5 LIES They Tell You About Digital Pianos! | 2026 Report | We are Tim & Erik Praskins and we have been helping digital piano shoppers online throughout the US and the world for well over 15 years and a total of 40 years in digital piano consulting. What we have discovered over that time, among other things, that there are digital piano websites that claim certain things or say things about digital pianos that are absolutely Not True! In other words…they know that what they are saying to you or showing you are LIES! But since you might be uninformed or you just trust some sites because they seem like they are good, then you can get fooled and unfortunately you may believe those LIES!
How do we know this? It’s because we have been working with and helping people with all the brands of acoustic & digital pianos on the market, and for over 40 years with Tim working with and teaching thousands of piano students of all ages and backgrounds. We are well known in our community and throughout the US and we talk with people everyday about the subject of digital pianos & keyboards. We do know what we’re talking about.
So let’s start off with LIE #1 – Just so you know, a real piano has 88 keys. Not only do real acoustic pianos have 88 keys, those keys have small weights inside the physical keys. This is so the keys have some noticeable weight to them when they move, and so the fingers can press those keys down more evenly, more smoothly, and be able to control the piano sound itself more evenly. The weighted piano keys do not need to be heavy or hard to push down, but they do need to be “weighted” for control and good even piano key movement.
Keyboard keys are not piano keys and piano keys are not keyboard keys. Keyboard keys can look similar to piano keys but those keyboard keys can be physically smaller, they are normally unweighted or semi-weighted keys, they don’t usually press down evenly, in most cases generic keyboards have less than 88 keys and normally have 61 keys. Keyboard keys normally have small springs under each key giving the feel of those keys a very springy key movement. This can be bad for any piano student no matter what there age is.
Keyboards can be very inexpensive, but some of the pro models can cost a lot of money depending on the use for it. In many cases they can be as little as $100 to $200 while actual digital pianos with 88 weighted keys are more money. But here where the big #1 lie comes in. There are websites that use the word “digital piano” and even an actual digital piano image, but then show you and tell you about 49 key or 61 key “keyboards.” They LIE to you and try to make you think the spring-loaded cheap springy key keyboards are “Digital Pianos,” but they are NOT digital pianos! Those websites may even show you an image of a real looking acoustic or digital piano, like I already mentioned. But their list of product recommendations are all about cheap basic “keyboards.”
Don’t fall for their LIES! As a long time piano and music teacher, if a piano student of any age starts off with learning on and playing a “keyboard,” they will for sure get into some bad piano playing habits that could be difficult to break…and it is all about the physical keys in that product.
LIE #2 – A digital piano cannot replace a traditional acoustic piano. This statement is definitely not true. It is a lie. There are many brands and models of acoustic pianos and the same is true for digital pianos. There are good ones and also bad ones. For digital pianos, the key actions can be excellent, very good, good, or bad. The same would be true for acoustic pianos. The piano sound coming out of many good digital pianos these days is amazing and most people would be fooled into thinking the piano sound they are hearing from some of these new digital pianos are instead good acoustic pianos.
Acoustic piano sound resonates through the wood cabinet and a wooden soundboard on an acoustic piano. That’s one of the big things that makes them “acoustic.” Piano sound in an acoustic piano vibrates from the strings and then resonates throughout the that piano. The better the wood is, the larger that acoustic piano is, and the better the parts are, then that acoustic piano sound can be amazing…especially in some of the good grand pianos out there.
But to say a digital piano cannot be amazing in closely replicating a good acoustic piano is a false statement. It really just depends on the actual acoustic or digital pianos and how good they are individually. Unless you are a skilled acoustic piano player who plays higher-end uprights and grand pianos, you likely won’t notice a big difference playing a good digital piano and a good acoustic piano, especially some of the new higher priced digital pianos like the Kawai Novus 6 or Novus 12. In fact you may enjoy a good digital piano even more because most of them don’t go out of tune and you can more easily regulate the touch velocity response in a digital piano.
