buying a used keyboard without getting burned
before we go further, let's talk about the thing you're actually going to practice on. because if the keys are wrong, everything else in this course fights you the whole way.
here's my opinion, stated plainly: buy the cheapest full-size keyboard with weighted keys you can find used, not a new toy one off the shelf at a big box store. this is a preference, take it or leave it, but i feel strongly about it and i'll tell you why.
why weighted matters more than new
those little 61-key keyboards with the springy, bouncy action, the ones marketed to kids, teach your fingers a lie. they respond the same no matter how hard or soft you press. real piano keys have resistance. they push back. if you learn on springy keys, you build finger habits that don't transfer, and you'll have to unlearn them later, which always takes longer than learning right the first time. i know this because i did it with something else entirely, and we'll get to that.
weighted, full-size, 88 keys if you can get it, 76 at a minimum. that's the whole shopping list. everything else, brand, color, bluetooth speakers built in, is noise.
what to actually check before you buy
when you go look at a used keyboard, whether it's a classifieds listing or someone's garage sale, do this in order:
play every single key. not a scale, not a song. one at a time, low to high, and listen for anything that doesn't sound right. a dead key, a stuck key, a key that's quieter than its neighbors. this takes maybe three minutes and it's the single most important thing you'll do.
check the pedal separately. plug it in, press it, make sure it actually sustains. sellers forget these exist and they're easy to lose track of.
look at the power adapter. make sure it's the one that came with the unit, not a mismatched one someone swapped in. wrong voltage can cook the thing.
ask when it was last used. keyboards that sat in a garage or a cold storage unit for years sometimes have issues that don't show up until you've had it a week. dry air out here doesn't help either. our air is hard on wood pianos more than digital ones, but a keyboard that's been through a lot of temperature swings is worth a slower look.
bring cash and know your number before you get there. decide what you're willing to pay and don't let the conversation talk you past it.
the draper garage
i'll tell you about the keyboard i bought, because it's the whole lesson in miniature.
found it on a classifieds site, drove up to draper right after work, still in my landscaping clothes because i hadn't had time to change. the guy who answered the door looked at me and looked past me at my truck and just assumed i was there to sell him something, not buy from him. took him a second to sort out what was actually happening.
i didn't say anything about it. i just started playing keys.
found two dead ones, both up in the higher octave, both notes i wasn't going to be missing much at my level but worth knowing about. i pointed them out, he winced, and i talked him down forty dollars off his asking price. he wasn't thrilled but he wasn't surprised either. that's a fair negotiation. you found a real problem, you named a real number, nobody's lying to anybody.
that keyboard is still what i practice hymns on at 5:30 in the morning. dead keys and all, it's held up fine. the point isn't that you need a perfect instrument. the point is you need to know what you're actually getting before you hand over money.
a word on tuning and drift
digital keyboards don't go out of tune the way an acoustic piano does, which is one more reason i like them for beginners. no tuner to hire, no worrying about our elevation or our dry air pulling a piano's soundboard around, which is a real thing that happens to wood pianos up here. a digital keyboard just needs power and a spot to sit. that's it.
if you already have access to an old acoustic piano, grandma's piano, a church basement upright, that's fine too, more than fine, but get someone who knows pianos to look it over before you assume it's fine. missing keys, sticky keys, and shifted registers are more common than people think. ask me how i know.
before next time
if you don't have a keyboard yet, this week is for finding one, not buying the first thing you see. check three listings, ask the questions above, and bring someone with you if you can, an extra set of ears helps more than you'd think.