i'd have to say the violin.

technique is vital and it takes years to master touch. a very intricate instrument.

i would say guitar...ive only tried it for like 5 minutes but after that i was convinced that it is the hardest instrument to learn lol :lol:

ya string instruments are the hardest no doubt...UNLESS your ears are already trained, and that you have a strong self learning skill. or else there's no way you can self learn a string instrument, like u can on other instruments. Um...*thinking* :think: ya i rest my case. :)

people down at the other forums say guitar/bass are among the easiest ;)
i think people are just put off by it because you need to create a tune out of those few strings and frets. they can be very versatile at times.

the oboe and the french horn are also pretty brutal to learn and play.

I would have to say piano. I mean, for one you are playing two different sets of melody at once. Not to mention that each hand is can play several notes at once, and also syncopation can be tricky. On other instruments, its just one note. Trumpet, baritone, french horn, all that stuff is easy to do once you get it down. Piano can be unbelievably hard. And sight reading can be difficult also, when you are presented with so many notes at once to comprehend their value and play them. In other instruments, its just one.

I wish there was someone famous who's played the majority of the instruments, so s/he would be in the best position to tell us which one is the hardest to learn, haha.

I may qualify as someone who plays a lot of instruments. I've tried almost all of them and succeeded at most (to an extent). I'd say that the heardest instrument to sound good on would be a Bassoon and the French Horn is the hardest to play because you need extremely good ears. Piano is hardest to sight read on and guitar is only hard to play if you're actually trying to read sheet music or play extremely complex stuff.

That's an easy one! It's the violin. You have to worry about so many things at once just to make a good sound, which is so annoying to even bother with! Plus, you have to do a thing called shifting, which is where you move your fingers to a lower part on a violin, and you need to do that exactly if you want to play a song well. Well, a bass can follow under an even harder instrument to learn because they have to use their whole hand when they shift higher on the bass. :yawn:

I'm no expert, but isn't the harp supposed to be one of the hardest instruments to learn?

I tried three instruments: Trombone, piano and Guitar.

Overall, piano was the most difficult to learn for me. I have a lot of difficulty to "deconnect" my two hands (there is always one who wants to do the same thing than the other :( ).

Trombone is not that difficult to first learn. That's a little bit of technique, the big challenge with trombone is to have a beautiful sound, quite hard.

Even if I didn't play guitar that much, I must say I didn't have a lot of difficulty to learn it. It's a medium difficulty one :P

Uh, no.

It has been commonly accepted that the French horn is the most difficult instrument to play.

Originally posted by Moebius@Jul 15 2004, 03:27 PM
Uh, no.

It has been commonly accepted that the French horn is the most difficult instrument to play.
Uh no What?

I was talking about the instruments I had to learn.

And I would surely not find the french horn harder than piano since I've played trombone for 5 years.

There is no absolute "most difficult instrument to play"

I dunno about hardest to play, but I think it's very difficult to actually make the violin sound good... :P

hmmm... maybe double bass? You'd be so busy trying to make sure it doesn't topple over. And the strings are so THICK and hard to hold down.

I don't think French horn is that difficult. I mean, I've played tumpet for nearly 7 years, and when I picked up the french horn, it was nearly the same as playing, except for a few weird ways of doing the key. And if FH is about as hard as the trumpet, and I have been playing piano for as long as I have played trumpet, then piano is the harder than FH.

Originally posted by Okiyah@Jul 15 2004, 05:30 PM
Uh no What?

I was talking about the instruments I had to learn.

And I would surely not find the french horn harder than piano since I've played trombone for 5 years.

There is no absolute "most difficult instrument to play"
Well, I can't find a viable URL as a source for this at the moment, but I swear that I -did- read in a Guinness Book of World Records edition that the French horn -is- the most difficult instrument to play.

http://datadragon.com/education/instruments/brass.shtml
http://www.kayenterprises.com/oldweb/page5.html
http://www.geocities.com/viennaonline/inst/is0400.html

Out of all the instruments that I've played, it has to be the bassoon. Even though I still play it I have difficulties. Hitting extreme pitches (high mostly) is difficult and my fingers get mixed up sometimes X_X .

The hardest group of instruments to play is in low brass and woodwinds.

The hardest instrument to play is the tuba.. simply because to sustain a note in-tune for more that 2 min. is difficult enough.

it depends what you mean by "learn"

there are instruments that are hard to learn, and some that are hard to master.

