning there (assuming it only costs about $300-500; if more than that may start considering digital again).

Once I get the feel of playing again, then perhaps decide if digital is right or if I should get a better acoustic (maybe a baby grand?). Will need to get rid of the formal dining room then...