A few months ago, I moved to Amsterdam, to my own place (instead of living at my parents). This was really good in a sense that I got some freedom and whatever, but I miss one thing a lot: my parents had a piano in the house, and I've had piano lessons for 8 years. I quit those lessons as well, as I had no piano in Amsterdam and travelling back and forth every monday afternoon for lessons wasn't really feasible either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've grown to miss it a lot, so I'm looking into buying a (digital) piano. I'm looking for advice as to what I should buy, preferably from people who own (or play a lot on) the instruments they're recommending and/or comparing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some things to keep in mind:

 

 

 

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  [*:1m0q3cre]I've had 8 years of classical piano lessons, meaning I've played mostly stuff like Beethoven, Bach and similar classical music, though I have also played some movie scores (notably the music for

Am̮̩̉̉lie). This means I was taught to play on both grand and upright pianos (for the dutchies: Vleugels en staande piano's), all of which were acoustic. As such, I'm used to the typical sound and toucḫ̩̉̉ of a normal acoustic piano, where the loudness and typical sound of a note is greatly influenced by how you press the keys. I am personally not sure as to how closely this level of sophisticatedness (damn, what a word) is approached by the digital pianos of today - let's just suffice it to say, I don't want to be buying a keyboard with a fancy casing / name, I want something that plays like a piano.
 
 
 
[*:1m0q3cre]Since I'm a student, I live in a student complex consisting of many rooms all close together. Most people don't really have a problem with people practicing music (there are several people here who are doing the conservatory, some playing horn or trumpet, so a piano is not as bad ;). However, of course I wouldn't really be able to play before 10 or after 9, because people may go to bed or whatever. The solution to that would obviously be to buy a digital piano, since I'd just use a headphone and everything would be fine.
 
 
 
[*:1m0q3cre]I have room for a piano, though the ability to put it away would be good.
 
 
 
[*:1m0q3cre]The amount of money I'd like to spend is limited; Of course, pianos are expensive, and I know this. But buying anything above, say, 3000 euros is not really something that crosses my mind. Digital pianos are generally cheaper, so that's definitely a pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm currently edging towards buying a digital piano, primarily because they are cheaper. However, you don't spend this kind of money every day (at least, I don't, and I doubt (m)any of you do), and I do want to get decent value for money, so I'm primarily anxious about the first point I made above.

It's tough, because the keys digital pianos hit softer... on an acoustic, you get the "thud" when you know you've pressed the note down, on a digital, you don't really get that... I dont' like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing to keep in mind is moving costs - an acoustic would take 4 men and a few hours to get into your room...

It's tough, because the keys digital pianos hit softer... on an acoustic, you get the "thud" when you know you've pressed the note down, on a digital, you don't really get that... I dont' like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing to keep in mind is moving costs - an acoustic would take 4 men and a few hours to get into your room...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, but most companies I've seen do free delivery (and with the cost of a piano itself in the first place, they'd better ;) )

I used a digital piano to learn, and it was officially accredited with being good enough to have piano examinations on. In other words, it played like an accoustic piano. The keys were weighted and if you pressed them too softly they didn't play. That was 12 years ago at least, so probably the current digital pianos will be even better. Size and cost are the biggest issues, mine was the equivalent of about 2000 euros, and it was really big so had its own stand, and couldn't just be put away. Have a look around, if you buy a decent digital piano, then you won't notice much difference from an accoustic one. It's also worth bargaining. When we got the piano, we went in the first store and got a 5% discount, then went to another one and they gave us 10%, then we went back to the first one and they said that they were 'allowed' to give up to 10%, but they shouldn't really go further. So they'd let us have 15%, if we bought it there and then. Which we did.

I used a digital piano to learn, and it was officially accredited with being good enough to have piano examinations on. In other words, it played like an accoustic piano. The keys were weighted and if you pressed them too softly they didn't play. That was 12 years ago at least, so probably the current digital pianos will be even better. Size and cost are the biggest issues, mine was the equivalent of about 2000 euros, and it was really big so had its own stand, and couldn't just be put away. Have a look around, if you buy a decent digital piano, then you won't notice much difference from an accoustic one. It's also worth bargaining. When we got the piano, we went in the first store and got a 5% discount, then went to another one and they gave us 10%, then we went back to the first one and they said that they were 'allowed' to give up to 10%, but they shouldn't really go further. So they'd let us have 15%, if we bought it there and then. Which we did.

 

 

 

Haha, slick move dusqi :P. Thanks for the advice though - do you by any chance recall the brand/model that piano was?