If you just look at the flute and the clarinet. The flute is very hard to learn. It takes some people weeks to even learn how to make a sound, while the clarinet is fairly easy to pick up. After they are learned, however, the flute has very few tricks, and it's not that difficult to learn the highest and lowest notes, whereas the clarinet becomes a huge mofo once you have to go up into the highst octaves (or even over the break at first)

to the comment about harp being difficult: They say a harpist spends half their life playing and half their life tuning. I'm not sure if it's difficult, or just a pain in the ass :lol:

I think the french horn must be the hardest, because I see dedicated and experienced french horners (?) who struggle with simple melodies that would be a cinch on the instruments I play.

can't remember who, but some guy did say

'piano is the easiest instrument to learn, and hardest to master'

trombone...

I think any brass instrument is hard to play. Even if it's easy to learn, you have to really strengthen your lips and those muscles to not only play high, but also to play for a longer duration

As mentioned in the "King of Instruments" thread, The flute is difficult in the respect that the pitch is very fragile. Basically, a flute goes flat in the low octave, and sharp in the high octave. Also, it goes flat when you play piano, and sharp when you play forte (and did I mention that Db is NEVER in tune X_X )

In order to compensate for this, you need to be adjusting you airpseed, direction, and the position of your jaw constantly (I'm not at that stage yet XD )

flute = hard to learn, but easy once you get the hang of it, but then hard to master

Somehow, I totally agree with what Alphonse said. :P But I heard the violin's really really hard. That makes me want to learn it. :D

I think the hardest wind instruments to play are the oboe, piccolo, and french horn.

The hardest chamber instrument I think is Cello...or Violin...

Maybe...harps? O_O

the hardest instrument that i have tried is..the french horn X_X

it really depends, some ppl say piano is hard, and some say guitar is
since i've played piano for so long, it's hard for me to play guitar cuz for 2 reasons
1) i have piano hands, they&#39;re too short =&#092; so it&#39;s really hard for me to play chords like F <_<
2) in fear of getting caluses cuz that would ruin my piano skills =_= cuz then it&#39;s harder to play softer on really good songs which has given me that reputation

I dunno how u can say piano is the hardest thing to play XD Its easyy :P Its even easier, if you can type fast (on the "computer" keyboard ^_^) .. I&#39;ve given up getting to a higher grade on the piano.. i&#39;m pretty much above the level i wanted to be 8 years ago :) Gonna go learn how to play the Guitar when school starts (Naruto Music Here I Come&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;) ... The Keyboard can pretty much play all instruments, and the good makes like Roland, Yamaha and so on give realistic sounds ^_^ So add about 5 keyboards, and you&#39;ll have yourself an orchestra. get yourself a guitar player, a bass player and a drumer, and your a mozart ^_^

Originally posted by Alphonse@Jul 15 2004, 05:36 AM
I wish there was someone famous who&#39;s played the majority of the instruments, so s/he would be in the best position to tell us which one is the hardest to learn, haha.
violin - hard to learn and play
F horn - hard to learn, easier once you get the hang of it
piano - easy...

trombone? lol... cuz it&#39;s uh.. uh.. <.<>.> hard.

I&#39;ve learnt flute, piano and violin before...

violin is definately hard. To get it in tune and get used to the fingerings and position shifting is hard enough. It doesn&#39;t have frets like guitar, so the position of fingers are all by experience and practice.

Originally posted by Sinbios@Aug 9 2004, 08:17 PM
F horn - hard to learn, easier once you get the hang of it

f horn is quite difficult... I played it waaaaay back (7th grade?). Fingering wasn&#39;t too bad (since I played the trumpet, it was just a matter of training my left hand to do what the right hand did and learn a few extra fingerings), but the mouthpiece is even tighter than that of a trumpet. Requires a really strong ombosure. (spelling is wrong)

at first I thought you had to be amberdextrus to play the piano but now I find it well easy to play. It took loads of training and determination to do it but I can play it. Id have to say violin

For me, the hardest instrument would have been the saxophone. I just can&#39;t get a good tone out of it, no matter what I do. -_-

Hm...for me it would have to be the flute (even though ive played it since 2nd grade) just becuase i&#39;ve had to stop playing for the past 3 years due to other things taking priority in my life, so now when im trying to re-learn, i just cant get that quailty sound i used to.

Originally posted by michael@Aug 12 2004, 02:42 PM
For me, the hardest instrument would have been the saxophone. I just can&#39;t get a good tone out of it, no matter what I do. -_-
What&#39;s the problem with your tone? I&#39;ve been playing Sax for a good while now and I played semi-professionally for a year so I may be able to help.

I don&#39;t know. I keep sounding like I honking a horn (well, technically...). Also, I have the hardest time hitting the low notes. For example, on the Tenor, I can&#39;t hit anything (that sounds good) below middle G, which is smack in the middle of the scale. So I can&#39;t even play the scale properly. Anything on the high end is cake for me though.

