Grand piano and upright piano: how they differ

A grand piano lies flat, with its strings stretched away from the player. An upright piano stands tall, with its strings running up and down behind the keys. Both have 88 keys and the same notes. They differ in shape, in the way the keys respond, in sound, and in the room they take up.

The differences at a glance

	Grand	Upright
Strings and soundboard	Lie flat	Stand on end
Floor space	A lot, with room to walk around it	A strip along a wall
How the hammer returns	It falls back by its own weight	Springs pull it back
Repeating a note fast	Easier	Harder
Where the sound goes	Up and out from under the lid	Out of the back, toward the wall
Left pedal	Shifts the hammers to the side	Moves the hammers closer to the strings
Middle pedal	Holds chosen notes	Often lowers a strip of felt for quiet practice
Where you find it	Concert halls, studios, and large rooms	Homes, schools, and practice rooms

The action

The action is the set of parts that turns a pressed key into a hammer stroke. Read parts of the piano for kids.

In a grand, the hammer swings up to hit the string and falls back down. Gravity does the work. A part of the grand action lets a note be played again before the key has come all the way up. That makes fast repeated notes and trills easier.

In an upright, the hammer swings forward to hit the string. It cannot fall back, so springs return it. The key has to rise higher before the note can sound again.

For a beginner, this difference is small. It matters more as the music gets faster.

The sound

Longer strings and a larger soundboard give a fuller sound, above all in the low notes. A big grand has the longest strings of any piano. A concert grand is about nine feet long.

An upright can sound fine too. A tall upright has longer strings than a short one. Its strings can be as long as those of a small grand.

The lid of a grand opens and throws the sound toward the room. An upright sends its sound out of the back. Pulling it a few inches from the wall opens up the sound.

Sizes

Kind	Rough size
Concert grand	About 9 feet long
Baby grand	About 5 feet long
Full-size upright	About 4 feet tall or more
Console or spinet	Shorter uprights, with shorter strings

Which is right for a student?

An upright in good condition serves a student for years. Many students practice on one for their whole time in lessons.

A grand helps an advanced student, since exam rooms, festivals, and recitals often use grands, and the touch is different. It is not needed in the early years.

Three things matter more than the shape.

• Condition. The piano has to hold its tuning, and every key has to work.
• Tuning. A piano needs regular tuning. Read how often should a piano be tuned?
• Place. Keep it away from heaters, vents, and direct sun.

Before buying or accepting a used piano, have a piano technician look at it. Read piano or keyboard for a beginner.

What about a digital piano?

A digital piano has no strings. It plays recorded or modeled sounds through speakers. It never needs tuning, it works with headphones, and it is easier to move. A good one has 88 weighted keys. The page above compares the choices.

Where the two shapes came from

The first pianos, built in Italy around 1700, had the shape of a harpsichord: a long, flat case with a wing shape. The grand kept that shape. Upright designs came later, around 1800, to fit a piano into a smaller room. Read the harpsichord for kids.

Things to do together

Look inside both. Lift the lid of a grand, and ask to see inside an upright. Find the strings, the hammers, and the soundboard in each.

Play the same note. Play one low note on each kind of piano. Ask which rings longer.

Repeat a note. Play one key as fast as you can on each. Count the notes in five seconds.

Measure the room. Mark the size of each piano on the floor with tape.

Print and play

Print the piano keyboard chart. Read the piano for kids, piano pedals explained, and keyboard instruments for kids.