| Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Upright | | | | commonly used are: vertical piano or acoustic |
| Piano?Digital pianos sound nothing like a real piano. | | | | piano, they mean essentially the same thing. |
| Upright pianos take up too much room. | | | | A typical old fashioned upright piano, tall upright |
| There is a lot of conflicting advice floating around. | | | | standing, ivory keys, beautiful wood, moulded |
| I will give you the right piano buying advice so | | | | carvings, stylish legs and brass candlestick holders. |
| you can make your own decision on whether | | | | The old pianos always had a beautiful warm tone |
| the digital piano or the upright piano is right for | | | | because they were made with quality materials |
| your needs.A brief history of the digital piano. | | | | and real wood. The soundboard was seasoned for |
| Digital pianos were invented about 20 years ago | | | | ages which in turn created a resonant and |
| and when they where first introduced they were | | | | sustaining tone. The superior quality meant that |
| pretty terrible, the keys were much too light, | | | | your piano would easily last a lifetime.Moving on to |
| spongy and nothing like a real piano. The sound | | | | modern times |
| was incredibly bright and the sampling was quite | | | | These days your typical starter piano is mass |
| dreadful. You couldn't really say that it sounded | | | | produced in China, Indonesia or Korea with very |
| much like a piano at all. | | | | cheap materials, soundboards made out of trees |
| These digital pianos also looked nothing like a real | | | | that were probably knocked down the day |
| acoustic piano, they had ugly, plastic lookin cases | | | | before and thrown together as quickly as possible |
| that didn't match any type of furniture in the | | | | to get distributed around the world. |
| room. If guests came around it was almost an | | | | Well maybe it is not quite as bad as this, but |
| embarrassment to have this ugly plastic looking | | | | anyway i am sure you get my point.You can find |
| machine in the living room. My how things have | | | | a list of upright pianos here: |
| changed over the last 20 years!A brief history of | | | | upright pianos for saleADVANTAGES & |
| the upright piano. | | | | DISADVANTAGES OF ACOUSTIC AND DIGITAL |
| The upright piano was invented in 1709 by the | | | | PIANOSAdvantages of Digital Pianos: |
| Italian Cristofori. It was a four octave instrument | | | | 1) You can plug in headphones so nobody can |
| compared to the seven and a quarter octave | | | | hear you play. |
| instrument of today, with hammers striking the | | | | 2) You can turn the volume up or down. |
| strings just as they do on a modern upright piano. | | | | 3) You can record your music on the instrument |
| The instrument was invented to meet the need | | | | itself, or to disc, smart media, floppy etc. |
| to control dynamics by touch, which could not be | | | | 4) You can experiment with lots of different |
| achieved on the harpsichord. | | | | instrument sounds |
| The early upright piano went through many | | | | 5) Due to their light weight, digital pianos can |
| changes before it emerged as the instrument we | | | | easily be moved from room to room |
| all know today. The Cristofori piano was wing | | | | 6) Your digital piano will never need tuning or |
| shaped like grand pianos, it had a curved body | | | | maintenance, which will save you a small fortune. |
| and a lid that could be elevated. There were also | | | | 7) You can download songs from the web and |
| square pianos in which the strings ran from left to | | | | play them on your instrument. (Normally the more |
| right as on the clavichord. And by 1800, there | | | | expensive digital pianos offer this facility). |
| were upright pianos whose strings ran | | | | 8) Digital pianos are very reasonably priced for |
| perpendicular to the keyboard. Other names | | | | what they are. |