If you or a family member are planning to take piano lessons, you’re going to need an instrument at home in order to practice. Like every big purchase, you must be armed with a lot of research before you purchase an instrument.

Should I purchase an electric or electronic keyboard?

Maybe, but probably not. Electric keyboards, any instrument with a traditional piano keyboard but plugs in to an outlet and has no strings is what we will call an electric keyboard. The ideal answer to this question is, no, you cannot.

These keyboards or synthesizers are incredible instruments and should not be looked at as the black sheep of the piano family but there are limitations with these instruments. First, unless you purchase a professional grade acoustic model, you probably won’t have the 88 keys that come on a traditional piano. At the beginning of your piano lessons you won’t need all of these keys but soon enough, you’ll run out of keys on that synthesizer.

Second, without a professional level acoustic piano, the keys won’t feel the same as a traditional piano and this will cause problems as you become a better player. In order to purchase an electric piano that closely simulates the feel of a real piano, you’ll pay as much as the cost of buying a new or quality used piano.

Of course, if you find a synthesizer that works well at an incredible price, you could use that until you start playing more complex music but at some point you will probably need a real piano. Having a real piano is ideal but if your only option is a synthesizer, that will be just fine for the beginning stages.
How much should I pay for a piano?

You’ve probably noticed that pianos range from affordable to more money than even the nicest home. If money weren’t an issue (wouldn’t that be nice) you would be best served to purchase an intermediate model piano that would last you as long as you played. If you get a beginning model, it may require a lot of tuning or break after a few years. You don’t need a luxury, professional line piano unless you play for a long time and decide that you want to make a career of piano or have the financial means to do it.
Remember, some people purchase pianos for their children and when they grow older and move out, moms and dads want the piano to go with them. You can find great used pianos for bargain prices in your community. Before purchasing, pay a piano technician to check the condition of the sound board and keys.
What brands should I focus on?

Like most products, this is largely a matter of opinion. Most musical instruments in the intermediate category are handmade so there can be beautiful sounding instruments as well as musical lemons in every brand. Most people buying a musical instrument will play multiple instruments from the same make and model before deciding on one. Brand names like Steinway and Baldwin and Yamaha and Kawaii are commonly considered trusted names but others may be just as good. If I could afford a Bosendorfer, that would be my first choice, but certainly not for a beginner. This is another one of those times were a piano technician can help you and paying them a little bit of money to evaluate the instrument is money well spent.
How often should I have my piano tuned?

Tuning not only makes the piano sound good, it keeps the strings properly tensioned. Consistent tension not only keeps the strings sounding good but it also keeps the proper and even tension on the soundboard which helps to keep it from cracking. When you tune a piano once every 6 months to a year, it will stay in tune longer and the tone of the piano will improve. (By the way, you cannot tune a piano yourself. If you have a DIY type of person in the house, don’t let them touch the piano.)

Bottom Line

Keep reading. Before heading out to purchase an instrument, learn everything you can about what to look for in a quality piano. There are plenty of resources on this site as well as piano manufacturer sites, consumer sites, blogs, and forums.

Synthesizers are electronic, keyboard-based instruments that produce artificial, or synthesized, sounds. Many frequently mistake synthesizers for simply portable, electronic pianos, but the differences are extremely vast. While synthesizers can definitely produce a piano sound, their main purpose, usually, is to create sounds not specifically found on any other instrument. And the process of creating these sounds is sometimes very difficult; while some synthesizers come with pre-created sounds, or patches, many come with a clean slate. The synthesizers produce sounds by a series of dials and knobs dedicated to a variety of aspects: oscillation, modulation, sustain, delay and attack, just to name a few. Some synthesizers even create sounds based on a patch bay. Remember old telephone operators that patched calls through based on cords and inputs? Some synthesizers use the same principle (and are generally used by those with an extremely advanced knowledge of their workings). And what’s more, many older synthesizers don’t offer the option of saving the sounds created; instead, the user has to keep detailed records of dial and knob placement, being careful to catch every nuance. To recreate a sound on these synthesizers is to keep very meticulous notes.

I remember meeting Bob Moog back in the 70’s at a trade show in Anaheim across the street from Disneyland. More than any other person, Moog had created the first useable and affordable synthesizer. Soon the big companies in the field such as Yahama and Roland, which had much deeper pockets than Moog, produced many improvements on the synth and made them available to the average working musician. I think I bought my first synth in about 1980 — a Roland that I used for probably 10 years before moving on to something more current.

Synthesizers made their break into popular music during the 1970s and 80s when numerous progressive rock bands began using them to create cosmic, unfamiliar sounds. The use of synthesizers quickly developed into an entirely new genre of music, electronic music, headed by such veterans as Kraftwerk (who, by the way, are still massively popular). They eventually found their way into almost every branch of 1980s popular music — which is probably why they fell so far out of favor. Synthesizers in the mainstream music industry quickly became associated with 1980s bubblegum pop, the very thing that new rock and punk bands were railing against. And even while an electronic music scene thrived (and even revolutionized), synthesizers became known as the outdated kiss of death for popular, mass-audience intended music. The late 90s, however, saw a resurgence in the use of synthesizers among underground rock and punk bands (ironically enough) and have quickly become re-embraced by the popular music industry.

For information on using Synthesizers, click here:

http://www.playpianocatalog.com/electronic-keyboards-amp-synthesizers.html