After thinking about it more, I think the piano is still the hardest instrument to master. Easy to learn, difficult to become great at.

Violin - fingerings intonations and positioning are tough X_X the bow takes heaps of skill to play beautifully too

hmmm Well I play several instruments: oboe, clarinet, piano and i&#39;ve tried bassoon for a lil while. I&#39;d have to say oboe is the most challenging out of what I play because of how difficult it is to keep a good tone. Clarinet is not that hard, I&#39;ve been playing for 7-8 years now and i remember the only hard thing to get used to when i started was going to high notes which now is absolutley nothing special. Piano is not hard just takes a lot of practice. But I tried guitar and I just don&#39;t understand how its playable XD so hard&#33;

violin...that position hurts&#33;&#33;&#33; and every thing matters if u wasnt to play well...like intunation...bowing( i sometimes end up bowing on the fingerboard...) ect...

But I tried guitar and I just don&#39;t understand how its playable so hard&#33;


actually playing guitar is as easy as playing a piano, because it&#39;s not a typical string instrument. It has fix notes like piano, you just need to do what position for what note. unlike violin where you have the listen and find the notes by using your ears.

not really sure if im an expert but,
played guitar for about 1.5 years, baritone horn for about 7 years, trombone for 3, trumpet for 2, piano for about 2,

Brass instruments are pretty hard, have to get your lip tight/loose to hit the high and low notes, have to put accent on the notes, very hard instruemtns to learn,
Just read someone said tuba was hardest, to me it was quite easy to pick up being a lower brass, quite heavy though :lol:

Piano, to me is the easier already reading treble and bass it wasnt that hard to get a hang of it, just like every instrument it takes practice to become good, get each hand to play seperate melodies is quite hard and frustrating at times..

Guitar, another very hard instrument, pretty annoying to switch from treble to tab in your mind, gottta work up some callisses on your hands other wise youll get some mean blisters, quite a challenge to go from chord to choro especially if your playing bared cords (big strain on your fingers), to even try pinch harmonics and other such feats take years of practice....

Overall , to me each instrument has its well to put it, is easy in someway, yet there alll are hard....

The organ is much more difficult than the piano. Most pianists fail miserably when trying to play the simplest hymn on the organ. Some of that has to do with differance in technique, but the organ is just much more demanding. Plus you play very ornate passages with you&#39;re feet while using both of your hands. So, it&#39;s easily the most difficult in respect to the sheer magnitude of what you&#39;re playing. Go look at some of Bach&#39;s organ fugues. It&#39;ll make you cry.
However, the bowed instruments are more difficult to get the right note. I really struggled with the cello for a while. I haven&#39;t played the French Horn, but the major problem I had with the trumpet was the small mouthpiece, so I can believe it&#39;s hard.

i think that string insturments are the eziest actually. brass insturments are harder becuz of hitting high notes. it takes alot longer to perfect brass tone with triple tonguing and all of that other stuff.

if u really like violin or something similar, i dont suggest quitting for a year cuz u pretty much forget everything. i used to be 2nd chair in my orchestra at school and after a year i couldnt even play a scale -_-

edit - sp

i agree with (_____) i forgot... i think the harp is the hardest

Hmm...Based on what I&#39;ve listened from band, french horn can be hard, as many of you have said. I&#39;ve rarely heard them play well. Also, from what experience I got from playing three minutes on a double bass(contrabass), I&#39;d call that a difficult string instrument. I couldn&#39;t get much experience before the orchestra teacher caught me. Guitar...how can people play those? Also, I think piano can be hard. Sight reading would be a pain as someone mentioned already. Clarinet can be easy, but when you&#39;re playing a song with a lot of chromatic notes, it&#39;s like playing another instrument...so many alternate fingerings @_@ Also, getting a good sound out of any tounged instrument is hard. If you&#39;re playing a lot of fast notes and you&#39;re tounging technique isn&#39;t too good, then it&#39;ll sound like pppp.

I want to sit back and listen to how horrible the 6th grade band might be XD

violin...it&#39;ll have to be the violin for me....

hate the fact that it hurts the tip of my fingers...usually after half an hour of practice, i cannot feel the tips of my left hand...

besides, i sound like a cat screetching for life...lol :neko:

:neko: Well i think the hardest would be the chinese harp. It just like a violin but with WAYYYYYYYY more strings.....(but maybe it&#39;s just me cuz i play the violin soo....)

ok...i think the hardest instrument to learn it the guitar...you have to memorize all these chords and when you hold the frets down it hurts ur fingers...ive tried but my fingers got marks and stuff....one day ill try again and learn it....i only no the c chord ne ways&#33; so it is guitar for me... ^_^

^ Pish. Save us from chord memorization. What instruments have you tried besides the guitar?

