This is my review on the latest awesome (and super innovative) product from Liquid Stands, their new V-Style stand, which is probably the coolest portable keyboard stand I’VE ever seen.
I’ve already reviewed the Liquid Stands Z stand, and Liquid Stands Foldable Z Stand; I love both of those stands, but their new V-Style stand brings a couple more things to the table: higher maximum height, and INSANE portability!
Full Disclosure: Liquid Stands did send me this stand in order to do a review, so thanks a bunch to the great people at Liquid Stands for doing that, it’s super appreciated, but I will be giving you my honest opinion in this review. Let’s check it out!
Why Do I Like This Stand So Much?
OK, so what makes this stand so awesome? Two things:
It Goes High Enough For Me To Play Standing
It goes high enough for me to play standing, which I really like to do; I absolutely love the non-foldable AND foldable Liquid Stands, but each one of those falls a couple of inches too short at their maximum height for me to play standing in the best position; well not this one! This stand can go from 28” to 42” high, which is amazing – that’s about 9” higher at max height than their Z stands can go
For playing standing, I have the stand set to #6 on the height range, which is about 36″ off the ground – the numbers go all the way to TWELVE (which is 42″!). Super nice add from Liquid Stands that they label the holes so you don’t have to count :D.
It Is SUPER Portable & Easy to Setup/Takedown
It is INSANELY portable, and super easy to setup/takedown! This stand collapses down into a compact package that fits easily into an included carry bag! And, even though I JUST got this stand, and have only collapsed and “un-collapsed” it a couple of times, I can already do BOTH of those things in under a minute!
Other Features
There are 2 handy cable clips on each leg to keep your cables nice and tidy on stage.
You can fine tune the level by turning the feet like with their other stands, and you can also help level your keyboard if needed – one of the round keyboard pads is thick at one end and gets thinner to the other end, so you can rotate it to adjust to your keyboard if needed!
Is It Stable & Sturdy?
For a super portable stand? It is really sturdy (sturdier than any X-Stand that I have ever used). I put my Yamaha YC-61 stage keyboard on it and played pretty hard and it moved a tiny bit but not much (and not enough to affect my playing), and it didn’t slide side to side at ALL during organ palm smears (which I have had happen with other stands – I’ve almost pushed keyboards right OFF other stands).
To be fair, though – is it as sturdy as Liquid Stands Z stand or portable Z stand? No it’s not; BUT it is sturdy ENOUGH for me, and the added height and super portability are totally worth it in my opinion.
Liquid Stands V-Style Stand – THE VERDICT
Well . . . Liquid Stands continues to impress me with every product they have:
The Liquid Stands V-Style Stand is FANTASTIC!
HIGHLY Recommended!
How they got it to be this stable while also being foldable is amazing. Is it as stable as their Z stand or portable foldable Z stand? No, but . . . this stand more than makes up for that by being so incredibly portable, and I find it is still much more stable than any basic X stand I’ve used. There are places our band plays where you’re hauling all your equipment up and down flights of stairs, so I’m all about minimizing the gear I have to bring to band practices and gigs, and this stand is absolutely IDEAL for that. I’ve been using 2 tier stands and 2 keyboards with my band for a while now, but with a recent stage keyboard purchase, I am planning on moving to a single keyboard anyways, so this stand is going to be perfect. It would be super cool if Liquid Stands did come out with a 2nd tier for the V stand, but we’ll have to wait and see if they do.
I have included links below to Amazon & Liquid Stands direct so that you can check current pricing – please note that as an affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases:
Liquid Stands Foldable Z Stand
Liquid Stands Z-Stand (No Wheels)
Liquid Stands Z-Stand (With Wheels)
Piano Training I Recommend
I’ve taken a number of online piano courses and tried various piano learning apps; the ones I’m listing here are my favorites and I can highly recommend any of these if you are looking for some online training to get started on learning piano, or to take your current skills to the next level.
Bird’s Piano Academy is one of my absolute favorite online piano programs. Arthur Bird has created multiple courses on getting started learning piano quickly as well as great intro courses on Blues, Jazz and more. And his courses are chord based, so you don’t have to read sheet music which is AWESOME and definitely the fastest way to learn to play modern music. You can go with a subscription that includes ALL his courses, or you can buy individual courses a la carte with LIFETIME access – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
If you’re looking for the least expensive way to get started on piano, Pianoforall is a great option. It’s a unique course created by Robin Hall that uses downloadable eBooks with embedded videos and audio instead of a website.
This course is an amazing option for learning piano from beginner up to being able to perform; it teaches multiple genres of music and focuses on how to be a “one person band” on the piano. This course is taught by pro pianist Steve Lungrin – Steve has been teaching and performing his whole adult life and is a fantastic instructor and performer.
I took this course from 2020 to 2021 and it elevated my playing from a very basic level to being able to play songs in multiple genres.
I was super excited when Simply Piano added the “Chords Path” to their super popular piano training app (iOS or Android); this path allows a new student to get started learning piano using a chords based approach (which I HIGHLY recommend over a traditional approach). Learning to play using chords is by far the easiest and fastest way to learn to play modern songs (MINIMAL sightreading ability is needed). I did the entire chords path, and can highly recommend that you check it out (you will get a trial period so why not?)
This is a fantastic option if you are mostly interested in rock music. This course was created and is taught by Marine Lacoste, who is not only a fantastic instructor & pianist, but she is also a very accomplished hammond organ player – she performs regularly with her own band, as well as playing keys regularly for multiple recording artists on tour. I started this course in 2023 when I joined a band, and it is helping me greatly in taking my playing to a new level. And Marine is constantly adding new content, and is very active on the platform.
If you sign up for Online Rock Lessons yearly subscription, use code PIANOTONE at checkout to let Marine know I referred you, and she will give you some free bonuses!
This is a fantastic (but pretty unique) online program for taking your piano and organ playing skills to the next level, developed by pro piano, keyboard & Hammond organ player Mike Little. Mike shares tips & tricks accumulated from over 30 years of pro touring, gigging, studio & production experiences. This course isn’t for a COMPLETE beginner, but you don’t have to be a super accomplished player either, to get TONS of value from this program!
Ultimate Piano isn’t an actual course to learn how to play, but it IS a really helpful TOOL for piano students. You connect your keyboard to your computer, go to Ultimate Piano’s website (so NOTHING to install!) and you have a ton of helpful training and exercises at your disposal, as well as built in piano sounds. With the help of on screen light up keys, you can learn and practice scales, chords and even ear training and you can play along with MIDI or audio files, and even YouTube videos to practice songs!