What equipment do I need to start playing piano?

Every week at ePianos.co.uk we get people started on their musical journeys. If you are thinking about taking up the piano hopefully you might find this guide useful. Here is the equipment a typical beginner will purchase from us to get started. For the purposes of this guide let's imagine they have a budget of under £500.

1. A Keyboard/Piano

A Yamaha P45 Portable Piano

The Yamaha P45 is a very popular beginners' model because it's priced so low (£299 as of now). The crucial thing is that it has weighted keys so really feels like a piano to play. For the uninitiated 'weighted keys' means that when you push a key down you meet quite a high level of resistance, precisely like you do when you press a key down on a real piano. This helps develop muscle memory in your fingers from an early stage which makes transferring to a real piano for an exam much easier.

2. A Stand

XX Keyboard stand is £29.99

You will need something to put your new keyboard on, while it's possible to lay most keyboards on a table or desktop it's often an uncomfortable playing position which leads to bad playing habits. The double braced keyboard stand pictured above is our recommend stand for the Yamaha P45, importantly do not confuse it with the single braced keyboard stand (usually referred to as X Stand), which while it looks similar is not designed to carry a keyboard of this weight.

3. Headphones

Headphones are essential! (from £20 - £40)

For the beginner or the experienced player headphones are very useful, they cut the sound from the speakers so nobody can hear you practice! For keeping your neighbours happy they are essential too particularly if you're practicing late at night. Most homes these days already have a pair of headphones laying around, but beware that the standard headphone socket on most keyboards is the larger 6.5mm and most headphone cables have a 3.5mm jack, so you may need a little adaptor which you can usually buy from hardwares stores for a couple of quid.

4. Piano Lessons

Piano lessons currently £17 for 30 minute lesson

There are many famous piano players who have achieved a world class standard without taking piano lessons; Jools Holland, Elton John to name a couple. So lessons are not completely essential for learning as with enough time and dedication you could teach yourself to play. But time is the key and with a weekly lesson most people learn much faster as a good teacher is able to judge your rate of learning and tailor your practice to suit, meaning they can always keep you stretching your abilities and raising your standards. We give piano lessons in our store here in Banbury, UK.

So there we are, everything you need to get started playing the piano and well under £500.

For parents who want their children to try the piano but aren't sure whether it'll last more than a few months, we have a special option to rent a piano (like the Yamaha P45 above) for £30 a month.

We also have 'bundle' packages available for beginner where items like the headphones and stands are included at a reduced cost.  See below for details. Bye bye for now.

The Yamaha P45 beginners' bundle is currently £325