# The "easiest" instrument?



## Alexxx-Returns (Mar 11, 2015)

This has been on my mind for a while now.

I'm learning guitar currently. It's one of the hardest skills I've had to develop. It's all new to me. It takes a lot of skills that I never had to bring on in the play of my first instrument. It takes rhythm, timing and style, to be able to pull off techniques properly and to be able to even consider singing in time to off-beat riffs. It takes co-ordination between both hands. It requires you to, I guess, learn the fretboard well so you know where each note is. Each note can be played in different ways, and this is alien to me.

I play sax. I've played this since I was 8, and I think it's arguably the easiest musical instrument to learn. To play hard songs, you need muscle memory. Each note is played by one certain finger position and to move up an octave is as simple as holding another key down and playing the same fingerings as before. There are no chords, no singing along. You need to be able to express yourself with your mouth though, and the advanced techniques are bloody difficult. But still I reckon it's a piece of piss compared to guitar.

I always thought piano would be the same, since both hands are playing something different, only related. It's pretty intimidating to me.

What do you think is the easiest instrument and why? How about the hardest?


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## X_Joshi_X (Mar 11, 2015)

I would so love to play guitar. Its such a beautiful instrument, that you can take everywhere with you n stuff.

Playing drums is also fucking hard. Just think about the coordination


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## VÃ¦r (Mar 11, 2015)

I personally believe the Piano to be the easiest to understand. Hand-Eye coordination takes care of the rest. I think it's easiest because I see more self-taught pianists than other instruments. 

As for the hardest...well, I'd say string instruments in general. Specifically the Violin. Another one I believe difficult would be the Flute.


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## Kokino (Mar 11, 2015)

I think piano would be one of the easiest instruments to get a basic understanding of, just because every note in every octave is in a straight line down the keys, hardest I think would be drums (as a guitar player myself), just because both hands and feet have to work independently of each other to create different sounds within the same time signature, where as in guitar the timing is mostly left up to your pic hand and an internal metronome, while as a drummer you essentially have to BE the metronome for the people you play with.

One quick piece of advice as a guitar play is to do exactly what you said and learn where each note is, once you get into trying to write songs it will make your life ssooo much easier!


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## -Sliqq- (Mar 11, 2015)

The lap. It's like a cheap bongo for kids that are too cool for school.


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## Brass (Mar 12, 2015)

Trombone was really easy for me to pick up. I played flute for a year before that and later joined my high school jazz band with the good ole trombone. Shame I don't have time to play anymore. I heard sax players can move off to flute rather easy. Might be a lie though.


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## Synomance (Mar 12, 2015)

I found the Piano to be a wonderful instrument to learn, though at the moment I am teaching myself Guitar. I think if you learn piano, you can learn them all as it takes the most accuracy and memory


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## X_Joshi_X (Mar 12, 2015)

Kokino said:


> I think piano would be one of the easiest instruments to get a basic understanding of, just because every note in every octave is in a straight line down the keys, hardest I think would be drums (as a guitar player myself), just because both hands and feet have to work independently of each other to create different sounds within the same time signature, where as in guitar the timing is mostly left up to your pic hand and an internal metronome, while as a drummer you essentially have to BE the metronome for the people you play with.
> 
> One quick piece of advice as a guitar play is to do exactly what you said and learn where each note is, once you get into trying to write songs it will make your life ssooo much easier!



You are right, its hard. Not only because of the coordination. You ever heard some metal songs with double bass or so?
I played 5 or 6 years the drum and still cannot imagine how it is possible to play that fast.


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## Taralack (Mar 12, 2015)

-Sliqq- said:


> The lap. It's like a cheap bongo for kids that are too cool for school.



Alternatively, the table.


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## Shadow Jaeger (Mar 12, 2015)

Probably the transverse/sweet potato ocarina or commonly known as the 12 hole/ the double or the triple....all depends on the amount of holes. Very easy to learn but its hard to master, because of its nature playing fast is rather hard but can give a brilliant sound especially with reverb. If you have ever played a wood wind before then learning should be easy but a fair warning, you are never going to find a tutor for such a rare instrument.

