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Tansy Group: Members Posts: 416 Joined: April 2005 Posted: July 16 2005, 04:22 Which instrument/instruments would you say would be the most challenging to learn how to play? I'm just asking in general here as obviously opinions will be different. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 16 2005, 17:49 The piano. It is generally considered the most difficult instrument to play properly. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Tansy Group: Members Posts: 416 Joined: April 2005 Posted: July 17 2005, 08:17 I have been able to play piano by ear since I was a young child(can't remember when exactly a tune came out of it). A few years later it had to be sold(taking up too much space in the home).Anyway,apart from being sent to piano lessons with the most horrendous lady imaginable(complete rebellion & reports to my parents of them sending her the child from hell ect) .That was the end of that! all other life happened(as it does) so,never carried on with the piano.Musical instruments have always continued to fascinate me though & I cannot pass a music store by without at least gazing at the window contents for ages(very sad isn't it?like a big kid at a candy shop)! Back to top

Jeremy Group: Members Posts: 56 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: July 17 2005, 22:27 I kinda think instruments that you have to worry about tuning as well as technique are more difficult to play, there's a lot of technique with the piano but at least all your notes are there. Put it this way, there's a lot more sweat pouring off with a Paganini violin concerto than with a Rachmaninov piano concerto! I play a lot of the old piano but what a virtuoso does with the fiddle defies belief - double the job in MHO. Simple answer - the Didjeridoo, once you've learnt to breath in and out at the same time it's a doddle. -------------- How can they NOT like my music! Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: July 17 2005, 23:03 Theremin? Back to top

Luca Group: Members Posts: 84 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: July 18 2005, 02:38 I disagree with the Piano being most difficult since there is no physical contact with the strings to make the sound - even a toddler can get a nice tone out of a good piano even if they arnt doing anything 'musical' with it. Compared to perhaps a guiatr or violin where you have to hold the strings its easier in that respect. Also there is no real physical drain playing piano unlike brass/woodwind where you have to blow. I think electric guitar (especially distorted) is one of the hardest things to play and make sound good since all the mistakes are amplifyed. Melodian is also pretty tough.. i dont get all the buttons :s In terms of learning how to play... well it has to be the violin!  It takes years before you begin to stop sounding like you are murdering cat which means that your less likley to practice/ enjoy practicing. Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: July 18 2005, 03:03 I'm talking from a completely non-musical perspective here. This is just what I imagine must be difficult, perhaps the musicians here could correct me. I've always thought the double bass must be hard to play. It's so darn huge. I always feel sorry for the double bassist in the school band, having to carry it everywhere... Having to huff and puff all day into a tuba can't be pleasant either. Luca mentioned that you sound horrendous with a violin until you get experienced; I think the trombone might have a similar problem. There aren't any markers on the slide, how do you know how far to slide it? Practice, of course, but you'll be out of tune until you figure it out, I suppose. I'm also thinking the bagpipes; there's a lot of pipes and bags there and I don't know what they do. Or the piano accordion, surely they don't need all those buttons?   Am I even slightly correct with any of these, or is there a simple trick to these instruments that I don't know about because I've never even held any of them? -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Jeremy Group: Members Posts: 56 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: July 18 2005, 05:38 The double bass isn't that bad to learn,but yeah, you do need good strong hands and forearms for position work and bowing, but you get these the more you play. The size of the instrument has an upside as well as a downside. Downside= lugging it around between gigs. Upside = something to lean against when counting insane 120+ bars of rest in a symphony. Jazz is great, generally no bowing, just pizz. A good bass is expensive as well, but you're always in demand! -------------- How can they NOT like my music! Back to top

Tansy Group: Members Posts: 416 Joined: April 2005 Posted: July 18 2005, 05:44 Thanks to all that have posted comments on this subject.I'm learning so much from them eg:didn't know what a theremin was until it was mentioned here.This led to my having to look at a website & seems a bit scary after learning they're played without having to actually touch the instrument.There are times when you can feel as if you are part of an instrument and vice/versa & so by playing something where no physical contact is involved would surely take this away? But,of course this is just a thought & may be different in reality. I'd always imagined the trombone to be quite difficult to play with any profficiency also,violin,didgeridoo(hadn't thought of that one) but it must rank up there for refining the technique described in order to play it. Bagpipes,I absolutely love ( have heard people refer to them as agony bags-they just can't appreciate a really unique sound when they hear it)! This instrument has got to be a real trial to learn how to play because like some it would make a most horrendous racket in the hands of the unskilled for a start-unlike others that can at least be made to sound half decent in the hands of a novice.Then,getting a sound at all must be a struggle & a half. Re:the double bass-made me laugh to be reminded of that - one of my brothers friends plays this proffessionaly & often comes to visit when he's not gigging ect.It all goes on in my kitchen & hallway(good acoustics there) all good fun - not to mention the unforgettable sight of the great instrument being hauled along my garden path If you can play guitar-should then be able to get on with a mandolin,banjo ect just as playing piano keys is as playing keyboards,xylophone ect.And same for woodwind instruments? Back to top