Originally posted by Anime Music Fan@Oct 9 2004, 08:00 PM
ok...i think the hardest instrument to learn it the guitar...you have to memorize all these chords and when you hold the frets down it hurts ur fingers...ive tried but my fingers got marks and stuff....one day ill try again and learn it....i only no the c chord ne ways&#33; so it is guitar for me... ^_^
:/ That&#39;s no excuse for labeling it the hardest instrument.

hehe, let him have his own opinion~~

I think it&#39;s the violin, because I&#39;m about to take my violin exam and I realized it&#39;s hard to get a nice sound out of the violin.... depends on the violin, but also on the technique... my right hand refuses to play the violin nicely for me... =.=

I think piano is hardest to learn its been almost 4 years now and i can only play a little more than intermediate songs

I&#39;ve only really learnt the piano, so its hard for me to say which is the hardest. On first glance, I do think that the keyboard instruments are harder to learn in comparison with the woodwind, string, percussion and brass instruments. I mean, you&#39;re managing two different melodies, with both hands and its fingers needing to develop a kind of &#39;independence&#39;. With the other instruments, both your hands are needed in unison to create the sound desired (except the drum and xylophone, thats all i can think of right now) while both hands on a keyboard are off doing their own special thing.

Purely what I think.

although on the piano it seems that you are playing two different tunes...they still have to work together in order for the music to sound....it is not that difficult to grasp it until you know the basics in making melody tuneful and know thats what its suppose to be&#33;&#33;

Perhaps. Lets just agree that piano is the hardest to sight read then, because you need to decipher both staves quickly and get your fingering right.

Gets downright messy.

Or, if you&#39;re playing the organ, it&#39;s three staves. Organ is harder to sight-read.

Ohh yeahh, sorry. I meant the keyboard family in general.

The Triangle....

Seriously, it all depends on your personal attributes, just look at the variety of responses in this topic.

The piano would be hard if you had no fingers (or missing a few/one)....

Violin would be hard if you&#39;ve only got one arm...

Any woodwind/brass instrument would be hard if you are suffering from a severe case of athsma...

Mmm....ignore my post, i&#39;m just being stupid....

i&#39;d have to say piano or drums...

in both of these instruments u have to use both of ur hand and both of ur feet....and sometimes they have to do independent task at different intervals

Wouldn&#39;t you agree that keyboards are harder than drums but? Since you&#39;re using your fingers instead of just your hands?

Originally posted by zebra@Oct 30 2004, 04:36 PM
Wouldn&#39;t you agree that keyboards are harder than drums but? Since you&#39;re using your fingers instead of just your hands?
And you could also use your two feet, one on the sustaining pedal, the other on the soft pedal....

All four limbs.... :lol:

I once again point you to the organ. If you want to talk about using four limbs....

An organ is a keyboard, is it not?

I was responding to Derek. I totally agree with you.

I think violin is harder than the piano
It has more techniques that r quite hard to master
The violin really doesn&#39;t encourage you to play it when you start.
You get very fustrarated with the pitch and constant tuning
when the piano is so much easier to start with -_-

-.- yes i agree violins are much harder...

especially when u start learning it without piano basics haha...

kinda wierd really. It&#39;s really easy to learn other instruments when you start out on the piano. But mastering the piano is much harder, I think.

But i think wind instruments are really easy because you just have to get fingerings down, then you can easily sight read. But I haven&#39;t blown into a french horn, which everyone said was really hard soo...

And guitar isn&#39;t that hard when reading tab. I can&#39;t really play guitar reading regular music though.

I think that brass instruments are the hardest.

Brass is easier to play than violin. Violin is well known for being one of the hardest instruments. I think violin. Why? because....

1. tuning
2. bowing
3. techinique
4. position changing
5. it takes ages to get it out of the case

it took me like a year to get good at the violin for me. Now im going on my 5 year with it now.

hardest to easiest: TO LEARN
String instrument
Brass instrument
Woodwind
Keyboard

hardest to easiest: TO MASTER (or just be able to play most of the pieces with it)
Keyboard
String instrument
Brass instrument
Woodwind

I think you missed off percussion which should be at the bottom for the first and near the bottom to master for the other one. Personally I find the string instruments harder than the keyboard although sight-reading for keyboard is harder.

Is it me or are ALL drummers arrogant sods? I&#39;ve known a lot of drummers and 100% of them are like that. I hope someone can prove me wrong because I really have a grudge against them. :angry: :ph34r:

wow. its very diffrent for me.
piano came easy for me. i can learn a whole, 4-5 page song (and memorise it ) with in 1/2 hour.
guitar came easy too. along with all the guitar family instrument.
harp......hard
violin...confusing

so to sum it up for my needs: all piano and all keyboard like instrument (xylaphon [spelling] and so on) guitar family are easy for me. all the other strings are hard.

