Can anybody recommend an ideal keyboard piano for my 7yo?

[ZeldaTheWindBreaker]

Thought I'd ask on here, although not able to afford a piano or lessons, I thought you would be best to advise on an ideal keyboard for my daughter to self teach the basics.

She's never played one before (EVER) and picked a toddler one up from a charity shop at the weekend. I used to play one at high school for a few years, so taught her some very basic songs - Twinkle, twinkle etc - and she was able to play them perfectly back to me after only being shown a few times. I was quite shocked as her coordination is normally pretty poor, but she has excellent memory and is able to mirror my finger movements really well.

She's been playing the keyboard ever since. Obviously, being a cheap thing that would have been no more than ??15 new, you can't play more than one note at once, and it has horrible sound quality. so I want to get her something more substantial.

We live in a flat, so have to be considerate of the neighbours. So headphones will be essential.

88-keys are way out of my price range. There is one on my local selling site that is 88 keys for under ??100 but it only works with headphones (not great for us, as my daughter likes to show off the new songs she's learnt when her gran visits). So it would have to be playable with headphones AND without.

I think 61 keys is our financially-realistic choice.

I've seen some that are touch sensitive. And others that are weighted. But havent yet found a model that has both of these features. Which is most important?

I'd also like one with built in lessons on an LED screen. I don't recall any music theory from school and currently rely on letter notes to play songs, but would like my daughter to learn the proper notes. I have seen a few models that provide 40 online lessons for free.

I am quite interested in this model. What do you think?
www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-LK-120AD-Lighting-Keyboard-Adapter/dp/B007VCFT0Q

Reviews say the sound quality isnt best though ...

My local gumtree is full of Yamaha models with 61-notes. Am i best going for one of those?

Thanks for any advice!

I have lost count of the number of times I have answered similar questions! Search my name, and keyboard, piano, music etc and you should find plenty of help.

I think Yamaha are usually better value, and better sound. You DON'T need built in lessons, or lights to show which note to play. It really is not that difficult to start to learn, and there is lots of help on-line (some of it better than others).

One can play quite nicely without either touch sensitivity OR weighted keys, provided you don't expect to be a concert pianist overnight! Personally I would go for touch sensitivity as this stage. It is also useful to have MIDI, to connect to computers and sequencers. Quite a lot can be achieved with 61 notes, and you need to be further advanced to justify 88; I think Yamaha also do 76, which is kind of 'half way house'.

I'll look back in a few days.

Thanks you so much, Ferguson! Lots of great info Ive found under your name on here. I'll have another look around and see if i can shortlist a few.

What sort of music is DD wanting to learn to play? Also yourself, if you are learning as well?

The playing techniques for KEYBOARD and PIANO are quite different from each other, though there can be a lot of 'overlap' between them.

Some people want to do only Piano style, so might hope to play simple Classical music, so would just use the Grand Piano sound, or Harpsichord for Vivaldi or Bach.

Other people might want to play Keyboard style, for Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Abba, Beatles songs, or songs from Hollywood musicals, and would thus use orchestral or band sounds and backing accompaniments, or 'pop group', or jazz band swing.

The Keyboard can do both styles, but the playing, particularly the left hand, is different for each.

So - firstly you need to decide which style you want to concentrate on; Keyboard is easier at first, but 'serious' players might prefer Piano, even though it might be a bit more of a challenge.

If you have a music store in your town, it can be better to see and hear instruments there, and maybe get after-sales support, rather than 'on line' when you have to trust to the goodwill of the sellers.

Hi again -

I have only just come back to your 'thread', and in due course will try and give more help.

But for now I would say, NO NOT that Casio one!

There is no reason why anyone who can read 'words' cannot also learn read the basics of music.

I'll come back sometime.