Keyboards

[DeepanKrispanEven]

Can anyone recommend a good keyboard to start to learn to play music on? Probably the 61 key type, preferably under £200.

Is this for a child (if so, how old?) or for an adult?

What types of music are you aiming at? How good is academic standard, concentration, etc?

Is there already any other music knowledge or experience? What is computer knowledge/experience like? (as modern keyboards are just a special type of computer).

[Get more information by searching my name and piano, keyboard, music etc]

£200 is not impossible, but is quite a low point to start.

Hi - it's for a teenager. She learnt some basic piano a few years ago and can probably get back to reading music fairly easily. She's OK with concentration and doing A levels with a view to going to university. Not great with computers, to be honest, but she manages. I doubt she'd want anything very whizzy in IT terms, but she'd like something fairly small she can play music on.

We bought a Yamaha E353 for DC following advice on here (and from Ferguson, thank you)

DC just enjoys playing for fun. It seems to do enough to keep him interested at the moment although he will never be a musician!

Hi again -

I think probably something from the Yamaha Piaggero range, as they can be played like a Piano, but also have some features of Keyboards:

www.yamahamusiclondon.com/Pianos-and-Keyboards/Keyboards/NP-Piaggero-Series/

I was just thinking about keyboards too, so can i hop on this thread please?

My DS has a January birthday, wants a keyboard. He's going to be 10 years old, already plays the piano (grade 3 ish), but really wants to experiment with different sounds.

Basically, he wants to play the Super Mario theme tune etc, on a keyboard. Something cheapish, not replacing a piano, but with a decent number of different voices? He is pretty technically minded.

Any ideas, thanks!

Yamaha piagerro is perfect for that - Ferguson is spot on! DS2 has one in his room as well as the family digital piano downstairs and definitely plays Super Mario theme and a whole load of others on it!

Piaggero of course - spelling failure!

I repeat what I said previously - the 76 key Piaggero models from Yamaha - the top models have 500 sounds and 165 backing styles.

For more 'experimental' sounds and music, the American 'M-Audio' company are highly regarded and have a vast range of equipment:

uk.m-audio.com/products/browse/category/keyboards-and-controllers

uk.m-audio.com/store

uk.m-audio.com/products/browse/category/usb-audio-and-midi-interfaces

uk.m-audio.com/products/browse/category/reference-monitors

Thanks so much for the responses. The Piaggero does look good. Could I ask about recommendations for music to go with it for someone who has learnt some basic piano a long time ago and can read music? I'm guessing she'd like classics and things like musicals.

The following are probably a good place to start:

www.8notes.com/piano/

gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/piano

Kenneth Baker tutor and repertoire books cover a wide range of music