The Yamaha P45B Digital Piano is our pick as the best digital piano for learning and exploring the world of music. This digital piano is made from a quality brand that most musicians have trusted for years – Yamaha. It has 64-note polyphony for maximum playing quality on piano passages and it also uses advanced wave memory stereo sampling technology to give off a clear, natural stereo. It soundhas a heavier GHS weighted action which makes it sound like a real acoustic piano and in addition it comes with a dual mode where you can combine two instruments such as piano and strings
Jen’s Top Pick: Yamaha P45B Digital Piano
Our step-up pick is the Yamaha DGX650B Digital Piano and this keyboard piano is PureCF sampled from the CFIIIS concert grand by Yamaha. Being a high quality digital piano even for a not so high price, it is easily connectible to mobile phones, computers, mixers and other keyboards using its AUX line input. In addition, it also has a 128 note polyphony great for sustained chords, two-handed playing, two voice layering and packing a lot of playing power for concerts and such This Yamaha digital piano has a weighted GHS action and is an 88 note keyboard and simulates a real digital piano. When you order, it comes with ready to play along songs from Hal Leonard’s books, such as songs from Elton John, Adele, Taylor Swift and others.
The budget pick is the Hamzer 61 Key Music Electric Keyboard which has up to 100 rhythms, 100 timbers, 61 keyboard percussions and 8 percussions and also includes a dual teaching mode that comes with up to 12 demo songs. The keyboard includes a headphone and mic jack as well as external speaker outputs. It also has options to record and playback your music and has up to 46 level tempo control for convenient playing.
A Little Background
Digital pianos are big innovations from heavy and bulky traditional pianos, and are remarkably cheaper than them, of course. If your house isn’t big enough to fit a grand piano or you can’t afford even a pedal traditional piano, you might want to consider owning a digital piano instead.
A lot of children and music enthusiasts nowadays want to learn how to play the piano but because of the pricing of traditional pianos, it could be a bit of a daunting task. This is why digital pianos have grown immensely popular among these audiences because of their incredibly cheaper and affordable value, vast number of effects and features, as well as the big convenience of easy learning.
How We Picked
When it comes to picking the best digital piano, we based our chosen candidates from the following criteria:
Is the digital piano full of great features such as effects, multiple voices, and other great sounds? The digital piano is best praised for having a variety of voices, instruments to choose from and effects. If your chosen digital piano has a lot of that then it is definitely worth buying.
What is the price of the digital piano? Most digital pianos cost from $30 up to a whopping $1,000 depending on its features, finish and superior sound quality. It all depends on which digital piano you want and who will play it.
How are the user reviews of the digital piano? Make sure that it does not have a lot of cons and the advantages should outweigh these minor disadvantages.
Are there connectivity options for speakers, headphones, USB MIDI, and others? Headphones are ideal for quiet practice when it comes to playing the digital piano and a USB MIDI connectivity option allows you to use it for audio production and making music / scoring on the computer.
How many keys does the digital piano have? Most have 88 keys, but some have 61 or less, while some are small and fit for children. It all depends on how many keys you want and who will play.
Do the speakers give off a high quality sound? The speakers must present a high-quality sound that also gives some bass. Mostly, cheaper ones require an amplifier to improve the sound quality.
Does it give that same feeling of a real acoustic piano with soft touch and graded hammer standard? GHS allows the digital piano to sound very similar to a real acoustic piano with its soft touch and plus more if the digital piano comes with a pedal system.
Is it portable or easy to carry around? Digital pianos are renowned for being more lightweight than traditional, expensive pianos, so it’s best if you have an easily movable digital piano for your home.
Our Pick
Jen’s Top Pick: Yamaha P45B Digital Piano
The Yamaha P45B Digital Piano is a digital piano made from a quality brand that we can trust and is our best digital piano. It has 64-note polyphony for maximum playing quality on piano passages and in addition, this keyboard uses advanced wave memory stereo sampling technology to give off a clear, natural stereo sound.
In addition, it has a heavier GHS or graded hammer standard weighted action which makes it sound like a real acoustic piano and it comes with a dual mode where you can combine two instruments such as piano and strings for better playing experience. It also has a USB to HOST port to be able to connect it to computers, mobile phones or other applications and has up to 10 voices.
Being ideal for those who are still learning how to play the piano, the Yamaha P45B weighs 35.4 lbs all in all and has overall dimensions of 58 in x 16 in x 11 in. Being made in Andorra, this is a low cost Yamaha keyboard compared to other digital keyboards. You can easily configure the voices and metronome and in addition, you can also play demo sources with ease to help you learn.