That and any stringed instrument is hardest in mg opinion....except the bass, i heard its easy to learn.


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## foussiremix (Mar 12, 2015)

the tambourine is easy. Just punch it at the butt and shake it.
Drums are the easiest.

Most difficult is string intruments


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## Batty Krueger (Mar 12, 2015)

Ham-boning


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## Kitsune Cross (Mar 12, 2015)

foussiremix said:


> the tambourine is easy. Just punch it at the butt and shake it.
> Drums are the easiest.
> 
> Most difficult is string intruments



I'll have to disagree with you on that, I play bass, guitar and piano but can't do shit on the drums

I don't think there is an easiest intrument, all instruments in general have their level of difficulty, maybe because you learned sax so young you consider it easy now, for people who learnt piano/guitar first may find sax more difficult


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## Evan of Phrygia (Mar 12, 2015)

foussiremix said:


> the tambourine is easy. Just punch it at the butt and shake it.
> Drums are the easiest.
> 
> Most difficult is string intruments


Politely calling bullshit. Tambourine in a classical setting requires a lot more manipulation than other instruments such as knee fist, thumb rolls, and variations of to satisfy orchestral literature. In fact it's possible to argue nowadays that those auxiliary instruments are more difficult than standard drumming

I would very much argue that drumming is easy as a concept to understand since it is the most inherent way to perform rhythm, which is why the Orff method has developed. However getting past the concept of epitomized rhythm (which is what basic drumming somewhat is), you then get into some extremely complicated nuance problems, and drumset playing is very easy to do badly, which not many people realize. It takes a lot of unique coordination to understand the sound and therefore feeling required to balance a kit, which is what produces a professional sound.

Additionally, due to the fact that we communicate primarily in rhythm and atonal/non-diatonic pitches, it requires a much more abstract grasp of music itself to be able to manipulate percussive instruments effectively. Additionally, the theoretical rhythmic knowledge most drummers are required to have from a mathematical standpoint is easily higher than any other instrument other than piano. We are one of the few who can be independently polyphonic, a skill that few others truly have in an orchestra. (strings develop it but the hand being a limited component inherently limits its' ability to multiply lines)

I wouldn't really argue any instrument being particularly easy or hard in its own specific right; I think the "easiest" instrument (aka the one with the least amount of highly difficult-to-grasp concepts) is trumpet, but even then you still have to develop the embouchure correctly or else you're essentially fucked, more so than any other instrument. The demand of trumpet is also the most physical of any brass instrument due to the small aperture, but then it is far less complicated to play than say French Horn, and the partials are also wider.

I have no concept of string instruments, but the muscles are relatively easy to develop with a piano background. Piano literature can be of high demand due to it often being total interdependence, practically down to every finger.


Funny people mention table, was actually thinking about writing a piece for table


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## X_Joshi_X (Mar 12, 2015)

foussiremix said:


> the tambourine is easy. Just punch it at the butt and shake it.
> Drums are the easiest.
> 
> Most difficult is string intruments



SHIT STORM.
no but seriously. Dont ever say, drums are easy.
Sit down and try to play. You will recognize, its not easy.
I  played 6 years. I still suck. The next step would be to get to metal 

Occarina is pretty easy. I have one and its really easy to play some songs


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## Evan of Phrygia (Mar 12, 2015)

X_Joshi_X said:


> SHIT STORM.
> no but seriously. Dont ever say, drums are easy.
> Sit down and try to play. You will recognize, its not easy.
> I  played 6 years. I still suck. The next step would be to get to metal
> ...


Metal music is an aesthetic of drumming that is very very...ehhh....physical

I've noticed that whenever people say "hardest drumming music" it's metal and honestly I disagree, it's probably latin or jazz. Rock genres have overlooked touch entirely, so you get a LOT of wild stuff that all sounds unified aka no differentiation in touch.

One is considered more "musical". I don't discount the style per se but there is one that is about the tone of the drums just as much the technical facility. It's just more subtle.


