THE BEST DIGITAL
PIANOS FOR BEGINNERS
Our pick of the best instruments for a range
of needs and budgets
As we’ve already mentioned, keyboards and digital pianos can vary
wildly, from slight and portable with a focused feature set, to beefy
all-in-ones with sizeable speakers and no end of bells and whistles.
Picking the perfect piano for your needs shares more in common
with selecting a new smartphone than it does choosing an acoustic
instrument, as the sound, functionality and play style each offers is
as unique as the potential pianist playing them.
To help you out, we’ve put together a medley of some of the best
pianos and keyboards available for beginner and intermediate
players, highlighting each of their respective fortes.YA MA H A N P -3 2 PI AG G E R O
For those who might struggle
with fully weighted keys but still
ZDQWIXOOVL]HNH\VVWDQGDUGĆQJHU
spacing. The 76 keys here still have
enough resistance for practising
and accurate playing. In addition,
there are features for beginnerstoo. There are 10 good basic
sounds onboard, a metronome for
timing practice, it’s battery power-
able and has a built-in recorder.
$bJUHDWOHDUQLQJSLDQRRQWKHZD\
to fully weighted keys.
£262, uk.yamaha.comThe FP-30 offers a ton of useful
functionality at a fair price. First
off, its full-size 88-key ‘Ivory
Touch’ keyboard adds a grain
to the surface of the keys for a
more piano-like feel. Coupled
with 2 x 11 watt speakers, 35
decent ‘bread and butter sounds’,
Bluetooth connectivity, an ideas
UHFRUGHUSOD\EDFNRIDXGLRĆOHV
from USB stick, dual headphone
jacks and a microphone input,
there’s a lot to work with.
£522, roland.comCasio’s weighted actions are
generally nicely balanced. This
particular model has plenty for
beginners and more experienced
players, including 18 high-quality
sounds onboard. It’s fairly light, has
a scaled hammer action keyboard
(acoustic pianos feel heavier at
the low end and lighter at the
top), split and layer functionality,
two front-mounted headphone
sockets, Bluetooth, metronome
and 60 built-in practice exercises.
£455, casio.co.ukKorg produces quality machines
full of great sounds and this is no
different. It’s a little more exciting
looking compared to others and
fairly portable. The keyboard has
88 notes with a hammer action
and the loud 22 watt speakersface you, giving a nice immersive
sound. There are 30 layer-able
sounds onboard from Korg’s well-
respected library and it comes
with a piano stand, music stand,
pedal and two headphone sockets.
£499, korg.comROLAND FP-30
CASIO PRIVIA PX-S1000 KORG SP280-BK
BALANCED SCALES
THE REAL FEEL
BIG PLAYER
LIGHT KEYS, LOW COST
T3 recommends...
JUNE 2020 T3 43Learning piano