Digital Piano Bible – 7 Things You Must Know

I’m happy to have discovered your guides. They appeared in the right moment. I’m very grateful to you.

Well, here’s my story and just some questions. If it’s irrelevant to read all this words, please jump right to the questions.
I began to learn piano when I was three years old. Seven years later I left my lessons. Then I’ve been knowing jazz and trying to waste some time by beating the piano. Now I’m 25 y/o and I love music.

I grew up with an upright Wurlitzer, just fine to study. Then my brother, a great pianist, saw that the old Wurlitzer was not the right instrument to keep improving, so my parents bought a new and small upright under the teacher’s advice. In the same farm there are several pianos, all belonging to aunts and grandpas. I played and old and well restored Rachals Grand; a baby grand Baldwin, recently bought; and finally, the most impressive piano I’ve ever played (at least with regularity), which belongs to my grandma. It’s a wonderful Story & Clark grand, made by Yamaha and bought 30 years ago to a hungarian teacher who was invited to conduct the Symphonic of my country, Colombia.

As you can see, all surrounded by a family full of musicians, I have had some great experiences on playing beautiful pianos (surely you’ll find that no one of these are ACTUALLY great pianos). Now I’m married, I live in a little house in the country with my wife and I really miss the ever-healing playing piano times. I had the dream of buying one but it was out of question. Now my wife has received a little heritage and today she has surprised me: she wants to buy a piano. The budget is very little, and there are some issues: we want to go to France before 2 years to do a Phd; we have neighbors and we don’t want to make so much noise the space is little; we live in a 2600 meters above sea level, with cold temperatures at night and a chimney, so the piano will be soon out of tune and we cannot afford constant tuning. So we want an introductory piano, just appropriate to the next 2 years.

After reading a lot of reviews I think the best choice would be a digital piano (although I thought it was a crime not to have an acoustic one). We can afford, more or less, a $1500 piano. Perhaps $2000. I saw some Casio Celviano, particularly the AP420, but after your review it’s clear that it’s not a great deal. I’ve seen some YDP, from Yamaha, but, again, those are too introductory. Then I saw the CLP430, just a little expensive, but after reading you I saw it as a good choice.

Anna

Hi Graham,

I have downloaded and read your digital piano advice book….wow what a treat. Its absolutely super, so carefully written and thorough in content, crammed with loads of information and advice.
I must say it has helped enormously. I was daunted with so much to choose from in the shops, I knew nothing about digital pianos and quite frankly if the staff in Dawsons do they are keeping it very close to their chest !
Thank you for taking the time and putting the effort in to this excellent read…I will be reccommending it to my piano teacher and those in our group who meet to play our latest stuff to each other

Sue

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Hi Graham,

Thank you, I found your piano guide helpful, as well as the website, and I’m going to take it with me when I look for a piano for my birthday!

I’m not technical, but I found it easy to read, understand and think about what was important to me. I also feel that it’s boosted my confidence to walk into a store and start trying.

Many thanks, a gem!

Rachel

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Being a busy parent meant your guide was very helpful in making an informed buying decision with out having to spend time going round music shops

Tim

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Dear Sir,

This is a complimentary comment on your guidebook of the digital piano. I found it very useful and professionally written in the easily understandable wordings ( not the long and frastrating technical wordings).

I thinking of buying a digital piano for my business hostel in oversea ( particularly China ), for myself and my kids when they visited me during the school holiday, at least their piano class lesson could be practiced there.

Just to share that the saleperson in the shop I have been visited , are very impressed on my knowledge Most importantly, the sales person immediately giving a big discount on the displayed selling price( the displayed price was the recommended selling price, not much difference from 1 shop if comparing with other shop). as he might be thinking of facing a professional pianist (I certainly not).

So it is a wonderful experience of ” piano shopping” if compared to my previous upright piano buying experience ( where the sales person talked more than me.)

Great guidelines. I would not hesitate to recommend this guidebook to whoever wants to buy the digital piano.

Thanks

Chan Tong Sai

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Hi Graham

I found the book very useful. My daughter is progressing on her keyboard lessons very quickly and she needs a piano NOW! I have been searching websites and researching for weeks and getting more confused by the hour. Your book helped me sort it all out and the forum questions and answers saved me from asking a lot of questions I had. I really wanted a Clavinova from the start (family experience) but I also looked at the Arius and Kawai ranges. I popped into a piano shop at the weekend and had a listen to all the pianos and couldn’t believe how differently all the piano’s sounded. The book meant I could begin to understand why!

Mari

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Hi there Graham,

Many thanks for your helpful book – very thorough! I’m quite new to playing piano
so your book has been extremely helpful.

Carl

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Dear Graham,

After reading your excellent guide, I have narrowed our piano option down to
3 models (CLP 430, CLP 440 or Classenti CDP3)

John

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Hi Graham,

Thank you for your great book. Unfortunately it wasn’t the first source of information I found from the internet. Because of that I feel I wasted some time searching for little pieces of information from different websites. Your book told me pretty much everything I needed to know and even more.

Before finding the book I had ended up choosing my piano from Korg sp170, Yamaha p95 and Casio px135. It was a nice surprise to find them on the top of your “under 500 pounds” list. I bought Korg. Maybe not perfect, but a huge step forward from the usb-keyboard (borrowed from my friend) which I have used for the last year. Perhaps it would have been clever to invest to a better one right away, but this isn’t the only hobby trying to keep my wallet thin.

I guess I don’t have anything really clever to say. Your book was really good and helpful. If I will need a new piano one day I definitely would like to read your newest version of the book first. I will also recommend all my friends, who might need some piano advice, to get a copy from your website.