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## X_Joshi_X (Mar 12, 2015)

Remember that the point is how hard it is to play. Not what sounds better in your opinion. I tried a bit of both. Jazz and metal. Jazz is just fuckin easy for me. Its just easy. I dont know how to explain but metal is just impossible for me to play.
Here is an example. The whole intro is a solo. Its so fucking unbelievable fast and you have to keep the tempo.

[video=youtube_share;tPb6nG1E4P0]http://youtu.be/tPb6nG1E4P0[/video]


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Mar 12, 2015)

For foussiremix
[video=youtube;Ukn0UWHc6Kg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukn0UWHc6Kg[/video]

At the risk of getting foussiremix'd myself, instruments used mostly for effects (triangle, e.g.) are probably the easiest.
I'm going to suggest that voice is easy in that you either have it, or you don't.


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## X_Joshi_X (Mar 12, 2015)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> Instruments used mostly for effects (triangle, e.g.) are probably the easiest.
> I'm going to suggest that voice is easy in that you either have it, or you don't.



Its hard to recognize, if you have a good voice or not.
I dont know if im a good singer or awful. I can growl a bit but i dont know anything about my singin voice


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## Shadow Jaeger (Mar 12, 2015)

You could always take up the electric triangle :V


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## Evan of Phrygia (Mar 12, 2015)

X_Joshi_X said:


> Remember that the point is how hard it is to play. Not what sounds better in your opinion. I tried a bit of both. Jazz and metal. Jazz is just fuckin easy for me. Its just easy. I dont know how to explain but metal is just impossible for me to play.
> Here is an example. The whole intro is a solo. Its so fucking unbelievable fast and you have to keep the tempo.


I've also played quite a bit of both and metal hits a difficulty ceiling. What I'm saying is that there is a great deal more concept behind jazz drumming, and requires a great deal more polyrhythm, versatility in touch and style etc. My point is -not- about sounding better, it's about the fact that metal drumming is very strictly physical challenge. Straight 16ths is a lower mental and sometimes physical demand than splitting a sixteenth note line among voices and adding accents accordingly.

Bad jazz is easy. 


Kit H. Ruppell said:


> For foussiremix
> [video=youtube;Ukn0UWHc6Kg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukn0UWHc6Kg[/video]
> 
> At the risk of getting foussiremix'd myself, instruments used mostly for effects (triangle, e.g.) are probably the easiest.
> I'm going to suggest that voice is easy in that you either have it, or you don't.


I again don't agree, but I can see why triangle is often selected for that title. The triangle is a circular surfaced instrument, meaning that there are infinite points of contact. As a result, there are an infinite possibilities of sound each time you play one note. Therefore playing even say ten notes consistently requires a higher level of control, and the difference of sound starts to become so subtle but recognizable that you have to have a very well trained ear to determine what about your placement causes the harmonics that it does. Now think about trying to play a consistent roll with that challenge in mind. It takes a long time to develop perfection on triangle. However, in some contexts, the triangle is very specifically allocated to a strict backbeat purpose, to which these factors are often removed using mounts, and as a result it becomes a strictly rhythmic instrument.


I like the Khanjira. Do you know much Pandeiro? My studio instructor played some of that and it's rather interesting.



Singing requires training in regards to intonation, rhythm, and so on, but I'm afraid I don't know if there's actually a way to have a "good" voice. You obviously can't just say "I want to be an alto" when you're clearly a bass unless you just want that type of sound, but I don't know how much of a good tone is training versus inherent quality of voice.

I do know for a fact that nobody just has a good voice for no reason at all. To be legitimately good, you have to spend some time training.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Mar 12, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> I like the Khanjira. Do you know much Pandeiro? My studio instructor played some of that and it's rather interesting.


  I'd only seen pictures of the pandeiro on sites selling musical instruments, until a few minutes ago when I watched a sample video. 
I myself haven't had any musical instruction since high school chorus. Since then I've just been dicking around on this and that.


