For most beginners, buy a digital piano first. A proper one costs about $550 to $700, never needs tuning, and lets you practise with headphones at 10 pm without anyone hearing a note. Buy an acoustic piano instead when your home, your lessons and your budget all suit one. Here is how to tell which camp you’re in.
The short answer
Go digital, unless all of these are true for you:
- Noise isn’t a problem. No neighbours through a thin wall, no baby asleep down the hall, and you’re happy for the whole house to hear every practice session, mistakes included.
- You have lessons, or will soon. A teacher can tell you whether your playing has reached the point where an acoustic piano’s touch and tone will make a real difference, and help you choose one.
- The running costs are fine. An acoustic piano needs tuning about once or twice a year, the odd repair, and specialist removalists whenever you move house.
- You have the room. An upright needs a wall away from heaters, air conditioners and direct sun, and it weighs somewhere between 120 and 400 kg.
If you ticked all four, an acoustic piano is a lovely thing to own and learn on. If you didn’t, a good digital piano will take a beginner a very long way.
What a beginner’s digital piano must have
Not every keyboard is a digital piano. For learning piano (rather than keyboard), look for these four things:
- 88 keys. The full range of a piano. Smaller keyboards run out of notes as soon as the music grows.
- Weighted keys. Often called hammer action. The keys feel heavier at the bottom and lighter at the top, like a real piano, so the finger strength you build carries over to any piano you sit at later.
- Touch-sensitive keys. Play harder and it plays louder. Almost all weighted pianos do this; check anyway.
- A proper sustain pedal. The small square footswitch that comes in the box with many cheaper models works, but a piano-style pedal feels and behaves much more like the real thing.
Then add a headphone socket (all of them have one), a stand and a stool at the right height. Some models come with a stand, some don’t, so check before you compare prices.
This list isn’t just our opinion. It’s close to what the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) asks of a digital piano used in its exams: 88 notes, weighted and touch-sensitive keys, and pedals that work like an acoustic piano’s.
What each one really costs
Prices below are Australian list prices we found on 11 November 2026. They move often, so treat them as a guide.
| Digital piano | New upright acoustic | |
|---|---|---|
| To buy | About $550 to $700 for an entry 88-key weighted model | About $7,000 to $9,000 for a popular new model |
| Tuning | Never | About $200 to $330 a visit, usually once or twice a year |
| Moving house | Usually fits in a car | Specialist removalists: roughly $150 to $900 within Sydney, more with stairs |
| Practice at night | Yes, with headphones | Only if no one minds |
| First five years, roughly | About $700 | About $8,000 to $12,000 with tuning |
The five-year line is simple arithmetic from the rows above: the purchase price, plus five to ten tunings for the acoustic. It doesn’t count repairs, a stool or lessons, which both kinds need.
What about a cheap or free second-hand piano?
Old upright pianos are often given away, and that can work out well. Before you say yes, remember that “free” still means paying removalists, and then a tuner. A piano that hasn’t been tuned for years may need its pitch raised first, which costs more than a normal tuning, and some old pianos can no longer hold a tune at all. Ask a piano tuner to look at it before you move it, not after.
Noise: the reason most families go digital
An acoustic piano is loud. It’s meant to fill a room, and in a flat or a townhouse it fills the neighbours’ rooms too. Beginners also practise the same few bars over and over, which is exactly how you should practise and exactly what everyone else in the house will remember.
A digital piano solves this completely. Plug in headphones and you can practise at any hour. Turn the volume down for a quiet morning session, or up for a family sing-along. If you love the acoustic sound but need the quiet, some makers sell silent or hybrid pianos: real acoustic pianos with a switch that stops the hammers and sends the sound to headphones instead. They cost more than a standard upright, so they’re worth a look only if you’ve already decided on acoustic.
Lessons and exams
If you’re having lessons, ask your teacher before you buy. Most teachers are happy for beginners to start on a good digital piano, and many will tell you when it’s time to move up.
If you’re aiming at AMEB exams, the rules for digital pianos depend on the exam and your state. For example, AMEB Victoria allows a digital piano for video exams from Preliminary to Grade 4, and for Piano for Leisure exams at any grade. For an in-person exam you play the piano at the exam venue. Check with your state’s AMEB before you book, since the rules aren’t the same everywhere.
When an acoustic piano is worth it
There’s nothing a digital piano does better than a good acoustic piano when it comes to the sound and feel of the instrument itself. The tone comes from real strings vibrating in a real wooden case, and every key moves a real felt hammer. As a player improves, they learn to control that tone in ways a digital piano can only imitate.
So if your home suits one, you have lessons, and the running costs don’t worry you, an acoustic piano is a wonderful first instrument. And if you start on a digital piano, nothing is lost. Everything you learn on 88 weighted keys carries straight over when you move up.
What we’d do
Start with a good 88-key weighted digital piano, a proper pedal, a stool at the right height and a pair of comfortable headphones. Practise a little every day. If, a year or two in, you’re playing most days, having lessons and the house is happy to hear you, that’s the time to look at an acoustic piano, ideally with your teacher.
When you’re ready to play, our free piano sheet music starts with C position, right thumb on middle C, and every piece has a play button so you can hear how it should go.
Common questions
Is a digital piano good enough to learn on?
Can I learn piano on a 61-key keyboard?
How often does an acoustic piano need tuning?
Will practising on a digital piano make it harder to play an acoustic one later?
What about a free piano from Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace?
Sources
All checked 11/11/2026. Prices are each business’s own published list price on that day; we don’t sell pianos or earn anything from these businesses.
- Digital pianos: Turra Music’s listings for the Casio CDP-S110, Yamaha P-145 and Roland FP-10.
- New uprights: Piano City Sydney and Sieffs Music Sydney, Yamaha JU109.
- Tuning: the published prices of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane piano tuners (Perfect Piano, Fine Tuning Piano Services, Jema Pianos, Piano Doctor Melbourne, Flow Piano, Piano Tuning Brisbane).
- Moving a piano: Airtasker, How much does it cost to move a piano? airtasker.com
- AMEB Victoria, Exams by video (digital pianos: which exams, and the specification). ameb.vic.edu.au