Choosing a traveling (Portable) digital piano for myself

Apologetically, I must admit that as an acoustic piano purist, I often need an electronic when I'm doing a dinner party gig and there's no viable alternative. The house piano might be virtually impossible to play or there's no real piano on the premises. And while I love my Yamaha Arius YDP-141 for its touch/tonal…

Bringing home the Yamaha Arius YDP-141, my NO. 1 ranked digital (Video)

Over a year ago I surveyed digital pianos at Guitar Center and Best Buy, and drooled over Yamaha Arius. It was hands down my favorite electronic of the lot. So why was I investing in a plug-in, when I had three acoustics jammed into my living room? Main reason: I'm moving to the Bay area…

More and more “piano” students are going Digital. Is it a good idea?

It's sad but true that a glut of former piano buyers who would have considered piano lessons for their children at age 7 or so, have made the choice to invest in a DIGITAL. (known as a DP) Of further testimony to the culture's relatively new fixation on electronic piano technology, are the 35,000 plus…

Scoping out Hammer-Weighted Digital Pianos: On Location at Guitar Center, Fresno, CA (Videos)

I managed to get to Guitar Center right as it opened this morning, and had the good fortune to avoid the crowds along with obtrusive pop style background music. Unfortunately, I bumped my head a few times on the same shelved keyboard that hadn't qualified as a hammer weighted digital. Maybe it was retribution for…

Cato, his Killer Keyboard, and a round of piano lessons!

Ralph Cato had been scheduled to come for his first piano lesson soon after we had a chance meeting at the Guitar Center in Fresno a few years ago. At the time, he was combing the store in search of a “killer” digital keyboard, as he described it, for his 10 year old daughter. Christmas…

Is the Acoustic Piano Culture at Risk?

I'm worried. I drove over to Fresno Piano on Ashlan this afternoon after my return from the Bay area. With an instant camera tucked in my pocket, I would prove my point that acoustic pianos were on their way out and digitals were fast taking over the marketplace. Even before I reached my destination, I…

The Good, Bad and Ugly: Shopping at Guitar Center in El Cerrito

I rarely go public with my comments on customer service because I'm not inclined to "yelp!" Yelp.com is an Internet site for consumers to yell or qvell (Yiddish for rave positively) about every kind of store imaginable; to rate physicians, lawyers, vets, pet groomers, and every ethnic restaurant known to mankind. You just type in…