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Keyboard vs Piano for Beginner?


Belldog

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I've done plenty of research online and a fair amount of spelunking on the forums. Apologies in advance for a noob question, but I am new to this stuff. I'll try to keep this mercifully short but also hopefully give y'all enough information to get an idea of what I'm trying to do.

 

I've been researching keyboards ahead of taking lessons for the first time. I know my best bet is something with 61+ keys, so I've narrowed my options down to either a Roland Juno DS-61 or DS-88 (won't bore you with the process of how I got to that particular keyboard).

 

I know the 88 is going to feel a bit closer to playing piano even if it's not quite the same action. Given that I'm likely to be playing more synth than piano sounds on my own time, I'm wondering if there are any advantages to having the full range of the 88 or if I'm better off saving a few quid and going for the 61 instead. Besides the feel and the range, are there practical disadvantages if I pass up the 88? And even though I know this is a years-long process, what can I do (in addition to a ton of practice) that would help me get better faster?

 

If there are considerations I'm overlooking, or questions I should be asking (whether of myself or of a teacher once I start looking for one), feel free to chime in with those as well.

 

Thanks!

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I teach Piano and here are my suggestions. Get something like a Casio PX5. I love Roland stuff but am not familiar with the DS88 and if it has a weighted action. If it does that will do fine also. It will give you a Piano feel keyboard which I think is essential to develope your finger / hand dexterity. It has a ton of synth sounds to play with along with a pretty good piano. Many serious organists practice piano for that reason.

I'm glad you realize it takes time and practice to learn keyboard. With some of my students who just want to play some songs for fun and not get into heavy theory I use a stepped ( one of the popular method books ) approach to the basics and I get them into scales and simple chords early. If you can master the old I IV V chords in a few keys you can start picking out songs quickly.

Good luck and let us know your progress.

 

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Thanks for your reply. The DS88 does have a weighted keybed. My gut feeling was that it'd probably be easier doing certain things on a synth-action keyboard having built up hand strength and dexterity on a weighted keyboard first, and what you're telling me seems to confirm that.

 

I'd like to learn theory... I mean, sure I'm doing this for fun and I know I'm probably years away from gigging, but I'm assuming it'd be a help with improvisation and composition alike (besides pop, I'd like to experiment a bit with ambient and EDM), so I'd like to have it in my toolkit and be able to approach writing consciously instead of everything being trial and error.

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Just to add a data point. I thought you were going to be talking about an acoustic piano vs. a digital, so I'll save my anecdote about housesitting with a real piano and the sustain on things like various Bach, where it's essentially a different instrument entirely than a digital (IME) with rudimentary speakers+amp.

 

If it were me, I'd get the full 88 hammer action, but honestly, I don't use the very top and bottom octaves except for (i) screwing around, doing scales or (ii) some Debussy things, and the like (iii) of course, real boogie, blues, traditional R&B stuff can use all that. Not too much "classical legit music" uses the full 88, IME, and certainly that which does is going to be later, into the Romantic literature and beyond.

 

I don't think the hands really work in the sense of building up strength, but that's just my intuition. So, either synth or weighted keys are fine, but they're just different, like playing some little spinet piano or a Wurlitzer EP is quite a bit different than a real piano action.

 

In other words, I don't know, but that's it from me.

 

 

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If you do not have a teacher, consider getting one. Also think about renting a real piano. My recommendation for a digital if you do not have the room for a real piano is the relatively affordable Casio PK-160. Same excellent keyboard action, but with none of the extra "band in a box" add-ons that you do not need if you are starting out. Actions differ. My spinet piano almost feels unweighted the action is so light. Practice using a metronome. You should begin with a real piano action, not an unweighted. The most important thing is to get a teacher so you do not have to unlearn bad habits. If you decide to not get a teacher, consider that all scales, major, minor,and all the varieties, are the basis for the theory you said you are interested in. Studying and practicing scales are important. A worthy quest; best of luck!

 

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
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Thanks for the input (both of you). I do plan on getting a teacher. I think the structure would help, and as David mentions, it'll help keep me from bad habits. JT, that's one reason I was looking at the 61-key; it seems as though I'm not likely to be using the full range full-time. That said, the 61's I like from a sound standpoint don't have the keybed, while the MIDI controllers may have the weighted action but questionable construction otherwise.
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My spinet piano almost feels unweighted the action is so light.

If you decide to not get a teacher, consider that all scales, major, minor,and all the varieties, are the basis for the theory you said you are interested in. Studying and practicing scales are important.

 

I realized after I posted I'd made a mistake by calling a spinet action not a "real piano," but it seems like no hard feelings, so cool!

 

Oh yeah, I'm +1 about scales. When I started serious lessons at 11 or 12, I sort of waded through the scales in a perfunctory manner, and wheedled my way into getting into classical and romantic repertoire as quickly as possible, where the LH is, at the level I was at, more about chorded accompaniment.

 

I kind of regret that -- at age 39 or 40, I had to go back and really redo scales hands together. Which is nice, since I can appreciate them now, especially the sound of doing them a third or a sixth apart, but it's probably best to do it the "right" way from the beginning.

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Agreed about action. You want not just a so-called weighted action, but a hammer weighted action. It's the best way to build finger strength.

 

Is there a convenient list, so a buyer can see this important distinction you made about hammer action DP's?

 

You don't have ideas, ideas have you

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement

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