piano keyboard

[btomeara]

My name is Bernadette and I am hoping some of you out there may be able to assist me.  I am shopping around for an electronic keyboard because I wish to learn the piano.  There are so many different models with different features out there that I hardly know where to begin.  Out of curiosity I would like to know if any of you have electronic piano keyboards and what your opinion is of it.

I would be especially interested to know what brand it is eg Casio, Roland, Yamaha etc.
How you would rate it in terms of sound quality, excellent, very good, good, okay, poor.
Its model number?
How many keys it has?
Are the keys touch sensitive?
What is its weight?
How easy it is to carry around eg light, medium, heavy
Whether it can be operated by power, battery or both
Does it have an inbuilt lesson feature and if yes what is your opinion of it?
Would you recommend it for someone who wishes to learn the piano?

Any assistance you can give me please would be much appreciated.

[xvimbi]

I would recommend going through the myriads of threads in this section that cover your questions. You will likely find the answers. As a start, check out the Yamaha P or PS series digitals (www.yamahasynth.com). This will give you an idea about what a decent digital should have to begin with. Then use that as a point of reference when you look at other models/brands.

Have fun!

[Floristan]

Ditto what xvimbi said.  I have a Yamaha P-120.  I played a lot of keyboards before making my decision.  Look at all the features offered with each model and decide if any of them are important to you.  For example, I wanted a full, 88-note keyboard, portability, the ability to have at least two pedals (sustain and soft), the ability to do half-pedaling with the sustain, the ability to record and store several performances, etc.  You'll have your own list.

I didn't care so much about things like how many "voices" it had (I just wanted one really good grand voice) or being able to split the keyboard between two voices or being able to transpose up or down at the push of a button, or having lots of reverberation effects, or have big, external speakers (I use headphones 95% of the time).

All models you look at will have scads of functions.  Typically, the more you pay, the more functions you get.  Once you start shopping, just be sure to review the functions of each instrument, as it will help you decide what you really need and what you can live without.  Note that some keyboards are primarily pianos with additional stuff and some are synthesizers with lots of additional stuff.  The ones that are designed to be pianos first and foremost are probably the one's you want to consider.

Good luck!