Violin *shudder from the fear of the name* :unsure:

5. it takes ages to get it out of the case


lol.

I have an urge to learn the violin now...

is violin really that hard to learn. I forget how it went when i started.

so to sum it up for my needs: all piano and all keyboard like instrument (xylaphon [spelling] and so on) guitar family are easy for me. all the other strings are hard.

Violin *shudder from the fear of the name*

i took piano as being a keyboard although it is technically a string instrument. Piano is naturally easy for me to play too as is for a lot of people as well. Guitar is quite easy but it looks very hard to master. Dreams-creation, why do you take so many instruments? your life must be music...

Plus nobody answered my drummer question so I assume they ARE arrogant sods. :whistle:

umm.....i think piano is kinda hard,but maybe i think that because im used to playing cello all the time. XD

I haf to say guitar but i&#39;m taking the class caz the teacher passes anyone caz hes cool =]

I would say violin

Plus nobody answered my drummer question so I assume they ARE arrogant sods.



I digress. Kappa seems like a cool dude. Maybe there should be a poll for this thread?

Thanks :cheers:&#33;

I think the hardest instrument to learn is the Tabla, but that&#39;s a very special instrument.
It depends on how often you practise and how much time you spend in learning the instrument.

I don&#39;t think there&#39;s an instrument which is hardest to learn. As Kappa said: It depends on how often you practise. And on how good your teacher is. Have a bad teacher and you will have problems to learn the instrument. You can&#39;t say "This is the hardest instrument to learn", every instrument has it&#39;s advantages and disadvantages in playing and learning it.

i took piano as being a keyboard although it is technically a string instrument. Piano is naturally easy for me to play too as is for a lot of people as well. Guitar is quite easy but it looks very hard to master. Dreams-creation, why do you take so many instruments? your life must be music...

Lol, yeah. the piano is procuction because it strikes the strings, but for some reason the harchicord isnt string. it isnt one because it is to simalar to the piano which is procution.
I want to play harp more but i can get one because it too damn expensive. oh, and i took guitar at school (yes, my school gives out lessons. its a class and counts to your grades.)

wow&#33; guitar during music classes&#33; My school only teaches the keyboard. Nobody learns anything though. I used to learn the recorder in primary school (like junior school for you americans). I hated them in our school orchestra because an orchestra comprising of mainly recorders suck big time&#33; WE only had two violinists though... :sweatdrop:

I play the keyboard and my mom plays the guitar and she let me try it.If you can read notes, playing the guitar is a lot easier.You already know what string makes what sounds.You just have to get used to strings instead of keys.

In other words:if you know how to play a piano ,you already know 60% of what you have to know for a guitar.

my parents aren&#39;t musical at all...
Is it that easy to learn?

To me, learning the violin is the most difficult. There&#39;s no definite placement of your fingers and to produce a perfect note takes much practise. Moreover, beginners will take a long time to learn to hold the bow properly. Oh, the strength you place on the bow is also crucial.

In my school, there&#39;s a sort of club (you know, here you have six hours and then there are optional clubs), in which you can learn something like Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Guitar, Bass or Drums for our Big Bands (which suck after 4 years of playing standart Swing ting-tingting-ting, by the way <_< ). For me, it&#39;s utterly hard to produce other sounds on a wind instrument that air or a multiphonic. They&#39;re damned hard.

@Stel: Sometimes it can be great to produce all the quarter-tones and stuff.

That&#39;s a really good opportunity. 6 hours of lessons or 6 periods? We never had that at my school. Our music groups are really good even though its a single sex school. Our string section isn&#39;t that strong though but then when have guys been better at strings than girls. :heh: My school can&#39;t afford spare instruments like that to practise on. <_<

I say the harp because you have as many strings as a piano and 7 pedals to deal with your feet.Also, it starts to make your fingers bleed easy. (believe me)

Im surprised since i dont really find any instrament hard. After you tell me the note names of th begning part of any instarment i can some make up songs by my self wether its hard ones or easy ones.

I think the sitar (indian) is hard to learn even though I haven&#39;t tried. Seven main, strings 20 movable frets&#33;&#33;

The flute when you have asthma and DON&#39;T use an inhailer. XD The flute takes up alot of air, and...well...it kinda sucks for me. XP The flute, though, HAS helped me with my asthma (kinda). ^_^

Originally posted by meim@May 30 2005, 05:55 AM
I think the sitar (indian) is hard to learn even though I haven&#39;t tried. Seven main, strings 20 movable frets&#33;&#33;
I agree, my uncle has this persian/Indian guitar.

