Recording Studio Equipment

I give this keyboard a five star rating. I have a 950 sq. ft. condo in Chicago and the sound more than fills the space with song. My wife grew up playing a piano and this was a perfect gift for her.

My five stars is based on the realistic deep piano sound the 320 brings, we really dont use any other functions just so you know where i’m coming from.

I recommend it to condo dwellers.

I bought this guitar for my boyfriend for christmas and he absolutely loves it. The instructional dvd is very helpful and the tuner worked perfectly. Everyone that has come over has to pick it up and start playing. I priced out many other guitars on here by big names as well and this was the best deal.

This is my first guitar so I couldn’t compare it with others, but it sounds lovely. And it’s easy to tune it, too. The action might be a little high like some reviews said, because it hurts a lot to press the strings. But again it could be just my experience as a beginner. Overall I think it’s a good buy.

I had to return this product package because the “Deluxe Keyboard Stand” was not compatible with this keyboard. Yamaha’s customer service was horrendous. They just said that it was a package deal and that there was nothing they could do about it. I asked them why in the world they would put together a package with parts that were not compatible with each other and none of the representatives I spoke with could give me a reasonable answer, including a supervising manager. I told them that the keyboard itself sounded fine and asked them if I could simply return the stand and replace it with a compatible stand, which they said that they had in stock. But they refused and said that I had to go through Amazon and return the whole package. It was very frustrating and I feel very soured toward Yamaha. Thankfully, I kept the packaging boxes in good order and Amazon’s customer service is great so I was able to return the whole package for a full refund.

I bought this product and I am very happy with it so far. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is, like another person who reviewed, I did not receive the power supply that it says it comes with. It is also included in the picture of the product. However, I am still happy with it, and would recommend it.

I bought this as a gift for my partner whom I just learned had always wanted to learn to play a piano. Never had she had the room in her city apartment for a full-size piano. But this keyboard fits nicely in front of the window of our dining room and because it is not bulky, can be easily moved to a larger space for the lessons she has just begun. The Yamaha 200 has the feel and sound of a regular piano, plus other fun options a “real” piano can’t offer. The booklet that comes with the Yamaha 200 is useful, too, for someone who has never played. Contrary to some posted comments, the stand has been plenty sturdy. Even the seasoned piano instructor found this instrument quite suitable. So far it’s been worth every penny.

I read many reviews of this keyboard before I purchased it, both good and bad, and I agree with a number of the comments others have made — I love the keyboard, hate the stand.

First, I love this keyboard and the teaching system. I have found the multiple teaching methods to be very handy and clever. You have the option of learning by following along with a demonstration while the keys light up, or you can just sit and watch and learn, or you can practice tapping out the rhythm on any key just to get the pacing right, or you can use the “wait” method, where the keys light up and the song plays along with you, but if you stop or get the wrong key, the system waits for you, holds the song at that point, lights up the correct key(s) to hit, and does not proceed until you get it right, then continues. I like that you can turn off the demonstration at any point, and you can turn off the lighted keys if you like and just play the instrument like a regular piano.

You can also learn by following the diagram of the two hands in a window just above the keys, which shows which fingers on both hands are used to play each note. If you are a slower learner and prefer to learn one hand at a time, you can program the instruction to mute the left or right hand so you can concentrate on just one.

You can also learn by looking at the staves that picture each note and where it appears on the lines or spaces, which is great if you do not read music yet and have no idea how the black and white piano keys relate to the notes on the page.

I love the feature that allows you to set the tempo, and I have learned many a difficult passage by slowing down that particular section, then using the repeat feature to automatically run through that part over and over until I tell it to stop, then returning to the next section, at either the normal tempo or continuing in a slower tempo. I love the feature that allows you to have chords automatically accompany you using just one finger of the left hand while you focus on learning the right hand melody, OR, if you want to play the keyboard like a regular piano, you can turn off the auto-accompaniment and play the full chords yourself.

There are hundreds of voices and styles and tunes to choose from, and the instruction booklet that comes with the keyboard teaches you how to use all those features. One of the most amazing aspects is how the voice called “Grand Piano” makes your electric keyboard sound like just that — like having a baby grand in the living room. Or you can make yourself sound like a church organ or violins or brass or woodwinds and on and on. You can add drumbeats and other backgrounds in absolutely any musical style you can think of. A legend printed above the keys offers numerous short-cut suggestions for choosing the style and voice you want. A keypad lets you choose which song you would like to learn, and those numbers correspond to the songs in the songbook that comes with the keyboard, and these songs are programmed into the listen-and-learn built-in songs. My only complaint with the song book is the notes are printed so tiny I have to squint. I guess they did that to squeeze in the songs on the fewest pages to save printing costs and to keep beginners from having to turn so many pages.

I’ve had my keyboard a little over a month, and I am already sight-reading and playing Chopin and Beethoven pieces, but I must admit I already had some musical background on a different instrument, and that helped some. But if you want a system where you can be playing a tune the very next day after your package arrives, this is the keyboard for you.

All in all, I love this keyboard.

Now for the downer: all the bad things that other reviewers said about the stand that comes with this keyboard are true — this stand simply DOES NOT fit this keyboard. If you put your keyboard on top of this stand, your keyboard will slide off and crash to the floor. I knew this before buying and decided I wanted the keyboard anyway. I have to set my keyboard on a separate table, but it is not really the right height for proper keyboard hand position so I have to put pillows in the chair to bring me up to the right height. That’s rather pesky.

If it weren’t for this ridiculously wrong stand, I would have given this product five stars. What could Yamaha be thinking when they packaged this stand with this keyboard when it CLEARLY does not fit it? I’m amazed a company with as good a reputation in the musical instruments world as Yamaha has would risk their reputation this way. Shame on them for not fixing the problem, now that they know about it. (Numerous buyers have alerted them.)

Now back to the keyboard: I also wish to point out that once I got the hang of the Yamaha lighted keyboard system, which only took a day or two, I also ordered two more things separately. I bought the book offered on Amazon called “How to Play Keyboards” by Roger Evans, and I really learned a lot from this little book (under ten dollars). I’m glad I bought it because he offers some techniques that are a bit more advanced, and he has some great tunes in his instruction book. The book is a paperback and tightly bound so it does not lie flat on the music book stand that comes with your Yamaha, but I use two bean bags to hold my pages down.

The other thing I purchased (from [...]) was Will Barrow’s “Learn and Master Piano” instructional package of 14 DVDs, 5 play-along CDs, and a 100-plus page lesson book, This is one amazing instructional method. It’s much more advanced than the lighted-key method, but if you want to learn piano in a more complete way, this is one fantastic system. It isn’t cheap, but you get a lot for your money. Note that there are one or two spots where your 61-key keyboard will leave you a bit in the lurch, since this system assumes you will be seated in front of 88 keys, but I did not find this to be too pesky, and it did not come up that often. He doesn’t start with childish tunes like so many teaching methods do; he gives you Lennon-McCartney tunes, well-known rock piano segments (Lean on Me, Louie Louie, and so on), as well as classical pieces. The video instructor, Will Barrow, comes across as pleasant, knowledgeable, highly professional, and patient (not to mention that he is painfully good-looking, but I digress).

You don’t have to buy that extra system to learn to play electronic keyboard; the Yamaha book will give you enough to teach you what you need to know and have you playing tunes in no time. You DO have to practice, though, to become proficient so set aside time to work on your techniques. You can plug in the headphones that come with your Yamaha so you won’t disturb other family members while you are learning.

I hope you found my review helpful, and if you get one of these keyboards, I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine.