There’s nothing quite like buying your first piano, and owning your own fine musical instrument. 
However, it can be daunting, especially if you’ve never dealt with pianos before. If you’ve decided it’s time to begin learning the piano, that shouldn’t stop you! There are plenty of options on the market for beginners as well.
If you’re looking for a beginner piano, you’ll probably be more interested in digital pianos or upright models. Grands require an extra level of care beyond what smaller pianos need, being a responsibility as well as an investment, which is often too much for someone just getting a feel for piano ownership.
Should You Start With An Digital Piano?
For a lot of people looking at a new music education, there’s a lot to be said for beginning on a keyboard synthesizer of some sort. The most obvious benefit is the cost: even a good digital piano will cost far less than all but the cheapest uprights. If you decide now isn’t the time to learn piano after all, you’d have a lot less invested.
And a keyboard fits in the closet.
On the other hand, most keyboards only have a few octaves, so learning the full range of a piano becomes impossible. Further, only the higher-end digital pianos attempt to really recreate the feel and action of actual piano keys, with few approaching success. There’s pretty much always a period of adjustment as a digital piano player learns to work a real piano action and pedals.
The sound, too, is never entirely perfect on digital keyboards, since they are working off of samples. A digital piano will usually have much better sound quality than a regular synthesizer, however, since it’s specializing in just a few sounds.
Never the less, if this is truly your first piano, digital models are inexpensive, convenient, and an easy-access way to learn while still getting a great little instrument.
Vertical Pianos: The Traditional Beginner’s Choice
If you know you want a piano in your house, or just want the rich full sound that only real wood, strings, and hammers can provide, uprights have long been the popular option when people need a piano to learn on.
While it’s true that an upright can never entirely equal a concert grand, today’s vertical pianos are engineered for far better sound than the “honky tonk” style uprights of even a few decades back. Modern uprights make superior use of their interior space, giving them a deeper low end and crisper highs, creating a sound that’s nearly as rich as a grand.
Uprights also fit easily into virtually any room, adding to it without needing to be the focus. They can age along with your home and your family, creating an heirloom you can pass on through generations of beginning piano-players.
In fact, we have plenty of customers who bought an upright years ago intending it to be a “starter piano” and, instead, found it fit so naturally into their home they never want to replace it.
Begin Now, Play Forever
Once you learn how to play piano, you’ll never forget, just like how you’ll never forget the sight of your first piano coming home. There are challenges that come with piano ownership, but the rewards are far greater. You’ll have a skill appreciated the world over, and an instrument that can impress anyone coming to visit.
Whether you choose a digital or an upright piano, you’ll have a great investment that’s also a fine learning tool, ready for years of musical enjoyment. These inexpensive, portable instruments are just right to learn on, and might even be preparing you to own a grand someday.
Why don’t you tell the world in the comments what your first piano was, or perhaps just let us know what your first piano is going to be!