How hard is it to learn Violin or Cello by yourself?

^ it shouldnt be hard. as long as you buy a beginners book and stuff, you&#39;ll learn. BUT, if you study by yourself, there might be some things you&#39;re doing wrong that you wont notice. so a teacher would be good.

ya just there arn&#39;t any cello teachers here in my town. And i really want to learn that instrument hahaha...

you don&#39;t have orchestra in you&#39;re school??? hmm...don&#39;t take lessons from teachers. they charge a whole lotta money. you should buy a book, but you should get the finger board taped to hit the right notes&#33; if you have a piano...and kna how to use it (i have not a single clue all i kna is A is with the doggy with the two black ears...i still don&#39;t kna what that means&#33;?&#33;). otherwise, get a tuner and tape em urself. (with colored tape of course...)

hahaha ya i live in a small town and im out of highschool. I got a keyboard I use it alot to tune my guitars. Tape on the fretboard haha thats pretty creative i guess haha... Ok now where do i go look for a cello there are no stores here in this desolate waste land i call home...

um...ebay??? :mellow:

ohh ya ahahahhaa

Originally posted by Elite666@Jul 15 2004, 07:35 AM
I may qualify as someone who plays a lot of instruments. I&#39;ve tried almost all of them and succeeded at most (to an extent). I&#39;d say that the heardest instrument to sound good on would be a Bassoon and the French Horn is the hardest to play because you need extremely good ears. Piano is hardest to sight read on and guitar is only hard to play if you&#39;re actually trying to read sheet music or play extremely complex stuff.
Any double reed instruments are pretty hard to keep from squeaking. Not like I would know thoguh. I just play the clarinet, the piano, and the trumpet. And yes, the piano is one of the hardest instruments to learn. Almost six years of practice and I can barely sightread... @_@

Edit: Asiansensation_wow, What they mean by the doggy with two black ears is that the A key (located 6 keys up from the middle C key)has two black keys next to it. It&#39;s a pretty dumb way to think about it, but I guess it hels for some people.

I may qualify as someone who plays a lot of instruments. I&#39;ve tried almost all of them and succeeded at most (to an extent). I&#39;d say that the heardest instrument to sound good on would be a Bassoon and the French Horn is the hardest to play because you need extremely good ears. Piano is hardest to sight read on and guitar is only hard to play if you&#39;re actually trying to read sheet music or play extremely complex stuff.

Hmm.. I think Piano is the easiest to sight-read. Eh, I guess thats the instrument I mainly play sooo.. I guess its easy for me since I practice like 5 hours a week.. I can&#39;t play the flute. I think thats the hardest. :heh:

the sousaphone.... gee :unsure:

Heh. I&#39;d love to go with the violin, since I know exactly how hard it is, what with shifting, bow articulation and other wonderful fun fun stuff... but I&#39;d have to say something else, because violin has come pretty easily to me.
I tried to teach myself guitar, under the assumption that it couldn&#39;t be much different than the violin. :doh: So I guess the hardest for me is guitar; because if I&#39;m going to play, I want to play well, with all sorts of nifty chords and classical fingerpicking styles.

But it really depends on the person; I know my violin pretty well, but guitar and all types of brass instruments are a mystery to me. I can make my way around a piano or a harpsichord, but hand me a flute, and I&#39;ll laugh at you.

oh my gosh. violin is SO easy. cello&#39;s are harder to play cuz you gotta shift more. and that&#39;s still easy&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; harp would be the hardest instrument.

Originally posted by AsianSensation_wow@Jun 18 2005, 06:55 PM
oh my gosh. violin is SO easy. cello&#39;s are harder to play cuz you gotta shift more. and that&#39;s still easy&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; harp would be the hardest instrument.
Well... I wouldn&#39;t go quite that far; once you get into professional levels, things get difficult. The violin (and cello) have a crapload of nitpicky details that you have to learn if you want to do it right, and it will take you a lifetime to become proficient. If it&#39;s just a hobby, then you&#39;re right; it is easy.

I know a few harpists... the harp is somewhat easier than the violin according to popular opinion, but it&#39;s still hard because of the number of strings. However, they&#39;re already set to a note; you pluck the note, you geta set sound rather than positioning your finger on a specific spot. At least, that&#39;s my understanding of the harp.

Again, though, it all depends on who you are and what your talents are.

in my opinion its the french horn

I would think it&#39;s the tuba. I have spent 5 years learning it, but the tone still sounds terrible. Also, it&#39;s the heaviest instrument i ever played. The piano was easy enough for me as it only requires sight reading.

