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