The best gifts for piano players fix the small annoyances of practicing at home. Almost every digital piano ships with a cheap square pedal that slides away under the foot, many have only one pedal where a real piano has three, and practicing at 11 pm needs good headphones. All three are easy to fix, and none of them costs much.
Before you buy a pedal, check the brand and model of their piano: some pedal units fit only specific models.
Gifts for piano players under $60
Roland DP-10, $52
A sustain pedal shaped like a real piano pedal, with a rubber base that stays put and half-pedal support, so the pianist can hold notes partly, like on an acoustic. Works with most digital pianos and keyboards that accept a stereo pedal. #7 of 40 sustain pedals.
Roland DP 2, $20
The cheap version: piano-style shape, 3-meter cable, no half-pedaling. Already a big step up from a square switch. #6 of 40 sustain pedals.
Superlux HD-681, $26
Inexpensive studio headphones that sound far better than their price, for quiet practice. #13 of 105 studio headphones.
Gifts for piano players under $150
Yamaha LP-1 BK, $84
A three-pedal unit (damper, sostenuto, soft) for Yamaha's P-series and the DGX-670, so a portable piano plays like a home piano. Check that their model is on the list: P-125, P-225, P-515, P-525 and others. #1 of 40 sustain pedals.
Roland KPD-70 Bk, $110
The same idea for Roland's FP-30, FP-30X, FP-40 and FP-E50. It needs the matching Roland stand, so it's a gift for someone who already has one. #3 of 40 sustain pedals.
Yamaha FC 4A, $89
A heavy piano-style sustain pedal that fits Yamaha keyboards and many others with a mono pedal input. #1 of 40 sustain pedals.
AKG K-240 Studio, $76
Comfortable semi-open headphones for long practice sessions, with a natural sound that doesn't tire the ears. #1 of 105 studio headphones.
Korg nanoKEY Fold Black, $111
A foldable 25-key MIDI keyboard that fits in a laptop bag, for a pianist who wants to start producing music on the computer. #2 of 34 master keyboards (up to 25 keys).
Bigger gifts
beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm, $166
Open-back studio headphones with a wide, natural sound, the closest thing to hearing the piano in the room. #1 of 105 studio headphones.
Korg XVP-20, $178
A sturdy aluminum expression pedal for a stage keyboardist who controls volume or organ swells with the foot. #2 of 28 volume and expression pedals.
Casio CDP-S110 BK, $336
For someone still playing on a keyboard: a real digital piano with 88 weighted hammer-action keys at the price of a good keyboard. #4 of 26 compact digital pianos.
Questions
What is a good gift for a piano player?
Something for their instrument: a piano-style sustain pedal like the Roland DP-10 ($52), a three-pedal unit if their piano supports one, or good headphones for quiet practice.
What do you get a pianist who has everything?
Open-back headphones like the beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro, or a small MIDI keyboard to make music on a laptop when they travel.
Will any sustain pedal work with any keyboard?
Most use a standard 6.3 mm jack, but polarity and half-pedal support differ between brands, so check the piano's manual. Pedal units like the Yamaha LP-1 only fit specific models.
How we picked. Every product comes from an AudioFu ranking, scored on demand, price, specs and brand. Prices are Thomann's, converted from euros at the European Central Bank rate and updated every night, as are the ranks.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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