The black keys are finished with a nonslip coating as it simulates a real piano, with lighter touch on the higher scale and heavy on the low end. It is currently available in digital piano, deluxe pack (which includes a piano and sheet stand and a stool for playing) and a standard pack (which includes a piano stand, a case, headphones and another gadget).
Adding to that, it comes with a power adaptor with the foot pedal and music rest. It is also a MIDI compatible digital keyboard which is great for accurate and realistic recording on DAWs or Digital Audio Workstations that can be editable later. The 10 voices included are: 2 grand pianos, 2 electric pianos, vibraphone, 2 harpsichords, 2 pipe organs and strings.
Who Else Likes It?
The Yamaha P45B Digital Piano excels well in keys, size, weight and price. In addition, it is extremely portable and has a full set of 88 weighted keys. Furthermore, this digital piano has a lot of features for a good price. However, the 64 note polyphony isn’t as high and it also has no recorder.
Flaws but Not Dealbreakers
The only known flaws from the Yamaha P45B Digital Piano are the fact that the 64 note polyphony may not be as good as higher end digital piano keyboard models and the fact that it also has no music recorder.
Step-up Pick
Yamaha DGX650B Digital Piano
As for our step-up pick, the Yamaha DGX650B Digital Piano is a good buy even for its slightly expensive price. This keyboard piano is PureCF sampled from the CFIIIS concert grand by Yamaha and is a high quality digital piano even for a not so high price.
Being easily connectible to mobile phones, computers, mixers and other keyboards using its AUX line input, this amazing Yamaha keyboard has a 128 note polyphony great for sustained chords, two-handed playing, two voices layering and packing a lot of playing power for concerts and such.
In addition, it also has a weighted GHS action and is an 88 note keyboard and can easily and readily simulate a real digital piano. For a better learning experience, it comes with ready to play along songs from Hal Leonard’s books, such as songs from Elton John, Adele, Taylor Swift and others and sounds like a genuine acoustic piano.
The Yamaha DGX650B weighs 83.5 lbs and has a shipping weight of 84 lbs. It has been recorded with dynamic pianissimo to fortissimo and uses a damper resonance DSP that replicates the acoustic piano and string reaction to give that authentic harmonic when you play, which is enhanced with a damper pedal. Being a great training ground for aspiring pianists, it includes a style recommended list of what you want, depending on what you play on the keyboard or what simple rhythm you tap and the style recommended will suggest various similar styles automatically.
It also has a smart chord system that allows you to practice jazz cords such as 7th and 9th chords and it also has an accompaniment system that enhances your playing experience. You can easily give that outstanding acoustic piano performance, play to your audience or for yourself, learn as a beginner and share your music through the connections as it has a very sturdy stand that is great for live performances and rough road travel.
The overall dimensions of 58 in x 21 in x 12 in make it a great digital piano. The package includes the keyboard as well as the stand, music stand, user’s manual and power supply. An optional sustain pedal can be bought.
Budget Pick
Hamzer 61 Key Music Electric Keyboard
Having up to 100 rhythms, 100 timbers, 61 keyboard percussions and 8 percussions, the Hamzer 61 Key Music Electric Keyboard is an ideal budget pick for a digital piano, which includes a dual teaching mode that comes with up to 12 demo songs. Furthermore, the keyboard includes a headphone and mic jack as well as external speaker outputs and it has options to record and playback your music.
With up to 46 level tempo controls, this digital piano uses 6 D batteries or you can also use a UL adaptor. The auto metronome can play various time signatures such as 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, etc. and in addition, the rhythm sync is accompanied by other features such as intro and ending and fill-in.
You can play notes with single finger or fingered auto bass as well as manual bass or program percussion. Easily transpose, sustain notes or use vibrato as effects. The master volume control has up to 16 stages and in addition to that, a mic can be connected which allows you to sing during your performance. One cool thing is that the mic accompaniment also has its own volume control and it also uses an LCD display for your convenience. Adding to that, it already has a built-in music sheet stand.
Being colored black, the Hamzer 61 Key weighs 8 lbs and has a shipping weight of 13.5 lbs, with dimensions of 38 in x 16 in x 7 in and standard keys amounting to 61. It includes the 120V UL A/C adaptor as well as the user’s manual and the sheet music stand.
Digital Piano with Built-in Pedal System
Casio Privia PX-160 Digital Piano
This is a digital piano bundle which includes an instructional book and comes with the Austin Bazaar instructional DVD. It is a 3 pedal system with the SP33 pedal that comes with a CS67 furniture stand for the Casio digital piano and also comes with the furniture bench.
There is also a smooth sheet music rest for convenient playing and it also comes with a polishing cloth for better maintenance of your digital piano furniture stand. It is an upgraded version of the Casio PX-150 which has up to 2 outputs for headphones (1/4 inch on left and line output on the right). It also comes with tones for electric piano and string ensemble instruments.