Originally posted by Kalile Alako@Jun 18 2005, 10:28 PM
Well... I wouldn&#39;t go quite that far; once you get into professional levels, things get difficult. The violin (and cello) have a crapload of nitpicky details that you have to learn if you want to do it right, and it will take you a lifetime to become proficient. If it&#39;s just a hobby, then you&#39;re right; it is easy.

I know a few harpists... the harp is somewhat easier than the violin according to popular opinion, but it&#39;s still hard because of the number of strings. However, they&#39;re already set to a note; you pluck the note, you geta set sound rather than positioning your finger on a specific spot. At least, that&#39;s my understanding of the harp.

Again, though, it all depends on who you are and what your talents are.
i&#39;m in chamber strings, that&#39;s as high as you get in orchestra. i think the music is more fun than hard...just cuz you get to go so fast and your fingers go everywhere. :lol:

Well I still think violin is the hardest. I&#39;ve got an excuse cos I&#39;m a guy though and usually guys are meant to be rubbish at violins.

i think theharp would be the hardest considering the hugeamount of strings there are but i tried to learn the violin and that was hard for me too and an-kun is right about me beign rubbish at the violin

the harp isn&#39;t that hard, but it takes a while to get used to. i can play it, but not too well, &#39;cos my sister actaully practices, and i&#39;m not supposed to play it. I would have to go with Double Bass. There are no frets, unlike electric, and each note is so far apart...

Many brass intruments. . . The lipping is really hard. ><;

Oh&#33; Barri sax, that was the hardest and heaviest instument I have ever tried. My neck turned red and the mouth piece is huge plus you use all the breath on just half a measure.

Violin is /sorta/ easy. But it&#39;s harder if it&#39;s your first instrument. n.n;; But if you play to totally different instruments like Trumpet then Violin, I think it should be pretty hard. XD

Voice.


It takes YEARS to to achive a perfect vocal sound. Take it from someone who has been singing in chiors (and voice lessons) for about the past 11 or 12 years. Even if you DO have amazing talent and already have a good singing voice you still must keep prefecting and prefecting as your voice changes (especially for guys) and going from certain notes to other ones can be quite difficult. Your vocal chords are muscles and if you stop for a while, you will have to get back into streching them. Many people think they can sing really high without warming-up their voice, well...they can&#39;t.

Vocal music needs a VERY keen ear, plus you also need to breathe from your diaphram like you do with woodwinds and if you do a preformance WHILE singing, you still need to keep that same sound. Trust me, I was with my chior in Disneyland in Junior High and they worked us like crazy because we had to dance and sing.


But for other insrtuments:

Violin: Hard to master technique-wise, and if you&#39;ve never played a string instrument before, you&#39;re in for a world of hurt on your fingers XD;

Guitar: Pretty easy if you&#39;re learning by tabs, harder if you want to play classical guitar. The same thing as violin if you&#39;ve never played a guitar.

Piano: Easy to get down, hard to seriously master.

Psaltry: Type of midevil insrument, cousin to a Dulcimer. Psaltry is like...a lap violin, it&#39;s pretty odd.

Ocarina: EASY. Just need to use anough air.

Dulcimer: Like a lap guitar, will callous your fingers, very interesting though :3

Harp: Haven&#39;t played this much, but, geez, it cut up my fingers and was pretty complicated X_x;

Hell it has to be the drums. If you&#39;ve got the rhythm than you fuckin&#39; rock. Hahaha&#33; XD
Flute. I hate flute players, but hell, I can&#39;t play a single note, let alone blow across the frickin&#39; top of the mouth piece.
Trumpet and any brass intstruments. Gawd&#33;&#33;&#33;
I love the bass, so I&#39;ll stick to that...and the piano.

I personally say piano. It takes years to perfect and I&#39;ve tried to take it up multiple times before. Never was successful. But then again, how should I know how hard piano is when I play the oboe and the flute and I&#39;m soon going to be taking up guitar? :heh:

I'd say that violin is no doubt the hardest of all instruments, worrying about shifting, tone quality, position, accedently double or even tripple stopping,etc. Even when you become a decent player there is still an unbelievable amount of work to be done, just because a player can whip out some decent notes everywhere it doesn't mean the instrument is easy.
hmm out all non stringed instruments I'll go with oboe. The reed just makes the instrument incredible hard. Like on a string instrument just a slight change of position will cause of storm of disonance and you're always having to change your embouchure slighly for each note to get it into tune. To matters worse the reed goes bad rather swiftly even for professionaly players(about a new reed a week) which is also rather annoying cause each reed had a different position for each note on a reed. The reed dries out rather fast too. Man with all the money which was spent on reeds this past year I couldv'e bought a new viola!