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## Evan of Phrygia (Mar 12, 2015)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> I'd only seen pictures of the pandeiro on sites selling musical instruments, until a few minutes ago when I watched a sample video.
> I myself haven't had any musical instruction since high school chorus. Since then I've just been dicking around on this and that.


i mean hey, if there's a cultural spread in your dicking, there's some meaning in that. :3


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## Filter (Apr 5, 2015)

I'd say recorder is easiest. There are no moving parts, and it doesn't require much in terms of embouchure. It's lightweight too. Essentially, a fancy whistle. 

At the other end of the spectrum is tuba. It's heavy, requires a well-developed embouchure, it's hard to transport, easily dented, and the sheet music has lots of ledger lines.

I took piano lessons, played trombone in various school bands, learned guitar from friends, and more recently picked up bass guitar. I dabbled in recorder and tuba when I was younger, but ultimately found other instruments more rewarding to play.


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## NeuroticFox92 (Apr 6, 2015)

I'm not sure there's truly a universally easy instrument, as even a recorder will require practice (And I personally couldn't play one to save my life), and add to the fact that people learn at different paces and have different experiences with instruments so what might be easy to them may be difficult to you and vice versa. For example, guitar is easy for me, bass is easy, but drums are deceptive. They look easy, but you have to have impeccable rhythm. 

Bottom line, pick up an instrument you want to play, and practice. That's what I did, and I think I'm decent at most of what I play.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Apr 6, 2015)

Kazoo. Final answer.


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## Jabberwocky (Apr 6, 2015)

you want easy go back to kindergarden and play the recorder :V

seriously tho woodwinds are hard to adjust to. piano can be neat if you know your music theory.


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## Biochemiphy (Apr 16, 2015)

Triangle!


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 16, 2015)

I think..
I've always been told bassoon and clarinet players can move to sax pretty easily, but I am SHIT on sax. I'm really bad at both sax, flute, and any clarinet below Alto.
I think my forte lies in double reeds, however. Something people often think is not easy XD


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## Evan of Phrygia (Apr 16, 2015)

Biochemiphy said:


> Triangle!


i wish. :c



FenrirDarkWolf said:


> I think..
> I've always been told bassoon and clarinet players can move to sax pretty easily, but I am SHIT on sax. I'm really bad at both sax, flute, and any clarinet below Alto.
> I think my forte lies in double reeds, however. Something people often think is not easy XD


I played saxophone enough that I think it's a bit of a deceptive instrument. The fingerings lay the best on the hand, until you get to sharp/flat heavy keys, where some motions are -entirely- on the thumbs, especially in extended range playing. Tone is also something that can be difficult to develop, but it's also true that the quality of your instrument can heavily affect the quality of your playing moreso than most other instruments on the saxophone, especially when comparing rubber pieces to plastic, what reed you use...given clarinet deals with this too. In general tenor sax is considered the easiest to get a handle on of the SATB family and I agree, however if you don't have some sort of pre-established tone on Alto it's easy to tell a less desirable tenor sound from a quality one (even more so on alto). Soprano sax is an entirely different instrument frankly; I could play a note and it would be out of tune in an entirely new way every single day.


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## Sylox (Apr 16, 2015)

It sure as hell isn't the trumpet, I can tell you that from first hand experience. I did find that it was fairly easy to learn the recorder thoguh.


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 16, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> I played saxophone enough that I think it's a bit of a deceptive instrument. The fingerings lay the best on the hand, until you get to sharp/flat heavy keys, where some motions are -entirely- on the thumbs, especially in extended range playing. Tone is also something that can be difficult to develop, but it's also true that the quality of your instrument can heavily affect the quality of your playing moreso than most other instruments on the saxophone, especially when comparing rubber pieces to plastic, what reed you use...given clarinet deals with this too. In general tenor sax is considered the easiest to get a handle on of the SATB family and I agree. Soprano sax is an entirely different instrument frankly; I could play a note and it would be out of tune in an entirely new way every single day.



Sounds like bassoon xD
Once you get past basic middle and natural notes, a lot of the other notes rely on thumb movements. More the left thumb than the right thumb.
Also half hole fingerings are the devil!


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## X_Joshi_X (Apr 16, 2015)

Not guitar.
Definitly not.


