Reddit reviews 37 Key Melodica

It is a question of quality. A melodica can be created as a toy, or as an instrument. Kind of like the difference between $.99 harmonica toys and actual instrument harmonicas.

An instrument melodica is actually harder to find than you'd think.
Look for well known brands of actual instrument companies.

Like this!

Not this.

I would NOT recomend getting this. This is simply a USB controller, not a great instrument to learn and play on. I would recomend a casio CDP series or a Yamaha p series. Those are both great and affordable keybaords for beginners and they have full 88 weighted keys. In the mean time while you are saving up money for a keyboard, you could always get something like a melodica. Its only 30 bucks, and its definitely an instrument that’s gaining more traction in mainstream music. With it, you can learn fingerings, theory, and chords that all can be directly applied to piano. Give it a shot and if you like it, then buy a piano, but if you dont like it, then its just 30$. Many people may scoff at this suggestion, because usually think melodica is just a toy... Well... someone forgot to tell that to John Batiste, cuz he's been KILLING it on the Melodica every week night on The Late Show with Steven Colbert.