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Do we have any pianists here?

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My 6 year old son has expressed an interest so we’ve got him in lessons now.

I guess that means we have to buy a piano.

Any guidance? I’m kinda attracted to the old school acoustic pianos. Don’t know if I want to plop down big $ for a new one though since who knows if this will take.

I’ve never been any good at any sort of musical instruments and the wife isn’t much more musically inclined, so we’re sorta in the dark on the whole thing.

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My biggest dog I named Killer, cause he is the me-anist. My middle dog I call Slim, cause he is the le-anist, my littlest dog I call Liberace, cause he is the pee-inest.

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I’d suggest starting with a decent electric piano, but nothing too high end.  Smaller, easier to maneuver and won’t become a piece of furniture if he decides he doesn’t love it down the road.  

You can make a decision about a bigger investment as he gets older if he still has a high interest. 

My son said he wanted to learn guitar at age 6 so I bought him a small electric and an amp.  It pretty much sat there for 5 years.  Now, at age 12, he’s taking lessons, practicing with me and is really into it.  

Last night he said he wants a full size guitar for Xmas so I’m going to get him one. 

I’m also going to give him my Taylor acoustic before he goes to his next lesson on Monday.  

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Being that he's young and might grow out of it, you probably don't want to spend a lot of money on it.   Often you can find a decent piano on Craigslist/facebook market for cheap or free(provide you move it).     A decent upright like this one, can usually be found anywhere locally for under 400 bucks.  Depending on the distance/sutuation you might want to consider professional movers.   

I would say the two things that are most important for a new piano student is having a piano that can be tuned properly and one where the keys all have the same action/feel.   Action is how much you have to push down to get the hammer to strike.   Sometimes, Ill run into pianos that haven't been taken care of well and one key will be normal and the key right next to it, just takes the weight of a feather to sound, then a third key will be weighted totally differently---I struggle when I have to play pianos like that and that would make learning harder IMO.

Find a friend who plays to go with you, they should be able to hear if it's relatively in tune--I thnk their are apps that you can get too.  Also they will be able to play it and know if the action is correct or not.   

Good luck, wish I had started learning when I was a lot younger.   

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Nope. Always wanted to play an instrument. Have a guitar but can only play the C chord. Would move to be able to play and jealous of the ones who do 

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My wife bought me ours as a wedding present 26 ish years ago.  She knows nothing about music.  She bought it used from a little old lady piano teacher.  We've had it ever since and gotten a ton of enjoyment; every home should have music. 👍

If you go used on the open market you might pay a tuner to tune it first and let you know what he thinks of it.

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31 minutes ago, MDC said:

Countdown to the spermoff 

:doublethumbsup:

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13 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

My wife bought me ours as a wedding present 26 ish years ago.  She knows nothing about music.  She bought it used from a little old lady piano teacher.  We've had it ever since and gotten a ton of enjoyment; every home should have music. 👍

If you go used on the open market you might pay a tuner to tune it first and let you know what he thinks of it.

Every tuner I know also plays---so they would be great to bring along to check out a piano(though they might charge to go check one out).  Also, calling some tuners---they might be able to just tell you so and so is selling a piano, I've tuned it for years, it's a good deal.  

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I play a bit, only to write music and play parts. My brother is fantastic pro, dueling pianos, Vegas, L.A., Phoenix, Cruise Ships, etc.

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just buy a cheap Casio or something at this point. Something portable with lots of sounds, should be able to find something new under $200

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Totally go the electric, as others are saying. Your kid will probably like it better anyway, since you can rock out and take it over to friend's houses. 

I rented acoustic pianos when I managed a music store. They are expensive to move and tune. Keep them on an inside wall, away from direct light.  

 

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1 hour ago, vuduchile said:

 

I’m also going to give him my Taylor acoustic before he goes to his next lesson on Monday.  

That is so cool.

My oldest daughter played guitar in high school and did real well. She gave it up to study, but now that she is out of college and working, she asked if she could borrow my Martin. She said she wouldn't keep it long. Anyway, when I dropped it off, I told her it was hers. A 1970 OO-18. 🙂

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1 hour ago, Mike Honcho said:

Being that he's young and might grow out of it, you probably don't want to spend a lot of money on it.   Often you can find a decent piano on Craigslist/facebook market for cheap or free(provide you move it).     A decent upright like this one, can usually be found anywhere locally for under 400 bucks.  Depending on the distance/sutuation you might want to consider professional movers.   

I would say the two things that are most important for a new piano student is having a piano that can be tuned properly and one where the keys all have the same action/feel.   Action is how much you have to push down to get the hammer to strike.   Sometimes, Ill run into pianos that haven't been taken care of well and one key will be normal and the key right next to it, just takes the weight of a feather to sound, then a third key will be weighted totally differently---I struggle when I have to play pianos like that and that would make learning harder IMO.

Find a friend who plays to go with you, they should be able to hear if it's relatively in tune--I thnk their are apps that you can get too.  Also they will be able to play it and know if the action is correct or not.   

Good luck, wish I had started learning when I was a lot younger.   

Thanks!

The piano teacher lady has offered to come along if we want to take a look at a used one. We may go that route.

We we’re looking at a Yamaha keyboard but she didn’t like it because the keys were fully reactive or whatever with hammer action and so forth. But those ones are pretty focking expensive so at that point why not get the real deal? Is how I’m seeing it, anyways 

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24 minutes ago, BiPolarBear said:

That is so cool.

My oldest daughter played guitar in high school and did real well. She gave it up to study, but now that she is out of college and working, she asked if she could borrow my Martin. She said she wouldn't keep it long. Anyway, when I dropped it off, I told her it was hers. A 1970 OO-18. 🙂

Wow.  That's a really nice gift.  My Taylor isn't in that league.  

Thankfully, it will still be around the house for awhile for me to play.  He's only 12.  

 

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17 minutes ago, Alias Detective said:

Give him a baseball or tennis racket or something like that.

Well that wouldn’t sound very good :wacko:

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Just now, crackattack said:

I bet not. But I bet there are half a dozen or so Flautists.   

You’re just upset because you need both legs for the pedals :nono:

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7 minutes ago, vuduchile said:

Wow.  That's a really nice gift.  My Taylor isn't in that league.  

Thankfully, it will still be around the house for awhile for me to play.  He's only 12.  

 

You are stepping up for your kid, in exactly the same league. :thumbsup:

 

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Get one that's $500 crappier than if HT weren't a cop.  :(

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