The speaker system has been redesigned to make it more elegant and with weighted keys design, it is definitely easy to assemble as a home digital piano and is available in black and champagne gold (white) color finish. The piano bench top is padded and also has a safe compartment for storage and it also comes with built-in speakers for musical pleasure and listening and playback.
The smooth design of the furniture style stand makes it versatile and elegant looking. The Casio Privia weighs 50 lbs overall and with product dimensions of 58 in x 16 in x 16 in, it has a shipping weight of 90 lbs overall.
Digital Piano with Rosewood Material and Finish
Yamaha Arius YDP-181 Traditional
The authentic and expensive but elegant looking Yamaha Arius YDP-181 Traditional is available in dark rosewood, black walnut and satin white and is a high quality 88-key digital piano with GH or graded hammer weighted action which has 128 -note polyphony that uses dynamic stereo sampling AWM technology.
This digital piano is also available in various styles, such as the 181, 163, 143, S52 and V240 and the quality finish console style designed digital piano. It has a convenient USB to device port and it can record up to 3 songs at 2 tracks. It also has an easy to read LED display.
The AWM or advanced wave memory has 3 levels for high quality and the included and built-in damper pedal has a half-damper effect that gives more expression to the music player. It comes with an extensive library of 50 preset songs as well as a music book for beginners to learn and play and gives a traditional and natural piano feel due to its GH keyboard design.
Easily switch the touch sensitivity to various levels such as hard, soft or medium, or you can even turn it off. The stereo that is built-in on the digital piano measures 16 cm and has bigger and clearer output and the pedal functions are damper, soft and sostenuto. It also has a sliding style key cover and what’s more – the LED is 3-digit and 7 segment.
The Yamaha Arius has an internal memory of 845 KB and speaker dimensions are 2 cm x 16 cm. It weighs 110 lbs or 4 oz and the metronome can be set from 32 BPM to 280 BPM. The transposition feature can help you move notes to a higher octave and it also comes with a preset of 14 demo songs other than the 50 preset piano songs. Its dimensions overall are 59 in x 24 in x 20 in and the shipping weight of the digital piano is 160 lbs. It also has a jack for headphones.
Best 61 Key Digital Piano
Hamzer 61 Key Keyboard Piano Silver
With this digital piano, choose from 100 rhythms, 100 timbers and 61 keyboard percussions. It also includes connectivity options such as for headphone jack, audio in, audio out and USB jack.
You can easily adjust the tempo with this digital piano, and it also includes recording and playback options. It has 3 teaching modes as well as 10 demo songs and has been silver coated for a light and sleek appearance. It includes a convenient music sheet stand and capable of USB mp3 playback.
It has up to 11 notes for learning that are marked and it is packed with many functional effects can be used, such as vibrato, tune, sustain and transpose. You can choose the mode from single-fingered, auto bass chords, chord timber and program or edit rhythm. In addition, it also comes with a keyboard split function if you want to play two instruments at the same time. Easily adjust the master volume control, the tempo, and set up the rhythm sync and fill-in and it is easily connectible with audio in and audio out jacks.
This digital piano comes with an onboard USB jack. The settings of the digital piano are displayed in real-time via the LCD display and the sheet music stand is also detachable. It weighs only 10 lbs, includes a user’s manual as well as a 120 V adaptor A/C that is UL listed and has a shipping weight of 15.6 lbs with dimensions of 39 in x 17 in x 7 in. The size is just right, even for children, due to its standard size.
Best White Colored Digital Piano
Yamaha P115WH Digital Piano
The Yamaha P115WH Digital Piano, having a white color finish, is also available in black. You can order the deluxe pack with other accessories, the standard pack or just the keyboard.
This is highly sampled from Yamaha’s 9 ft CFIIIS concert grand piano to give off that incredible sound quality and playing dynamics. The 88 key has a weighted GHS action so it sounds much like a real acoustic piano, with heavy low end and lighter high end and the sound has been enhanced to make the melody and treble sounds more expressive than before. The black keys have a smooth matte finish that are nonslip for extended hours of playing and there is a mode called Pianist Styles, which allows you to choose and play various chords and turn them into accompaniment.
The accompaniments you can choose amount up to 10 types of styles and it can also be easily connected with a 1/4 inch jack for headphones as well as a USB to host port. Furthermore, it also includes AUX out jacks for amplifying your sounds. It comes with easy flowing built-in rhythms to accompany your music and add spice to performances, allowing you to become a one person band.
This digital piano can be used for home, studios or on live performances, weighs 37.7 lbs overall, has product dimensions of 58 in x 16 in x 11 in and you can even control this digital piano using the Controller App for the iOS. It has a 3 year warranty for parts and labor.