LIE #3 – Digital pianos can break more often and will likely need service, whereas an acoustic piano will last longer and not normally break. This is not true. I have personally owned a variety of digital pianos over the years and the newer model digital pianos from the better name brands can last for many, many years without any service being needed. Good acoustic pianos can and do last a long time but acoustic pianos need regular tuning, usually at least once a year at about $200+ per tuning depending where you live. In 10 years you could easily have spent $2000 just in keeping the acoustic piano tuned depending on what you have.
Even if your digital piano has a service issue within 5 years or even 10 years, it will likely not cost you close to $2000 that it would otherwise likely take to keep an acoustic piano properly tuned. You can certainly play an “out-of-tune” acoustic piano, but they don’t sound good that way. Alo, acoustic piano keys can “stick” or “sticky” in movement due to higher humidity levels in the air which cause the acoustic piano keys to become sluggish or even somewhat “sticky.” To have piano tech come to your home to fix sticky keys is typically fairly expensive.
Digital pianos typically will not have sticky keys because of the way digital key actions are built as compared to acoustic pianos. Any musical instrument that you own, whether it’s an acoustic piano, digital piano, guitar, violin, etc, is subject to some issues over time. But if the piano you have is a good brand and a newer model, you likely will have no major repair issues. Plus, digital pianos come with factory warranties, typically for the first 3 to 5 years for parts and labor. Our recommendation is that you can purchase whatever you want, but a newer model name brand digital piano such as Kawai, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Casio, or Orla piano is fairly safe these days for good reliability and longevity, and for many years down the road.
LIE #4 – Digital Pianos will depreciate and lose money over time. Well, there is actually some truth to that statement. But the problem with saying it is the same thing is true for just about anything else you can purchase these days. This includes computers, TV’s, mobile devices, cars & trucks, along with a variety of products. Even regular acoustic pianos lose money now. Most acoustic pianos, even some of the good brands, lose money because less and less people are buying them.
Piano shoppers are more interested in all the positive benefits that new digital pianos have to offer as opposed to buying a higher maintenance acoustic piano which will always need tuning, maintenance, they are always loud in volume, heavy in weight, and they only do one thing…play 1 piano sound with a non-adjustable, key action response by the user/player. This is not to say that some acoustic pianos are not great to own and don’t have value. Some acoustic upright and grand pianos still have value and can be extremely enjoyable. The an investment in a quality name brand digital piano can bring great musical rewards in so many ways, whether you are playing as a beginner, recreationally, or at high piano playing skill levels.
But it is a LIE to suggest that good new digital pianos are the only music products that can or do depreciate over time, and lose some value. So yes, digital pianos can lose value after some years, but this is not unusual or unexpected, especially if new models come out or prices should change. But that does not mean you should not own one. We still highly recommend good new digital pianos for a variety of compelling reasons and you will be glad you did.
LIE #5 – Piano teachers do not recommend or like digital pianos. Many piano teachers throughout America and other places absolutely do recommend digital pianos, especially if those digital pianos are good ones. Piano teachers care primarily about 3 things when it comes to pianos: !. key action feel, movement & response, 2. piano sound realism, expression, and tonal dynamics & resonances, 3. Pedal response (especially damper-sustain pedal), pedal feel, and pedal sustain time duration. These are the primary fundamentals in all pianos, digital & acoustic.
Yes, it is very important that the digital piano you own can do all that or come very close to it. There are some digital pianos that cannot do that well or at all. LIke various products in various consumer product categories, there some good quality models and some poor quality models. So when it comes to new digital pianos, don’t be fooled by the outer appearance of the piano or the clever marketing ads that some of these digital pianos companies do…especially the “off-brands.”
It is not how the digital piano looks that is the first thing you should be concerned about. The appearance of a digital piano or any piano can be important, that’s very true. But if that piano is poor quality and/or does not play well, then you could wind up with what I call “a boat anchor.” Don’t let that happen. There are a lot of good choices out there in various price ranges, but some are definitely better than others, and could even be less money too.
Be sure you contact us and we can personally help you with your digital piano shopping questions and decisions. Beyond that, we can actually save you money over the various internet sites for the same models. All pianos that we order for people originate directly from the manufacturer US warehouse and they come with complete manufacturer warranties. Also, most of the time we can also get you free shipping and no sales tax…assuming you live in the mainland continental USA. So please contact us if you have piano questions and/or price questions.
