2026 REPORT & REVIEW – The Ultimate Guide for Digital Piano Shopping | Buyers Guide for Digital Pianos | Research Guide for Digital Pianos | We are experts when it comes to digital pianos. Along with my talented son Erik, I have been working with and helping people with digital pianos for over 40 years. I know the good things about digital pianos (aka: electric pianos) and also the bad things about them. I have played all the top brands and models and examined them all. There are the good brands and the bad brands…the good models and the “not so good” models.
Just so you know, we do not have a store and are not a traditional retail piano dealer. We are well known throughout the US and we review digital pianos to help shoppers identify which ones are worth considering and which ones are not. We suggest that most of the time people should stick with the better brands such as Kawai, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Casio, and Orla. There are also other brands that may be worth considering, but the brands we just listed would be the better way to go.
Just about everyone seems to have some sort of a budget or price range they want to stay in, and that is understandable and is a good idea. But if it’s possible for you can be a bit flexible with your budget or price range, then you may be able to keep that digital piano much longer because you will more likely be able to “grow into it” instead of grow out of it. There are so many digital piano brands these days that in our opinion it can get somewhat confusing out there trying to make a good decision on which one to get.
You should not decide on one particular digital piano just because it has the lowest price, or it looks “pretty,” or the manufacturer promotes it heavily with complimentary words, phrases, and statements. The digital piano manufacturers goal is to sell you a piano and they sometimes will say just about anything to get you to buy one. We have even seen some of them say and promote their digital pianos in ways that are simply untrue…flat out lies, and if you don’t understand digital pianos well, then you will possibly fall for some of this clever “marketing & promotion” of their products.
That’s where we come in. We are digital piano experts and can guide you through the maze of confusion, hype, price ranges, and what’s actually important in a digital pianos for your musical goals. We will give you valuable info here to help you, but we also speak directly with digital piano shoppers by email and especially on the phone if you live in the US. Whether you want to invest $500 or less in a new digital piano, $2000, $3000, $5000, or more than $10,000 in a new digital piano, we know them all and can help you…and there is no charge or obligation for our assistance.
Playing piano and music is our passion as it is for many of our family members. I have been playing, teaching, performing, composing, and consulting with large music institutions on digital pianos for all my adult life. My son Erik has also been involved with digital pianos for all of his adult life. Together we can help you make the right digital piano buying decision for your musical needs and price range. We will also show you how you can save money and buy for less than the normal internet discount prices, including no tax, free shipping, and full factory warranties on most brands & models
Here are the 7 main steps for you to know in shopping for a new digital piano & choosing the right one for YOU.
1. Decide what you primarily want to do with the digital piano? What are the most important things that you want your digital piano to do and the piano playing skill levels of the people in your family who will be playing it? If the digital piano is for a church, school, studio, gigging musician, or other venues, then you may have certain musical and/or audio needs for digital pianos that will be important for those situations.
2. Do you or a family member primarily want to “play piano,” and have the built-in “bells & whistles,” that are in all digital pianos, being of secondary importance? If so, then the main components of a piano, which include key action movement, piano sound realism, pedal movement and response, and the internal speaker system output, should be your main concern.
3. Do you or a family member primarily just want to “have fun” and use the various “bells & whistles” on the digital piano? Maybe you feel that the “piano playing” aspect of owning a digital piano is just equal to or is less than the other features and functions of the digital piano, and “playing piano” is not the primary goal?
4. Do you absolutely need to stay in a certain price range such as “under $500,” “$500 to $1000,” “$1000 to $1500,” $1500 to $2000,” “$2000 to $3000,” and so on? Can you be a bit flexible with the price range for a digital piano or have you determined a specific maximum price range you must be in?
5. Where in your home or building will your digital piano be located? Which room, about how large is that room, and will other people also be in that room at the same time when the piano is being played? This information is important to help determine the power and output of the internal speaker system in the digital piano that you will need or want.
6. When will you primarily be playing your digital piano? Early mornings, late mornings, mid afternoons, evenings, late evenings, overnight or at various times? This information will help determine if you will be primarily be playing your digital piano through its internal speaker system or if you’ll need to use stereo headphones to practice in privacy…or both?
