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Best Keyboard for Learning Piano: A Beginner’s Buying Guide

Before your very first lesson, the question comes up: do you need to buy a piano? Not necessarily, and not right away. To get started, a simple keyboard does the job very well; to keep progressing for years, a few features become important. The trick is knowing which ones.

This guide compares the main families of instruments, then goes through what really matters: the number of keys, the feel of the keys, the pedal, and connecting to a computer or tablet. No brands or models here: catalogs change every year, but the criteria stay the same.

MIDI keyboard, digital piano or acoustic piano?

Instruments for learning fall into three main families, with prices ranging from around a hundred dollars to several thousand:

• The MIDI controller keyboard: a keyboard without speakers, often without built-in sounds, that sends the notes you play to a computer or tablet, which makes the sound. Light and compact, around $100 for an entry-level model. Ideal for starting out with an app.
• The digital piano: usually 88 weighted keys that imitate the action of a piano, built-in speakers, a pedal and a headphone jack so you can play without disturbing anyone. Expect a few hundred dollars for a first portable model, more for a cabinet model that sits like furniture. Most also connect over USB and then work as a MIDI keyboard.
• The acoustic piano, upright or grand: real strings struck by hammers, with a sound and feel nothing else quite matches. But it costs several thousand dollars new, needs regular tuning (often once or twice a year), takes up space, and your neighbors will hear it.

Tip: There are also portable keyboards (sometimes called arranger keyboards): built-in speakers, lots of sounds and accompaniment rhythms, often 61 keys. They can work for getting started, as long as the keys are full-size and touch-sensitive (see below).

How many keys do you need: 49, 61 or 88?

A piano has 88 keys, a little over seven octaves. But at first, you’ll mostly play in the middle of the keyboard: most beginner exercises stay around middle C, within four octaves at most. To find your way around, read the guide how to find every note on the keyboard.

• 49 keys (4 octaves): the reasonable minimum. Enough to get started, play with both hands and follow the vast majority of a method’s exercises; the octave buttons found on most MIDI keyboards give you access to the rest. A bit tight for pieces where the hands spread far apart.
• 61 keys (5 octaves): a good compromise. Both hands have room, and many beginner pieces fit on it.
• 88 keys: the full keyboard, essential in the long run for classical repertoire. Bulkier and heavier.
• 25 or 32 keys: these small keyboards are designed for music production, not for learning piano. Only one hand fits comfortably.

Tip: Check the size of the keys too: some small keyboards have mini keys, narrower than a piano’s. For learning, choose full-size keys: your fingers learn the right distances from day one.

Key feel: touch-sensitive, semi-weighted or fully weighted

On a piano, the faster you press a key, the louder the sound: that’s what lets you play soft (piano) or loud (forte). A touch-sensitive keyboard (also called velocity-sensitive) measures that speed and responds to it. It’s the number one criterion: no touch sensitivity, no dynamics. Most recent keyboards have it, but check on the most basic models.

In Pianamo, lesson 6 has you play soft and loud: with a touch-sensitive MIDI keyboard, the app checks your dynamics, which you’ll refine later along with legato and staccato (lesson 54). The second criterion is how heavy the keys are:

• Unweighted keys (often called synth-action): they go down with no resistance and spring back up. Comfortable at first, but very different from a piano.
• Semi-weighted keys: a little more resistance. A common compromise on MIDI keyboards with 61 keys or more.
• Fully weighted keys (hammer action): the feel of an acoustic piano. The best ones are “graded”, heavier in the low notes than in the high ones, just like a real piano. It’s the standard on digital pianos.

Tip: Aiming for classical repertoire, or planning to play real pianos someday? Weighted keys quickly become important: they build finger strength and control. Mostly want to accompany songs, or try it out before committing? A touch-sensitive keyboard, unweighted or semi-weighted, is plenty for the first few months.

The sustain pedal: a small accessory that matters

The right-hand pedal on a piano, the sustain pedal (also called the damper pedal), keeps the notes ringing after you lift your fingers. You’ll need it fairly soon, for arpeggios and ballads: it’s the topic of lesson 58.

On a MIDI keyboard or a digital piano, it plugs into a jack labeled Sustain. There are two kinds: the simple footswitch, a small flat block that tends to slide across the floor, and the piano-style pedal, more stable and more comfortable under your foot. The second costs a bit more, but it’s worth the difference.

Tip: Does your pedal work backwards (notes sustain when your foot is up)? Turn the keyboard off, plug in the pedal, then turn it back on without pressing it: some keyboards detect the pedal’s polarity at startup. Others have a setting to reverse it, or a small switch on the pedal itself.

Connecting your keyboard to a computer or tablet

To learn with an app, ideally the keyboard talks to the computer: that’s what MIDI is for. The keyboard doesn’t send sound, but messages: “this key pressed, at this speed, then released.” The app knows exactly what you play, and can check every note.

• A USB cable is all you need for most recent keyboards: they’re recognized without installing a driver, on Windows, macOS, ChromeOS or Linux. Look for “USB MIDI” in the specs, or a USB port labeled “to host” on the back.
• In the browser, the connection goes through Web MIDI, which works in Chrome and Edge. Plug in the keyboard, open a lesson, allow access to MIDI devices if the browser asks: that’s it.
• On an Android tablet, Chrome works too, with a USB OTG adapter that fits the tablet’s port. On iPad and iPhone, browsers don’t support Web MIDI for now: you can follow the lessons there with the on-screen keyboard.
• An older keyboard with only round five-pin MIDI ports? A small MIDI-to-USB interface connects it to the computer.

Tip: No keyboard yet? Pianamo also works with the on-screen keyboard (with a mouse or your finger) or with the keys of your computer keyboard. The method is free, with no subscription or credit card, and the first six lessons open without an account: you can start today and buy an instrument once you know you enjoy the piano.

Which one should you choose for your goals?

There’s no wrong choice, only choices that fit what you want to do more or less well:

• You want to try without spending much: a 49- or 61-key MIDI keyboard with full-size, touch-sensitive keys and a sustain pedal. Around $100, and it will still be useful later, for example for making music on a computer.
• You’re committed and have the space: an 88-key digital piano with weighted keys and a USB port. You get the sound, the feel and the connection to the app.
• You dream of an acoustic piano: if it’s used, have a piano technician inspect it before you buy, and budget for maintenance. Be especially careful with “free to a good home” pianos: many cost more to move and repair than they’re worth. To practice with an app, you’ll need a MIDI keyboard alongside it, or a silent system with MIDI output.
• You don’t have anything yet: start anyway with the on-screen keyboard. You’ll soon know whether you want to go further.

Tip: Whatever the instrument, set it up well: sit facing the middle of the keyboard, forearms level with the keys. A keyboard set too high on a table tires your shoulders; an adjustable stand and a seat at the right height make all the difference. Lesson 1 shows you the right position, and the guide how to teach yourself piano helps you get started.

Try your keyboard with lesson 1