The Best Digital Piano for Beginners: Top 9 (2021)

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What is the best digital piano for beginners? Selecting a piano is a matter of personal choice. What sounds, touch, feel, design, and price suit your needs? 

One of the first questions for a new piano student is what type of piano to buy. Should it be an electronic or acoustic instrument?

Your budget plays an important role, of course. But it's also important to consider what you need most as a pianist, as a possibility to practice with headphones, and how much maintenance you are willing to do.

The best digital piano?

What is the best digital piano for home?

Digital piano

A digital piano is a type of electronic keyboard. It's "imitating" a regular acoustic upright or grand piano, but it's both smaller and lighter. Digital pianos are constantly being improved and should be seriously compared with acoustic pianos as a great alternative.

The digital piano has developed enormously over the years and has become a good instrument both in quality and sound. The best digital piano has full-sized keys, and all 88 of them as well. You can play loud and soft (called "touch-sensitive") on the weighted keys, and it has pedals like a "normal" piano. 

However, digital pianos and electronic piano keyboards are getting harder to tell apart. The quality is getting better all the time, though. So, why would you choose a digital or electronic piano and not an acoustic instrument? Let's look at some of the pros and cons:

Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Acoustic?

Advantages

The advantages of a digital piano compared to an acoustic piano are many, for example:

  • You won't have to maintain or tune it.
  • Digital pianos are relatively lightweight and can be moved easier.
  • You can practice with headphones any time of the day (and night!) you like.
  • You can easily record yourself, to use for practice or even to make your own CD.
  • A digital piano keyboard can be connected to a computer, internet, and software- there are no limits!
  • There are fun sounds to change to when you play- you don't have to practice with a piano sound all the time. Play organ, harpsichord, and ukulele- anything you like.
  • A digital piano is usually much cheaper than an acoustic piano.
  • An electronic piano is not very sensitive to climatic changes. Because of that, it's perfect for very humid or dry locations where an acoustic instrument would require too much maintenance.

Disadvantages

So what are the disadvantages?

  • It is not an acoustic piano! Acoustic pianos are the real deal. Unless the piano is in bad shape, nothing will compare to having a “real” instrument.
  • You need electricity. (Duh.) Blackout? No practice!
  • Even the best digital piano wears out. An acoustic piano can last for a lifetime and more. An electric- has yet to be seen? 
  • The dynamic range of a digital piano is not the same as an acoustic piano. The dynamics may be good- but an acoustic piano has no limit to what “colors” of sound you can produce.
  • Not as pretty!
  • I don’t believe it is a good idea to buy a second-hand one. At least not if it is more than 10 years old. Whereas a well-maintained and cared for acoustic piano can even get better with age.

Which is the Best Digital Piano to Buy?

The best digital piano for starting piano lessons, should at the minimum, have

  • 88 keys
  • being "touch-sensitive", meaning that you can play with dynamics
  • have weighted keys.
  • two piano pedals
  • a note stand

Below, I have handpicked what I consider a great choice of digital pianos, including all the above, perfect for learning to play the piano. This list is not in any particular order.

I have selected the pianos from 3 well-known brands: Yamaha (It's the brand I have chosen for all my pianos, acoustic and digital), Casio, and Roland.

Yamaha

Roland

Casio

The Best Digital Piano of All…?

Disklavier Piano

So, have you decided yet? Acoustic or electric? Grand or upright? New or old? I will make it even harder for you!

Today we have the better of two worlds available. A modern “Player Piano”; the Disklavier (Yamaha). This is a hybrid between a digital and acoustic piano- since it is both! The Disklavier is an amazing instrument with limitless possibilities. You can choose between upright and grand pianos.

This is a really fantastic instrument, and definitely, the one thing I would bring to a deserted island… (or maybe not... no electricity!) But, it is expensive. On my wish list, right after a Steinway or Bosendorfer grand piano - absolutely! :)


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