* Complimentary Product Received for Review, Feature and Inclusion on Two Classy Chics blog.
For the past 6 months my almost 8 year old granddaughter has been expressing an interest in learning how to play the piano. She loves music and has watched her cousin play the piano for the past 2 years and now she has caught piano-fever. Like all good grandparents, we signed her up for piano lesson which begin in late May of this year.
In the meantime, her piano teacher has given us some prep-materials to help get her going, so we were pretty excited to get the new Casio CGP-700 Digital Piano (keyboard) for this review feature. If you’re familiar with digital keyboards, you’ll already know that Casio makes the best ones out in the retail marketplace. Those who are learning to play and those who are professional players…love the Casio brand.
The CGP-700 is your ideal creative partner. One of the best things about it is that it combines authentic piano sound and feel with an incredible six-speaker sound system. You can really rock out when playing it. When you hear the sound and music coming from this thing, you would think that you’re listening to piano music coming from a $20,000 value piano!
It features a 5.3″ Color Touch Interface™. This high-resolution display is bright and clear, and makes full use of a huge color palette to keep you informed and in control. Navigating through tones and rhythms using touch and swipe gestures makes it really easy to use. If you’re familiar with playing, there is a Grand Piano button, which lets you enjoy the CGP-700’s beautiful grand piano sound instantly, and nearby Transpose buttons allow you to quickly shift to a different key.
When it comes to playing with different tones you can split the keyboard between two tones, layer two tones together, set it up for duet play, use the metronome, change the tempo setting and easily switch from the pitch of the digital piano to the semitone units. One of the features we love using is the auto-harmonize which you use to add harmony to the melody notes.
There are a total of 6 speakers that come with this particular model with 4 of them being in the top panel and 2 of them being in the included stand. The sound quality is INCREDIBLE and it really fills the room. You can hear every note and beat clearly and concisely. You can use the keyboard in stereo or mono and you’ll find settings for jazz, rock, classical and other style’s of music. Whatever type of music you like to play, you can do it with this digital keyboard!
This digital piano from Casio goes beyond the basic piano with 550 different instrument tones. You can find a variety of different guitars, string instruments, basses, drums, synths, etc. You can quickly select one of the 200 ensemble rhythms which can accompany your piano playing or add in a full backing band that reacts to the chords that you play.
On the back of the keyboard you’ll find an area which contains all of the input jacks, etc., so that you can hook up other devices. We hooked up my husband’s tablet and found some free piano lessons for beginners online and the Princess has been using those free lessons to help get her started. You don’t have to buy any software or download any drivers, simply connect your desired electronic device and you’re ready to roll.
All of the buttons and controls are front and center. To the left of your monitor you have your power button, volume controller, recording mode button, MIDI button, audio button, transpose, variation fill-in, synchro button and more. To the right of the display monitor you have your dial, tone & rhythm buttons, tempo & metronome buttons, grand piano button and more. In addition, you’ll find the easy-to-use USB flash drive port located in that area too.
The Casio CGP-700 Electronic Keyboard and Digital Piano has so many cool and easy-to-use features that I can’t even scratch the surface with this review. If you’re new to piano playing or new to using an electronic keyboard, don’t worry, this model comes with an extensive user’s guide to help you get started. Plus, everything is built-in and the system will help to guide you when it comes to making your electronic selections.
The Princess has been practicing and learning the basics and is really excited to begin her official piano playing lessons later next month. Heck, my husband who knows how to play a guitar a little bit, now has a new-found interest in learning to play the piano. He’s right there with the Princess and both of them are basically learning how to play, together!
You can learn more about the Casio CGP-700 Electronic Keyboard – Digital Piano by visiting the product page directly on Casio’s website. This particular keyboard racked up several awards the past 2 years and now I can see why…it’s fantastic! If you’re on Facebook, you can connect with Casio there and you can follow @CasioMusicGear on Twitter too. My family LOVES this new Casio keyboard and we’re looking forward to my husband and the Princess playing it for year’s to come.
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Disclaimer: Shelly received complimentary product to feature in this blog post. Shelly did not receive any monetary compensation. Shelly’s thoughts, opinions and words are 100% her own unbiased opinion. Your thoughts may differ. Please read our disclosure policy & guidelines page for additional information on our disclaimer/disclosure policy.
My Casio keyboard is probably at least 15 or 20 years old. But it still works. None of the bells & whistles that your keyboard has, but mine is portable and works well for me.
Although the Casio has many great features I still prefer a regular piano, especially for classical music. I have had my upright Steinway since I was 8 years old. My younger son has a Casio which does have a great variety of options for different sounds and instruments.