Buying a piano is fun, exciting and inspiring - thinking about piano accessories is not. That said, the accompanying accessories we recommend here can make a real difference to your overall playing experience and shouldn’t be overlooked. Most people will put in a lot of time researching which is the best piano for them. From weighing up the benefits of going down the digital piano route or sticking with something more traditional, to what key action is best for their playing style, a lot of thought goes into choosing the right instrument. But when it comes to choosing the right bench or digital piano headphones, most people either don’t give them much thought or forget about them altogether.
So, to ensure you don’t forget anything and get the most out of your beautiful new instrument, we have put together this handy checklist of must-have accessories for piano. So, whether you are a beginner digital piano newbie looking to hit the ground running and fully kit yourself out, or an intermediate pianist looking to optimise their current set-up, we have you covered.
Essential piano accessories: Piano bench
A solid, comfortable piano bench has to be the most important accessory you’ll buy for your piano. A well-made piano stool will not only ensure you are comfortable while sitting for hours and hours practising, but it will also ensure you play with the correct posture. Now, benches come in various styles, and which you choose is dependent on your specific needs.
Adjustable benches - or a rise and fall bench - give you the ability to set the height of the stool to the perfect position, no matter who is playing the piano. These are great for young players, or even if you have multiple musicians in the household sharing one instrument.
As the name suggests, Storage benches include a compartment within the seat for storing books and other learning materials.
Robust and durable, the KT7800+ features a folding design with an X-style frame that pivots around a single central bolt. The height is adjusted by means of a set of four locking holes on a metal rail that spans the underside of the bench, allowing adjustment to four fixed heights of 19”, 21”, 23”, and 25”, which caters capably for both adults and children.
This premium offering from digital piano heavyweights Roland is designed to perfectly match their pianos, and as such, ticks all the required boxes. There’s a high-quality, solid wood construction with a polished ebony gloss black finish, 10cm of continuous height adjustment, a velvet-lined storage compartment for music books, and a deep, luxuriantly cushioned leather seat.
Properly solid and weighty, with a quality feel, this mid-priced bench is a great solution if you need a traditional look combined with practical storage for your sheet music. The high-quality, durable imitation leather seat and piano-black gloss-painted wood finish convey that this is a high-quality item.
Essential piano accessories: Headphones
Obviously, one of the biggest advantages of going for a digital piano is the ability to practice day or night in peace and quiet with a set of headphones. Still, it’s worth taking the time to carefully consider which headphones you go for, as you really want to make sure you hear your piano at its best.
We strongly suggest avoiding earbuds. As convenient as they are when out and about, they aren’t large enough to reproduce the massive frequency range of the piano accurately, not to mention they aren’t exactly the most comfortable. Therefore, for these reasons, we recommend a set of over-the-ear headphones. Almost any set of studio headphones will do the trick. Below are three options at varying price points.
If you're looking for your first pair of headphones for your digital piano, we'd go with the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. Great value for money, while delivering excellent sound quality, they're a little heavy in the bass end of the spectrum, but that just makes them fantastic for everyday listening duties as wellas piano practice.
Featuring the company’s High Excursion Driver Technology, build quality is remarkable for the price, with strong, all-metal hinges and soft, slow-retention memory foam earpads. The cable is detachable, and therefore replaceable should the need arise, although we did find it a little on the short side at just 1.4m.
Shure’s mid-priced SRH440 closed-back headphone has been optimised for performance with professional audio devices, including your digital piano, and ticks all the boxes on the checklist of features you’d expect from a set of studio-quality cans.
Essential piano accessories: Sustain pedal
It’s common for stage pianos - or portable keyboards - to come with a very basic sustain pedal, and although these may work, they aren’t the most responsive. We’d always suggest upgrading the basic sustain pedal with something more substantial if you can.
We're big fans of the Yamaha FC4, which will work with any piano with a sustain jack input. Yes, there are others on the market, but with stellar build quality, a smooth action, and a very reasonable price tag, this is the unit we'd recommend.
Essential piano accessories: Stands
Sticking with stage pianos and keyboards for the moment, you’re going to need a stand to sit your piano on. As stage pianos are typically 88 notes and weighted keys, we’d recommend going with a double-braced X frame stand. For more information, check out our guide to the best keyboard stands on the market.
Although often billed as a ‘heavy-duty’ piano stand, with a load capacity of only 20kg, it’s best suited to lightweight electronic keyboards, so you should probably look elsewhere for something to house a digital piano.
The 18810 is a premium design specially suited for stage pianos and other large, heavy instruments. Its rigid steel tubing construction, open, table-style design and large round floor protectors offer more than enough onstage stability, with plenty of room underneath for your knees and any pedals you might want to attach.
QuikLok has been the professional’s choice for decades, pioneering the central perforated disc and spring-loaded peg design that’s been facilitating quick setups since the 1980’s. With a pedigree that long, it’s a name that can continue to be trusted to accommodate your precious synthesizers.
Essential piano accessories: Online lessons
It’s safe to say that we are living in the golden age of information, with everything you’d ever want to know about the piano just a click away, as well as a wealth of online lessons.
However, it can be challenging to separate genuinely informative lessons from amateur ones, which is where our handy guide to the best online piano lessons comes in. Playground Sessions tops our list of the greatest piano learning software out there right now, but there are plenty of options to suit all levels and budgets.
Based around the multi-platform ‘Playground Sessions for Piano’ app for Mac, PC, and mobile devices, the curriculum is centred around three main sections. Bootcamp takes you through the basics, Courses features a series of more niche topics, while Songs offers subscribers unlimited access to an ever-expanding library of over 2,000 popular songs to learn.
Pianote takes the web-based, video-driven format and expands on it with access to highly trained professionals who are just a click away. In addition to two fully-structured learning paths, not only are you able to have your questions answered by real-life piano teachers, but you also gain access to weekly live-streaming video lessons, along with the ability to connect with teachers and students in the community forums.
The idea with Flowkey is to learn to play your favourite piano songs via a selection of intermediary lessons. Your skill level is assessed during the setup process, allowing you to jump into the lessons at the correct starting point. The software features a user-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate, whether you want to select a lesson plan or skip directly to a song you'd like to learn.
Essential piano accessories: Metronome
Okay, we know this isn’t the most exciting item you can buy, and the monotonous tick can drive some people mad, but a metronome is a must-have tool for learning the piano. These ticking boxes have come a long way since the pendulum style of the old days and are now more advanced than ever. You can read our complete guide to the best metronomes for a more in-depth look into these timekeeping devices.
Thanks to its sheer breadth of features, its incredible versatility and its easy-to-use format, the Boss DB-90 handily tops the list as the best metronome overall. It combines a rich feature set with a simple interface and an affordable price; quite simply, it’s a difficult one to beat.
The unassailable Korg MA-2 is an inexpensive metronomic wonder, and a solid, rugged solution for a cheap time-keeper to follow you around. Coming from the good ship Korg, it comes imbued with decades of digital excellence – easily the top budget pick.
For the traditionalists amongst us, the Wittner 811M is an unsurpassed choice of mechanical metronome. Though a rather expensive choice, the 811M wears its value on its sleeve; timeless design and impressive build quality mean this is probably the only metronome you’ll ever need to buy.
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