The Best Keyboard Pianos for Beginners of 2024

For the best learning experience, it’s hard to argue with the 88-key Alesis Recital Pro. Right out of the box, the Recital Pro impressed with its sturdiness and build quality. The Alesis was the best sounding keyboard of the models we tested, nearly recreating the authentic sounds of an actual piano. The keyboard’s hammer-action keys will help beginners transition to a traditional piano, if they so desire, without issue. That the keys can be adjusted to increase or reduce the keyboard’s feedback allows for a customizable playing experience, with feedback that can be tinkered with, at the drop of a hat.

The Recital Pro’s controls are straightforward. The number of physical buttons are kept to a minimum in an effort to keep new students from becoming overwhelmed by the number of features on offer. There are 11 additional voices (instrument sounds) available in the Recital Pro. All are easily accessible through the keyboard’s buttons with either a single or double-tap. While this might not be as many sounds as other keyboards in this guide offer, the Recital Pro makes up for it by making its sound options so easy to work with and by ensuring that each of the 11 available sounds professional grade.

The instrument's ability to split the keyboard in two, creating, essentially, two 44-key pianos from a single 88-key keyboard, means that an instructor can help demonstrate a lesson while the student follows along. Digital tutorials though are handled by third parties. Alesis offers three months of Skoove Premium tutorials for free and two months of TakeLessons video lessons for free with the purchase of the keyboard.

The Alesis offers left and right ¼ audio out (the industry standard for professional headphones and other audio devices) for recording and using an amplifier that leaves the internal speakers on for monitoring. For quiet, a separate ¼ headphone output is available so students can practice without the internal speakers annoying others in the household. It supports USB MIDI ( a decades-old digital interface) and has a ¼ port for a sustain pedal (a compact. Plug-in replacement for the sustain pedals found on a piano) although that must be purchased separately.

For beginning and seasoned pianists, the Alesis Recital Pro offers nearly everything they need to take their playing to the next level with a keyboard that’s built to last.

The Casio CT-X700 is an amazing value. The 61-key keyboard comes with a huge library of sounds, touch-sensitive keys, and an easier-to-understand interface on the top of the keyboard that’s not completely overwhelming like offerings from other companies.

For beginners, the CT-X700 brings multiple ways to help them learn how to play and read music. The display houses a treble and bass clef image that indicates what key action and corresponding note are being played. For those learning to read music, it’s an easy way to quickly figure out where exactly they need to be on the keyboard.

Casio’s subscription-free Chordana Play companion app for iPhone and Android provides lessons on how to play songs. Unlike some free apps from other musical instrument makers, Chordana Play actually works as advertised. When playing a song, it notes that students need to play fall, from the top of their smartphone or tablet’s screen, sort of like the video game Guitar Hero. It’s an easy-to-use app that also supports users importing MIDI files to play with and can connect with streaming audio services so students can play along to their favorite songs.

The sound quality of the CT-X700 voice is impressive for its price tag. The keyboard ships with 600 tones, although most will likely be ignored in favor of more traditional instrument noises. On-board speaker systems are loud and clear enough to play even in noisy environments while audio sent through a keyboard amp sounded crisp and rich.

While the keys are not weighted, the quality of the keys should result in years of daily playing, although the feedback isn’t as refined as offerings from Yamaha. Build quality overall should make the CT-X700 fine for transporting to events. The keyboard is light, but doesn’t feel cheap. Also, there’s a little ledge below the music rest on the right side for your smartphone or small tablet.

For those dabbling into the world of piano and keyboards, the Casio CT-X700 offers up a ton of useful and easy-to-use features in a package that sounds great and won’t break the bank. It’s just enough keyboard to find out if you want to continue learning or you’re just happy making weird noises in your garage.