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## Evan of Phrygia (Apr 16, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> Sounds like bassoon xD
> Once you get past basic middle and natural notes, a lot of the other notes rely on thumb movements. More the left thumb than the right thumb.
> Also half hole fingerings are the devil!


man i'm looking forward to bassoon

and while responding to this particular comment with that seems passive aggressive, i really do love the bassoon and really wanna play it, even if i have to break my thumb


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## Ahkrin Descol (Apr 16, 2015)

Why not give the harmonica a whirl?  Cheap to get your hands on a decent one and can even be played alongside other instruments once you get the hang of it.


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 16, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> man i'm looking forward to bassoon
> 
> and while responding to this particular comment with that seems passive aggressive, i really do love the bassoon and really wanna play it, even if i have to break my thumb



I was told by my sax friend that the fingers for bassoon are kinda like the fingers for sax. (I never did learn any comparisons between bassoon and others because I'm self taught xD)
I really do love bassoon tho, and it'd be my preferred instrument for professionalist things.


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## Evan of Phrygia (Apr 16, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> I was told by my sax friend that the fingers for bassoon are kinda like the fingers for sax. (I never did learn any comparisons between bassoon and others because I'm self taught xD)
> I really do love bassoon tho, and it'd be my preferred instrument for professionalist things.


yeah, for the most part woodwind fingerings are variations on the same idea as far as i can tell which makes it pretty easy. i didn't know anything about bass clarinet but goofing around on it i was able to make some accurate inferences about the fingerings relatively quickly. 

flute though...


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 16, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> yeah, for the most part woodwind fingerings are variations on the same idea as far as i can tell which makes it pretty easy. i didn't know anything about bass clarinet but goofing around on it i was able to make some accurate inferences about the fingerings relatively quickly.
> 
> flute though...



All clarinets have the same fingerings hun 
Ye, flute is a weirdo instrument XD


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## Evan of Phrygia (Apr 16, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> All clarinets have the same fingerings hun
> Ye, flute is a weirdo instrument XD


yeah yeah, i just mean transitioning from sax to clarinet. I've never played a Bb Clarinet (and almost deep down want to ask to play bass clarinet for my classes instead [even though that's not an option]).

it's like...i've started to realize the extremes take the most air. Flutes take gallons, as do tubas. French Horns need air, yes, but nowhere near as much and can produce way longer sustains


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 16, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> yeah yeah, i just mean transitioning from sax to clarinet. I've never played a Bb Clarinet (and almost deep down want to ask to play bass clarinet for my classes instead [even though that's not an option]).
> 
> it's like...i've started to realize the extremes take the most air. Flutes take gallons, as do tubas. French Horns need air, yes, but nowhere near as much and can produce way longer sustains



Oboe takes a lot more air to play than bassoon.
But English horn needs more than bassoon, but less than oboe.


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## Shadow Jaeger (Apr 18, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> Oboe takes a lot more air to play than bassoon.
> But English horn needs more than bassoon, but less than oboe.



Question from a guy who has never touched any of the instruments stated above...don't most of these instruments require a rising breath pressure?


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 18, 2015)

Shadow Jaeger said:


> Question from a guy who has never touched any of the instruments stated above...don't most of these instruments require a rising breath pressure?



I'm fairly sure most instruments do, not just double reeds.


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## Shadow Jaeger (Apr 18, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> I'm fairly sure most instruments do, not just double reeds.



Ah ok....I'm not the most educated when it comes to wind instruments


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 18, 2015)

Shadow Jaeger said:


> Ah ok....I'm not the most educated when it comes to wind instruments



I'll teach you how to blow ;3


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## Shadow Jaeger (Apr 18, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> I'll teach you how to blow ;3



then we shall increase the preassure of blowing my trombone!!!
Then we shall get your tuba and blow hard for some good low hoot and toots ;3 :V 
(hey, sexualised instruments inuendos)


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 18, 2015)

Shadow Jaeger said:


> then we shall increase the preassure of blowing my trombone!!!
> Then we shall get your tuba and blow hard for some good low hoot and toots ;3 :V
> (hey, sexualised instruments inuendos)



It seems to be a required course for all musicians.


