I got another email on this fine Saturday morning asking about the important things to look for when buying a keyboard.

There are 6 things that are vital.

“Hello Tim,

I don’t have a piano yet, but want to try your course first before investing in a big way..

Could I pick up a 2nd hand electric piano?

What should I look for and what should I buy?

I have always wanted to play piano all of my life.
Then I can sign up for your courses.” Jill

When you are starting out (in my opinion) and you are going to purchase a keyboard you really only need to focus on 6 things:

1. Weighted keys (this helps a ton with the feel of the piano).

2. At least 76 keys but I don’t really play more than that. I have an 88 key keyboard but rarely EVER play more than the 76 key keyboard would afford me.

3. External speakers so you can hear yourself play without having to plug into some computer or something.

4. The ability to plug it into a sound system if you wanted to do a show or just show off for family and friends.

5. Must have a transpose function so you can play a song in a different key without switching to different chords.

6. Does it have just a few different sounds, but not too many. You only use a couple unless you are in some recording studio and the pianos/keyboard tend to be less quality in sound and feel the more features you have. It’s weird but very true.

A couple other tips.

Look on craigslist. The good news is there are a lot of pianos and keyboards out there being given away left and right.

And don’t get caught up in the amount of buttons on the keyboard. The more features it has the less quality the playing will be.

The reason?

There are lots of disappointed wanna-be piano players who took other piano lessons and now want to get rid of the thing that reminds them they haven’t ever learned how to play.

It’s awful seeing a reminder of a dream unfulfilled.

Most of the time it’s not their fault. Bad programs, bad teachers etc.

PianoFool students keep their pianos and keyboards for life until they upgrade to another one.

Because they are playing them.

You could be too.

Its Sept 24th today.

You could literally be calling yourself a piano player by the time the the snow flys this year. And around these parts thats like in 45 days.

But you got to take the first step and sign up here:

www.pianofool.com/pianoprogram

P.S This is the keyboard I would purchase if I needed one today.  I personally feel there is no reason to spend one dollar more than $500.  This one fits perfectly into the needs of someone who wants to play for fun at home or do shows on the road.  🙂