Tips on Buying Your First Piano

So you've decided to start taking regular formal weekly lessons from a piano teacher! Good for you! Now, you need to get a good starter piano. But where should you start looking? How much piano should you buy? This guide will help you know what you're looking for, and what questions to ask before you make that purchase.

1. Determine Your Budget

Before you start shopping, decide how much you're willing to spend. Pianos can range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. There are often financing options if you choose to purchase from a retailer. Or, you can often find a good deal on sites like Facebook or Craigslist. If you're in the Seattle area, you can even try sites like seattlepianorecycling.com, which offers lists of pianos that need a new home.

2. Choose Between Acoustic and Digital

One of the biggest and first decisions you will make is whether to buy a traditional acoustic piano, or buy a digital piano. Don't confuse the term "digital piano" with "keyboard" or even "workstation". These are different tools and have widely different uses and functionality.

• Acoustic Pianos: These include grand and upright pianos and offer a traditional sound and feel. This is important when learning how to express a mood, as there are subtle differences in how a digital piano responds which can make it more difficult for beginners to learn proper tone production and expressive techniques. Buy an acoustic piano if you definitely know that the student is going to continue lessons for more than a year or two.

• Digital Pianos: More portable, often less expensive, and can include features like volume control and recording options. Buy a digital piano if you are worried about the weight or cost of a traditional piano.

  
  

3. Consider the Size and Space

Measure the space where you plan to place the piano. Ensure there is enough room for the instrument and for you to play comfortably. All pianos, whether acoustic or digital, are roughly the same size in width - about 5 feet. The height of the piano and the depth of the piano will vary widely. Most digital pianos have a smaller depth footprint, as most acoustic pianos will use the additional space for longer strings or a larger soundboard, resulting in a richer, more resonant tone. Do not buy a digital piano with a footprint smaller than 5 feet wide, as these keyboards are often sacrificing important parts of the instrument, such as making the keys smaller than standard size, or reducing the number of keys on the instrument entirely.

4. Test the Instrument

Visit a music store to try out different pianos. Pay attention to the feel of the keys, the sound quality, and any additional features. Many pianos from Europe tend to have a more sonorous tone quality in the upper register, utilizing a rich tapestry of upper harmonics to create a beautiful mid-to-upper range. This can sometimes result in a murky bass. Conversely, many pianos from Asian markets tend to favor a more fundamental tone with fewer upper harmonics, resulting in a clearer tone quality in the mid-to-lower register. This can sometimes result in dull, "clangy" upper notes. You will need to play the piano to hear the difference. Play all the keys on the piano you are thinking of buying. Check the functionality of all three foot pedals. Request help testing any electronic components like player piano add-ons. But more importantly, find a piano with a beautiful tone that you love.

5. Research Brands and Models

Look for reputable brands known for quality instruments, especially if buying a new instrument. Some brand names known for their quality are: Steinway, Kawaii, Yamaha, Bluthner, Seiler, C. Bechstein, Charles Walter, Fazioli, and Mason & Hamlin. Most people will be familiar with a couple of these names already, but don't be immediately put off by a name that you don't recognize. There are many, many quality piano brands on the market. In my personal opinion, there are a few to stay away from at the moment, if only because they have not yet proven themselves to have a track record of making quality pianos. These include Boston, Pearl River, Kimball, Wurlitzer, Kohler & Campbell, and sadly, recently, Baldwin.

6. Think About Maintenance

Acoustic pianos require regular tuning and maintenance (called "regulation"), while digital pianos generally do not. Factor this into your decision. If buying new, consider asking the salesman to add in a tuning schedule from one of their on-staff tuners for the first few times. This can help defray some of the up front cost.

7. Consider Buying Used

Used pianos can be a great way to save money. But there are a few pitfalls as well. Most used pianos come with a paired piano bench, but if not, replacing this with a new bench can be an unexpected additional cost of several hundred dollars. Moving the piano can also cost upwards of several hundred dollars, especially if you are having it moved by trained, licenced piano movers. On top of that, a used piano will almost certainly require several tunings before holding its tune, as well as "regulation" which is where the technician fine-tunes the inner mechanisms of the piano and brings them back to factory settings. It's a good idea to have a qualified technician inspect any used piano before purchasing. A good resource is www.ptg.org, which can assist you in finding a registered piano technician near your home.

8. Check for Warranty and Return Policies

Make sure to understand the warranty and return policies of the store or seller in case you encounter issues after purchase. Many retailers sell used pianos "as is" which means that the sale is final. You have agreed to buy the piano in whatever condition it is in, with no expectation of existing quality or continued function. In my opinion this practice is fairly scummy. Consider only purchasing a used piano from a store that has a robust warranty and return policy on all sales.

10. Enjoy the Process

Buying a piano is an exciting step in your musical journey! Take your time and find the right one for you.