It used to be necessary to have a real piano when you begin lessons. Today's good electronic keyboards have come reasonably close to a good action however and the benefits of a good electronic keyboard have become great enough to compensate for the lower amount of control possible.

Don't mistake this statement to mean you can learn on a toy. The action on a keyboard must be weighted and the closer you get to a real piano action feel on an electronic keyboard, the more expensive it becomes. The minimum number of keys should be 73 keys. 88 is preferable.

Of course one of the benefits is to practice without bothering those around you. Computer connections to keyboards are easy and the software available is amazing. It's possible to play duets with the computer, record your playing, and the list goes on forever it seems.

A real piano however still gives you the mechanical connection to the string and a good action gives unprecedented control over volume, attack, and release. The warmth of a real piano sound is still missing from a speaker in my opinion although the sound is very well reproduced these days.