Buying my first piano... what to look out for?

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After wanting to learn the piano my entire adult life, I'm taking the plunge and looking at buying my first one.

I want to make sure I stick with it first so will most likely be looking at a second hand one on eBay, or the like before making a real investment.

What important things should I look out for/ask before purchasing?

I really want an acoustic over a digital but is one necessarily better than the other?

Is age a factor?

I know that there can be a problem of strings having be replaced but I'm not entirely sure why.

I have no clue what to look out for so if anyone with a little experience could help me I'd be so grateful!

By the way I have had old fashioned pianos all my life - would not go back now

Acoustic/digital at this point really just about whether neighbours are an issue for you. Digital are probably alot more expensive!

As a beginner I'd go for the best piano you could afford but tbh any piano is better than none. I'd just make sure it's been regularly tuned if possible.

I started learning on an old, 'been in a church hall for years' type piano and it was fine for a good while. Enjoy!

Sorry my initial post didn’t post. I brought a Yahama Arius back in January brand new for about £700 I brought it in the sale. This was after about a year of discussion with piano teacher and musical friends. Having had string pianos in the past the digital far exceeds it - in terms of quality. You can record, review, compost - everything and when the DC play headphones in and it can be silent. My parents have a top of the range Clarinova as does my sister - but the Arius is bloody fab - I would not go back now to anything else!

I plumped for digital because of the huge expense of transporting a piano and getting it moved into your house, re-tuning etc.

I have to say I'm very happy with it. It can be moved around if we need more space in the room - that sort of thing.

I've been learning for a total of about 8 or 9 years and still waiting to take the plunge and buy an acoustic one so this is probably not that helpful to you, sorry!

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.

@relocatingtohome I felt like tried and tested was the way forward so I'm so glad you think it's worth it.

@anaa1 No, luckily we're in a detached so neighbours not an issue!

That's great to know, looking at most of them they seem to be very standard polished wood primary school types so to know that you went on OK is great news.

Is there any particular brand to look out for or any way to check if the piano is 'good?'

Think about space & where you intend to put it, & how you're going to get it to your house, & inside the building, before you buy. The older, traditional ones (even uprights) are monsters & take up space. Factor in cost for moving it in. I think it's worth paying a professional piano mover if you intend to splash out on an expensive & hefty piano. Mine came on the back of a truck & got tipped on its side, which was not good. When we moved house we paid for the right equipment.

How serious are you about learning & playing? Will you honestly play every day or once in a while? Will you get your money's worth?

Is it just you playing or will every small child (or adult) visiting plonk on it? If you pay lots be prepared to feel protective about it. Although I felt protective about mine for ages & drinks on the top of it are still banned.

Factor in costs of tuning.

I've owned two early 20th Century upright monsters. One came for free & had been seriously abused in its past life. Piano tuner had to fix 6 hammers. It was never exactly in tune. The ugly thing took up masses of space but it enabled me to learn when my parents would otherwise have not been able to afford to buy one, & I loved playing. My parents gave it away years later & bought a smaller, newer one & they had a go at learning.

I bought my current piano 20 years ago. Not long after, I had children & didn't have as much time to play. I haven't kept up with the tuning so it's not great now. Thought about getting rid of it & buying a sideboard instead (they do make quite good shelves) but I played it this week for the first time in months, & I can't let it go.

Hope you do get one though. If you really get into it, it's a lovely way to pass the time & relax.

We've gone digital (I grew up playing an acoustic one), and when we looked, a digital one was much, much cheaper than a new, reasonable upright acoustic. Other than not having to tune it, I really appreciate the volume control when DD is trying things out. It also has a transpose feature, so if DD is playing something (on another instrument) and I've only found the accompaniment in a different key, the piano will transpose for me so I don't have to transpose as I play (not my strength!). I suspect it could do with servicing, some of the keys are no longer quite right, but we've had it a decade, and it sounds a lot better than an acoustic one would at this point with no maintenance.

re makes of piano, the best one I had was a Reid-Sohn - lovely piano. But I have a digital one now due to neighbours!

I think the main thing is don't worry about name/make, the 'touch' is the main thing. My Reid-Sohn actually had quite a hard touch (not sure if this is the correct terminology!) and I prefer a softer touch, where the keys take less pushing down if that makes sense. So play them and see if they feel comfortable.

I've just looked up the one I brought

www.rimmersmusic.co.uk/yamaha-ydp-144-digital-piano-white-p43561

£719 at the moment instead of £941. It is by far the best thing other than my dog that I have brought!

Ours is played with daily and a total an utter joy to all of us. We had an old piano stool that was my parents and my lovely Dad even painted it white and cut it down to an exact size.

For me it's worth every flipping penny. I feel very very very lucky to have it. At the time it took me nearly a year of playing different piano and consulting anyone I knew with a piano -it is one of the loves of my life.

If you buy a second hand piano (string one) the tuning costs are ridiculous and my parents had a really expensive one which had to be retuned every few months and argh...........

With the link above -I bought mine outright -but they do monthly plans and they used to be interest free. So check that out too.

Personally I bought a second hand one -from a charity shop in fact -and it didn't have weighted keys and wasn't full size and by the time the DC had even got to Grade 1 standard they needed a proper keyboard -weighted keys full size etc.

I can't tell you what a joy the piano has been during lockdown. People can put you off -saying "will you use it " etc try one first. But personally I say -go for it, life is too short. Buy a decent one and live your dream -hasn't lockdown shown us life is for living? Good luck!

I played a lot as a child, then my lockdown panic purchase was a piano !

I would say - acoustic vs digital..... do you have noise issues.. neighbours or other people in the house who don't want to listen..... Is tuning it every few months, or moving house going to be an issue... ?

If not then I would go acoustic. Modern acoustics are different to what I grew up with, but I bought a 1970's Yamaha U2. I went to a shop and tried a few. REALLY embarrassing trying to hammer out a few scales and chords, but nobody really cared, and I bought the one whose sound I liked the best. And wasn't too big for the room etc. And was roughly within budget.

I love it. Need to find a teacher because I seem to have forgotten most of what I knew though!