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## Shadow Jaeger (Apr 18, 2015)

anyway back to the main point playing any instrument can have its difficulties. Take my ocarina playing for example...
Link hero of hyrule, is so good with his ocarina he can play at 88 mph, can create 1.21 gigawattz and set of his flux capacitor and go into  a link to the past (bttf reference) 

Melody http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Melody_(movie) a girl with the power of orbs can use her ocarina to heal and calm powerful pokemon

What can i do with mine? Do a half decent attempt at the duel song in the good the bad and the ugly and then kinda fail because i keep playing too flat. Despite being an instrument that is considered easy it can still be a rather tricky thing to get done properly especially if like me you start with no knowledge on how to play it properly, i never knew about breath pressure, articulation and the angle the instrument is held and how to hold one properly. 

What I'm trying to say is even if you choose something 'easy' don't expect it to be completely a walk in a park because your still going to find some difficulty.


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## Evan of Phrygia (Apr 18, 2015)

FenrirDarkWolf said:


> Oboe takes a lot more air to play than bassoon.
> But English horn needs more than bassoon, but less than oboe.


That's about what I mean though. Bassoon is about where a baritone sax in regards to range and size, so the air requirements are about equivalent.

Fuck oboe.


I think the only instruments that are actually easy are instruments designed to be accessible for children. This would be Orff instruments, children's toys, headless tambourines, and some harmonicas. Most of these instruments negate the most complicated aspects of the instrument, use cheaper materials or shrink the instrument to be accessible for small hands, or (the most common) use a diatonic range rather than a chromatic one (some notes instead of all), meaning that the only way a child would hear something "wrong" is if they figured out how to play the Locrian mode (and even then, some are pentatonic [an even more particular set of notes that doesn't resolve or have tension] anyways, so even that isn't present). The design of these instruments is -specifically- designed for ease of access, or do not have the components necessary to attempt complex literature.


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## FenrirDarkWolf (Apr 18, 2015)

Evan of Phrygia said:


> Fuck oboe.



PRAISE JESUS
I prefer English horn c:


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## LegitWaterfall (Apr 18, 2015)

I find ukulele the easiest to play, in my views. Four strings, and you just have to know what you want to play. However, there is more to it than knowing chords. It's very important to master strumming and chord transition.

Well, this goes for any string instrument, but I've yet to explore others.


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## Maugryph (Apr 20, 2015)

I think clapping your hands could be a easy instrument and it's even portable


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## Namba (Apr 24, 2015)

The motherfucking kazoo. Too bad it's the most abrasive to the senses out of all other instruments.


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## Luciaen (May 11, 2015)

I would agree that sax is incredibly easy to play. I played through highschool, and never practiced the thing. Had decent results because there is only muscle memory, and fingerings to learn. I never got into any extended techniques because I didn't take it beyond high school. I honestly think drumming would be one of the hardest instruments to play reliably well. Simply because developing a strong sense of rhythm that you can keep in time while playing with other people who aren't playing the same rhythm as you are. Although that could be because I don't have a super great sense of rhythm yet. 

I am learning guitar right now, and it is really hard. Learning to sing stuff over top of different guitar rhythms is maddeningly difficult x_x. I also did a bunch of piano, and learning to separate the hands and do separate things at once is difficult. I still need to like, switch brain modes and go "TWO THINGS AT ONCE!" and kinda plunk through stuff real slow.

Someone said singing is easy because you either have it or you don't, and I would definitely disagree. I study voice at university, and I couldn't sing very well before, but I took lessons, and now I'm pretty darn good at it. It's something you can learn to do with a lot of practice, like any instrument. There are some mental switches because good singing is counter intuitive to how your body wants to automatically make the sounds. Gotta physically train yourself in the same kind of muscle memory way that you do with other instruments. 

Easiest? Woodwinds, and some brass like the trumpet. Hardest? Probably violin. It takes on average several years longer to develop a good violin player than a good wind player, according to stats at my school.


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