familyjules Group: Members Posts: 1190 Joined: May 2004 Posted: July 18 2005, 06:26 I've heard that the pedal steel guitar is an absolute b*tch to play! Jules -------------- I like beer and I like cheese Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: July 18 2005, 08:09 I remember reading something about the violin and the oboé being the most difficult instruments in the world to play. I don't doubt it for a second. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

familyjules Group: Members Posts: 1190 Joined: May 2004 Posted: July 18 2005, 09:41 Quote (Sir Mustapha @ July 18 2005, 08:09) I remember reading something about the violin and the oboé being the most difficult instruments in the world to play. I don't doubt it for a second. Heh.  I attempted both of those instruments at school and then got hopelessly lost.  Maybe I should have aimed lower! Jules -------------- I like beer and I like cheese Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: July 18 2005, 13:48 I'd say the guitar is a lot harder than the piano. Just consider what is involved to get just one good note out of either instrument. Pianos don't need tuning that often, so it can be assumed the piano is in tune. Hit key with finger. There, you've got a good note. With the guitar, you almost certainly have to tune the guitar first. Then you have to figure out the finger positions on the frets, and then you have to pick/strum/etc the exact right place with the other hand. Then you've got that good note. -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

Craig Evans Group: Members Posts: 256 Joined: Sep. 2004 Posted: July 18 2005, 13:52 Quote (tansy @ July 18 2005, 05:44) Bagpipes,I absolutely love I absolutely agree with you Tansy.     -------------- "It is good to be on Horseback" - Mike Oldfield "On Horseback" "(Insert "The Thunderstorm" here)" Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: July 18 2005, 14:51 There's a good discussion. I'd say that, definitely, the guitar is much harder to start playing than the piano, just for what Hiawatha described. It's dang hard, indeed, to make the guitar sound decent. However, I'd say the piano is definitely harder to improve on. I mean, once you figured out how to play chords on a guitar and switch them quickly, you can play dozens of songs already. Riffs come easily, too. I was able to play "Wish You Were Here" just by messing around with a guitar for a while. But on a piano, you'll have to discipline your hands to play different things at the same time, playing two octave scales making your fingers go under and over each other all the time without tying them into a knot, learn to play with expression (it's probably what I have the most trouble with), and everything. I might be wrong, though. I'm only saying what I know. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

ktran Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: May 2003 Posted: July 18 2005, 15:27 I think MO himself said something about the only instrument he's tried to learn to play and given up on being the violin, and that the hardest part about learning to play the violin is having to put up with the sound of yourself learning to play the violin. I can definitely concur. As a guitar player who's had moderate success hacking around on piano and woodwinds, I can get around the fifth-interval string spacing with little problem, but learning to bow properly seems to be this insurmountable task to me, with all of the horrible squeaking noises that come with it. And then there's the lack of chromatic tuning and intonation that players of most other instruments take for granted. Ugh. I can't help but think though, that I'm trying to sound like a violin/viola/cello when I'm using my e-bow, or going after that soft distorted sound between overdrive and full-out distortion... Guitar players have bowed instrument envy, I suppose ;-) -------------- Khoa Tran www.suspendedseconds.ca Back to top

Tansy Group: Members Posts: 416 Joined: April 2005 Posted: July 19 2005, 02:47 Saw a video of Wonderful Land with MO playing the violin.I'ts interesting to learn that he'd commented re:finding this instrument a struggle to master.I have been told that a music student once asked 12 teachers what they thought to be the most difficult instrument to play & 9 of them said it was the violin. A lot of mentions also for oboe - french horn & tuba too. What about the harp & sitar ? Back to top

familyjules Group: Members Posts: 1190 Joined: May 2004 Posted: July 19 2005, 04:50 Quote (tansy @ July 19 2005, 02:47) Saw a video of Wonderful Land with MO playing the violin. What about the harp & sitar ? Correction - Mike was miming playing a violin! And yes, I'd have thought that the sitar would take years and years of practice to sound any good. Jules -------------- I like beer and I like cheese Back to top

Jeremy Group: Members Posts: 56 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: July 19 2005, 06:34 Re: Wonderful Land - Not only was he miming that voilin but it was also to his guitar sound !! - and don't be fooled by his cello and french horn playing in the same vid. Sorry to get off the topic, won't happen again. -------------- How can they NOT like my music! Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 19 2005, 10:48 My opinion on the piano above was of course based on the fact that it's my instrument, and that it took me more than fifteen years of practice to play full pieces - "full" meant as pieces including melody, chords and accompaniment - and that's why I switched to electronic keyboards. But I still enjoy playing real piano a lot, because its sound is inimitable. @ Holger: I don't think that the theremin is a musical instrument - the tannerin is, and it's very easy to play. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

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