Best 88 Key Digital Piano
Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Piano
The 88 keys are all semi-weighted to give off that authentic acoustic piano sound and it comes with 5 rich sound presets – piano, organ, electric piano, bass and synth. The batteries used are 6 D-Cell batteries at 1.5 V and it also includes a built-in metronome to keep you in sync with your playing.
There are also speakers that are built-in and in addition, it is capable of MIDI connections via USB so you can use it for your favorite DAW or digital audio workstation to record and compose music for studio production. There are also stereo and mono line-out jacks for your headphones. However, you must separately buy an AC power adapter, batteries, stand, and sustain pedal and bench.
It has built-in speakers and comes with a split and / or layer function so you can split the keyboard with two different instruments or layer one instrument over the other for a richer and more profound sound. The built-in metronome keeps your playing in sync with the tempo. All in all, this piano is also designed to be portable for practicing as well as live performance and it has up to 5 built-in voices to choose from and can be used with the layer or split function.
Each voice also has its own individual volume adjustment – there are also chorus and reverb effects that can be applied individually to each voice. These effects can even last and be remember even after turning off the keyboard. The LED lights help to make this digital piano a convenient, user-friendly keyboard experience.
It weighs 19 lbs, has overall dimensions overall are 3 in x 11 in x 50 in with a shipping weight of 23.6 lbs. an amplifier is recommended if you want a richer sound and is quite affordable for an 88 key digital piano.
Best Digital Piano for Small Children
Schoenhut Princess Electronic Piano
This is a 26 key electric piano built for children and the design is definitely colorful and eye-pleasing for kids. In addition, the keys have rainbow colors that will help your youngsters enjoy learning how to play the piano and the keys are also adult-sized so that they will not find it hard to stretch on a real piano after they mastered this small digital piano.
This digital piano only requires 2 AA batteries that are included with the package and is recommended for kids of 3 years old and above. It produces a high quality and smooth sound for your kids to enjoy playing and weighs 11 lbs overall, with product dimensions of 18 in x 12 in x 14 in and a shipping weight of 11.4 lbs.
Digital Piano with LED Light Guides
The ONE Light 61-Key Portable Keyboard
The ONE Light 61-Key Portable Keyboard has an LED light guide on the keys that allows you to easily practice a piano piece. It has up to 2000+ sheet music for free that you can play and practice and comes with a free app for the iOS and Android in which you can download sheet music, play games and watch video lessons.
It is the first Apple MFi certified interactive keyboard for smart learning which is able to connect through a USB MIDI port so you can use it for making music on your digital audio workstation or for recording. In addition, it also allows mp3 playback through its speakers. The speakers also allow you to play music from services like Spotify, Pandora and YouTube.
An excellent keyboard for beginners and musicians, it combines the smartphone and tablet technology of today with the expertise of a home digital piano for the ultimate learning and playing experience where choose between white and black. You can sing and play because of its headphone and microphone jack. The mp3 speakers are conveniently designed and provide great output. This digital piano weighs 11 lbs and has a shipping weight of 17.1 lbs with dimensions of 36 in x 13 in x 4 in. All apps for this digital piano are for free, with some additional songs between $0.99 and $3.99.
The Competition
Other digital pianos are too cheap to use and not as high quality as other digital pianos. Some are also overly priced but do not have enough features to make them the best of the keyboards out there to use.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How beneficial is having a digital piano to help children and adults to learn playing the piano?
A: According to the article from Roland US , they include headphone jacks for quiet practice and they also have metronomes that add a sense of rhythm to the player. In addition, you can easily record and listen to what you just played and there’s option for a lot of sounds, presets and effects. Some digital pianos include free apps to help you learn and practice better and it makes practicing piano more interesting for children who usually skip their piano lessons.
Q: How do you maintain your digital piano?
A: You should strategically place the piano away from heat, direct sunlight and high traffic places and consult the manual for appropriate cleaning methods. Always keep the plugging neat and do not overload the outlet and don’t use it as a shelf, dining table or lean on it. Just keep the keys covered when not in use and do not allow your pets to mess it up and turn it off when not in use.
Wrapping It Up
All in all, the Yamaha P45B Digital Piano is our best digital piano – it’s economical, high quality sounding and easy to use for all musicians and beginners alike.
Jen Miller is a former electrical engineer and product specialist with more than 20 years of product design and testing experience. She has designed more than 200 products for Fortune 500 companies, in fields ranging from home appliances to sports gear and outdoor equipment. She founded Jen Reviews to share her knowledge and critical eye for what makes consumers tick, and adopts a strict no-BS approach to help the reader filter through the maze of products and marketing hype out there. She writes regularly and has been featured on Forbes, Fast Company, The Muse, The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha and MindBodyGreen.