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I want to learn playing the piano. Between my schedule and the expensive labour around here, it seems I'll be better off buying a used instrument and learning on my own, rather than starting with courses. But as I don't know if I will stick with it forever, I don't want to pay the price of a new instrument.

I found a classified ad for somebody selling a Yamaha YDP-143 in the vicinity, and plan to go there, and if it seems good, buy it. The question: since I am a complete beginner and cannot even play the simplest melody, how do I know that this piano is good?

I am not so much worried about finding out whether this model will fit my needs, all information I could find said that this is a great beginner's instrument and I guess I can't get more than that before I have formed my own preferences. The problem is that, as I am buying from a private person, there is no way to return it. So the question is about making sure that this one instrument has no defects which will ruin my joy learning. Without the ability to play a tune, which functions should I test, and how?

Try all these with a basic piano sound to begin.

Play every single key and make sure it sounds. After that, use the pedal all the way to the right and make sure the sound sustains when you lift your finger from a key. Try holding the pedal down while you press 20-30 keys, one after the other, and see if any pitches "drop" from the sustained sound. They should not. The other two pedals are not as useful to beginners.

If you want to use headphones with the piano, make sure the jack works. Bring headphones (you will likely need a small-to-large adapter for the jack.) Make sure the music stand on the piano works.

Make sure the speakers are good. Make sure the display is clear. Have the seller demonstrate choosing different sounds and the metronome.

What features this digital piano has will be different than others. It is not likely you will be able to test all the features and sounds, but if it passes these tests, you are good to go as a beginner.

That being said, it is impossible to know how long the piano will last, and it will not be under warranty. Technology has improved quite a bit, but there is a limit to the memory life of these things. I had a digital piano that was almost 20 years old when all of a sudden certain notes below middle C just stopped working.

If it's "just a piano" & little else...

• Assuming the seller plays, at least a bit - get them to play something & listen for any signs of amp distortion or speaker buzz at a good volume. This would be harder for a non-player to test as hitting huge bunches of random notes isn't going to be kind on the ears ;)




• Check each & every note, bottom to top; play gently then harder & harder & make sure the volume increase between hard & soft sounds similar.




• Check that at least the right pedal does what you expect, sustains. Press it & tap a note, then several - they should all ring on until you release the pedal.
  The left pedal, or left & middle if it's a 3-pedal device, might be harder to figure out for a non-player [may also be software reassignable & you may not even need them in the first couple of years of playing.]

The other answers covered much of the tests I would have made (I typically test by playing actual music), but I'd like to emphasize this test:

Check each and every note from bottom to top. Play them individually in order from bottom to top, successive notes being next to each other (so if there is a black note between two white ones, play the black one after the left white one and before the right white one). The pitch should rise by a somewhat minor amount each time. If the pitch remains the same or lowers between notes, the keyboard has failed this test. The pitch rising too high between notes also fails this test, but I'll have to leave it to you to figure out what a whole tone (the smallest interval between adjacent notes that makes this test fail) sounds like.

Also make sure that notes--or, heaven forbid, the whole keyboard--don't drop out when certain sounds (e.g. organ) are selected. (The drum kit sounds are in another boat and don't play pitched sounds, though.)

If the keyboard has a demo function, use it. I'd smell a rat if the demo function doesn't work.