Thanks and greetings from Finland

Yours,

Mika

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Your download 7 Things is a valuable asset. Many thanks and congratulations.

Mr Phillips

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Hi Graham

Firstly, thank you for making buying pianos so much easier for everyone. The free guide is exactly what I needed. I

Habib

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Graham,

Thanks for the book. It was very useful. Just to give some context, I was looking to pick up piano again after 15y and was told that an upright would not fit through the stairs of the London flat I am in. So I looked up digital pianos but had no idea what distinguishes them. Your book has been very helpful in understanding the key features to look for in some of the more popular makes (e.g. weighted keys, touch sensitivity, graded hammer). These are areas I probably would not have thought of properly until too late (i.e. after having purchased the digital piano).

Best Regards,

Chia

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Hello Graham,

I did find your book extremely useful. I used to learn the piano as a little girl but could not pursue it beyond Grade II of the Royal School of Music certificate. It has been more than 20 years since and I had absolutely no idea at all how technology had progressed in this area, with such fantastic options such as the digital piano available to us.

In fact, I was looking to buy or hire a regular upright piano and start practising again, even take lessons. But the cost was too prohibitive plus fitting it in my apartment was also going to be a challenge. The shopowner himself guided me to this option of digital pianos and that’s when I came across your website, while searching the internet to learn more about this.
I will probably purchase one before the end of this year. Theoretically, I am leaning towards the Clavinova CLP 430, if I can work up the budget. Else, I’ll probably go for a Privia. Unfortunately, other than Casio and Yamaha, there is little choice in our stores here and I’m not very comfortable buying it online, without actually getting to touch and hear it first.

But where your book really helped me so far is to figure out what goes into the digital piano. I am one of those sorts that cannot take a decision without knowing some detail about the subject and now, I feel I’m good on that count, thanks to you! What is most amazing that you actually aren’t even charging for this wealth of information!

Will keep you posted!

Thanks again,
Rachita

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Graham

I’ve read your book, 7 Things you must know………….and found it contents extremely helpful.

Jay

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Hi Graham

Thanks for the book. Very valuable.

Steve

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Hi Graham…………………..Congratulations on writing a really useful primer for digital pianos.

John

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Hi Graham,
I have really found your book most useful, thanks very much for your thorough job! It has meant a lot for me!

Nicholas

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Graham Howard

What a great service you provide.
I have successfully downloaded your book and it is timely, for I am contemplating buying a digital piano

Ray

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Fabulous, detailed booklet.
Using the information to assist our new purchase.
Richard

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Hi Graham,

I really appreciated your paper on correctly purchasing an electronic piano.

In fact, the college where my daughter attends music classes offered their second hand pianos to the students.

We were fortunate to acquire one last Saturday. However, I will definately review your article once more when an upgrade is necessary.

Thank you for making your knowledge and experience available to the general public – even in Australia!

Cheers from Down Under, John

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Hi Graham,

I found your book really useful. It clarified a lot of issues for me.

I’m really glad I had the chance to look at your book.
You are doing us all a great service. Thank you very much.

Best wishes,

Brian

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Graham,

I have spent hours scanning through all the pianos that are on your website and then I read all
71 pages to “7 Things You MUST Know Before You Buy a Digital Piano” (I learnt way more than just 7)

James

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Dear Graham

Thanks for the book. Useful info about pianos which can be hard to find on the web.

Cian

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Hi Graham!

It has been very useful, really good job man!

Robert

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Thanks for the great guide, Graham! It was very helpful as we explored the myriad of digital pianos out there. My wife wanted a nice looking unit that was reliable and felt and sounded as much like her father’s Steinway Grand as possible. Of course duplicating the sound and feel of an old Steinway is impossible, but using your guide, we ended up buying a Yamaha YDP-C71 from a local music shop (in Portland, OR. USA) on Sunday. Great information about what’s important and what’s not, and the reliability of Yamaha was a good start, and a knowledgeable and friendly sales person helped us get to the final purchase decision. Guess I can unsubscribe now!

Thanks again!

Gary

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Hi Graham,

I have found your booklet extremely useful and helpful. I like the fact that everything seem to be there and in plain language that even people with no knowledge at all can understand which was very helpful to the rest of my family.

Dragana

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Dear Graham

I was quite gratified to discover that from my simple perspective the outline though not the detail of what you write is what I’d anticipated by way of advice to a church lady hereabouts. I think your booklet is fine. The tone I think is also friendly and sensible.

David

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Having no knowledge of the subject I felt like an expert by the time I got through the guide.

Ian

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Hi Graham,

Thank you very much indeed for all the useful perspectives and guidelines on Piano buying
published in you book. Worth its weight in ivory!

It has helped me enormously in working towards a final choice decision about a
replacement digital piano.

Keep us all ‘keyed’ in.

Yours sincerely, Alan

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I found the booklet incredibly useful. It is so thorough – every make mentioned – even those no longer functioning (but presumably their models still extent and in use!) ; every technical term fully explained; and the ranking orders in all sorts of categories are outstanding…. Truly you are a pianoholic! I can go on ad infinitum but that would defeat the object of a clear and unambiguous eulogy of all that you put out on the web…… Thank you so much – you have been our guide and seer – showing us the way. Long may you continue with this marvellous work

Pauleen

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Many thanks for producing such a useful resource, and sharing it so generously.
From Dr Karen Worth.

Dr Worth

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Hi Graham,

Many thanks for your invaluable book which I downloaded- it helped enormously to sort through the minefield of jargon!

Lucie

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Already a quick scan of the topics covered do seem to show you have covered a vast amount if information in relation to digital pianos and should be very helpful in deciding what direction we should be going.

Enrico

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Your book is very helpful very easy to understand.
Thank you.

Rosali