7. The piano cabinet design and colors can be a very important consideration for many digital piano shoppers. The cabinet structure, design, and available cabinet colors vary quite a bit among different brands and models. It would be best to figure out what will work best for you in that way and whether or not you prefer a full furniture cabinet digital piano or a portable digital piano that can be moved more easily? It’s also good to know that some portable digital pianos have optional furniture style stands and triple pedal units that can be purchased separately and make the portable digital piano look more like a furniture cabinet digital piano.
These 7 main digital piano shopping tips or steps are important things that you should know before you start shopping for a digital piano. Sometimes your thoughts or goals about which digital piano to choose may change as you shop for one, and that’s OK. But you should know that typically the more money you invest in a new digital piano, the better and more realistic the piano playing experience will be. You should “know these things” before you start seriously shopping for a new digital piano.
When it comes to the “bells & whistles” that we previously mentioned, almost every digital piano out there has some of those additional features and functions. Some digital pianos have more of them and some have less. But will any of them really matter to you, and are they useful? Here is what we mean by using the phrase “Bells & Whistles.” They can include many things such as additional non-piano instrumental sounds and sound effects such as brass, woodwinds, strings, organs vintage electric pianos, synths, guitars, and so on. There could be 10 or 20 additional non-piano sounds, 50, 100, or more than 500 additional non-piano sounds on some digital pianos
There could also be various recording and playback technology features including MIDI, audio Wav file and audio MP3 file recording and playback as well and multi-track recording features. There is also Bluetooth wireless audio and MIDI streaming along with simultaneous USB audio and MIDI streaming. There is also a variety of built-in hardware such as audio inputs or outputs, or USB thumb-drive ports. Some digital pianos have interactive accompaniment including drum rhythm tracks, bass line tracks, and additional accompaniment instrumental tracks…otherwise known as “one-man-band.” Some digital pianos have special effects such as reverb (this is an important feature), chorus, distortion, tremolo, phasers, ambience, and other nice effects.
Many digital pianos have built-in songs and educational features to help you learn about basic piano playing and learning. Other extra features may include digital or physical “mixer volume controls” as well as a graphic EQ to adjust frequency range as you might have in a real audio speaker system. The more basic and more common “extra bells & whistles” would be layering/mixing two sounds together or splitting two different instrument sounds with one sound on the left hand and different sound for the right hand. There could be a “4-hands” feature that allows the 88 notes to be digitally split into two 44-note keyboards that allow two people to play the same notes for the same song at the same time.
Beyond the extra “bells & whistles” that we just mentioned, there are even more extra features or specifications that some of these digital pianos have which may or may not be useful or important to you and your music. We know all about these things, we know what it all means, and can explain these things to you in a very understandable way so that you’ll know for sure if you’ll want or need them, or if you won’t really care about them. Understanding what these digital pianos can and cannot do is essential in making the right digital piano purchase decision.
Some of the low priced digital pianos under $1000 and/or below $500 are quite good these days and maybe that’s all you will need or want. But…if the person or persons playing that digital piano become more advanced in their piano playing skills or are already good players, they will normally outgrow that “inexpensive” lower price digital piano mostly because of key action deficiencies as well as piano sound and pedaling deficiencies and limitations.
The bottom line is…don’t be fooled by the “appearance” or low price of the piano that you are researching or looking at in person. It’s relatively easy for a digital piano manufacturer to make a piano look good. The cabinets are not made of real solid core wood or even actual wood veneers. The cabinets are built with engineered MDF board and simulated veneers for the cabinet appearance. Some of them can and do look really good and can also hold up over time. But don’t let that be your main motivating factor or necessarily believe everything the digital piano manufacturer or retail store tells you in their marketing and promotional advertising on websites or videos.
Owning and playing a new digital piano can be a great experience and we recommend many models. But do it right the first time. If you want to get the best digital piano for your musical needs, goals, and price range, then contact us and we can and will help you with your shopping questions and can also save you money. We are available 6 days a week from mornings through early evenings. Send us an email or give us a call, or even text us and we will respond to you.
