Desperate To Learn To Play The Piano, But No Piano/Keyboard At Home?

This is something that I often hear from parents when I have a piano learning challenge or provide FREE piano lessons. Parents often want their kids to learn to play the piano but simply don’t have the budget to buy them one immediately. 

So, in this article I’m going to give you some amazing ideas on how to gain access to a piano or a keyboard and often times for free. 

Before we get started, I want you to know that to effectively learn to play the piano at least for the start, all your child needs is a keyboard with 44 keys (black and white included). That’s it. 

Your child DOES NOT need a keyboard with any fancy buttons or rhythms, just one where all the notes play is sufficient. 

The lesser buttons the better. Also if the keys are not named, that would be helpful, because coloured and named keys, often become an impediment for kids when learning to read music notes and play the piano. 

Now, that that is out of the way, let’s get started with brainstorming some ideas on how to gain access to a keyboard. 

Borrow

Yes, do you have any friends or family who have an extra keyboard around or one that is idle? 

Maybe, one that they purchased for one of their kids who soon lost interest in it or didn’t have time to play. 

Well, if they would let you have them, ask to borrow it for a month or two until you can save up enough and come up with the money for you to buy one for your child. 

Please remember, to take extra care of the keyboard, tell your friends when they can expect it back and teach your kids to look after the keyboard with care. 

Free

Look on Craigslist, Kijiji and any similar site that is popular in your country, and try to buy one, second hand. Sometimes, you may be really lucky and might even find someone giving it away for free. All they want is to get it out of their house as soon as possible. 

Notify Your Friends 

Yes, put out a notice on FB or any other social media platform, let your friends and family know that you are actively looking for a piano/keyboard. Someone may let you borrow their keyboard, others may give it to you for free and who knows someone might even gift a keyboard to your child now that they know you are actively looking for one. 

When putting out a notice of this nature, please remember to be specific of what you are looking. But don’t be too specific. By that I mean that you should say that you are looking for a keyboard with at least 44 keys (black and white included) and preferably one that can be plugged in (so as to save you a ton on batteries). 

Neighbours, The Local Church, Etc.

If none of the above are options, here’s one more. 

Do you have any neighbours who have a piano or a keyboard? Can’t borrow the keyboard from them? Then ask them whether they would be willing to let your kid come over there and practice everyday for 15 minutes or so? 

Of course, it goes without saying that you should ask the kids to be on their best behaviour when they go over to practice and to be unobtrusive as possible. 

You can also check with the local church if they would let you use one of the extra keyboards or pianos (if there is one), for a few weeks until you are able to purchase one. 

All the same rules apply as they would if you were going to your neighbours house. 

Barter

If you know of someone who has a keyboard and wants to sell it, but you are unable to purchase it, you can also look at bartering some service like baking, mowing the lawn, plumbing etc in exchange. 

Ask Friends and Family

This one might take a lot longer than the other ideas, but you can always ask your friends and family for small cash gifts for your child’s next birthday or for Christmas and you can use that money to buy a keyboard. 

So what do you think? Which one of the above ideas are you most inclined to pursue?