I think piano is indeed hard but is mostly about getting your hands and feet to work efficantly as seperate entities.

Well I still think violin is the hardest. I've got an excuse cos I'm a guy though and usually guys are meant to be rubbish at violins.
Heh. The top violinists in the state of Nevada are all male. As are the top violists and cellists. And bassists... that's everyone! Darn it.

Anyway, the current reigning concert master in top orchestra for my school is a sophomore-becoming-Junior, who became first chair after all the seniors graduated this year. He's the most amazing high school player I've ever heard... he can seriously kick the tail of many professionals. (Well... perhaps my judgement is a tiny bit clouded since I'm completely and totally in love with him... but you get the point. He's really really good.)

...As usual, I ramble on and on to make a very short point; guys are too good at the violin. Usually the best, at higher levels. I mean... Itzak Perlman. YoYo Ma. Isaac Stern.

Mmm... I'd say, guitar is an easy one to learn, but to master it is something else. Look at those guys : Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc... now that's something, and I think it's really hard to get there. :heh:

Violin seems hard to learn too ^_^;

I've tried cello. I could only make squeeky sounds O-o; *have no idea of the correct technique*

I would consider the piano to be a hard instrument to play if not started at the right age... If you were taught since you were a child, pretty much it would'nt be that complicated to learn playing the piano since your bones have grown and adjusted and your fingers have adjusted and matured to the touch and feel of a piano. Try to compare a person who learned playing the piano since he/she was 6 yrs old for 20 years to a person who tried learning the piano when he/she was mature, let's say 15 yrs. old for 20 years too. I'd say growth is essential for every person who plays an instrument.

As for me, voilin was hell when I was learning the basics. I tried puttting scotch tape on the string just to indicate whether that area of the string was the do or re or mi...
But then, after a year I finally got the hold of that instrument and was able to play it normally... Even though my fingers were nearly bleeding to death for practincing like hell... So pretty much, it all depends on the person whether he/she really would like to play an instrument... But I'd say VIOLIN is the hardest... LOL...

stringed? violin

but i'd have to say Oboe hands down...

For me the Piano. Still having trouble. :heh:

Piano. But, I still love it, its so elegant and peaceful

For people who say the piano, would you mind stating why?

Organ would be similar, wouldn't it? You're using your feet also.

This may not count, But vocals are the hardest hands down. You may get the tones right, but your voice may soung like a cat in a blender. I was lucky enough to get a deeper voice for chants X=

god. i. hate. the. oboe.

god. i. hate. the. oboe.

Who doesn't? It sounds so... ARGH!!!

I have only played 2 instruments so far.. that is.. the trombone and oboe.. I did try a bit of bassoon and clarinet and flute.
I gotta say that the oboe is most difficult in my opinion because it's reed opening is the smallest compared to any wind instrument in the orchestra.. Besides.. there are lots of things one has to take note of (posture, embouchure, even the reed itself XD) before one can even create a decent sounding tone. A teacher is a must-have for this instrument.
Trombone's quite alright.. since it gets easier when u learn how to adjust your slide to harmonize with the rest of the section/band.
Yea.. That's what i think :lol:

Hmm.. well, i play the alto saxaphone, clarinet, piano and trumpet. But I would have to say the trumpet because it is quite hard to hit those higher notes and it is at times very intense on the airways. But then again after reading a lot of these posts, stringed instruments sound quite hard.

Ah... well, I currently play the piano and the violin. I have played the flute, guitar, recorder (scoff), and the harmonica (scoff).

Seriously, piano. First, I understand those who might say violin, but have you also played piano? If you have, and you still think violin is harder, then... ah... all right.
But, I think piano is harder because first off, the notes. There are the notes, rhythm, different clefs, different fingerings, dynamics, melodies, ritards... phrases... etc. in violin. Multiply that by two. And that's piano.

Seriously, piano. First, I understand those who might say violin, but have you also played piano? If you have, and you still think violin is harder, then... ah... all right.
But, I think piano is harder because first off, the notes. There are the notes, rhythm, different clefs, different fingerings, dynamics, melodies, ritards... phrases... etc. in violin. Multiply that by two. And that's piano.

Piano is hard, sure, it requires the dexterity of the fingers and wrists, requires different hands to do different things, plus the pedals, and two clefs.

However, violins are more subtle in their tonality. Things such as pressure, placement, and speed of the bow all affect your sound; piano's most noticable sound difference is the dynamics. In the violin, it's things like vibrato, harmonics, spicatto, double stops, etc. In piano, yes, your hands are doing different things at different times, sure. They're both playing keys, though. In string instruments, you have to not only focus on vibrato, fingering, switching positions, etc in your left hand, but the bow speed, placement on the strings, which string your playing, relaxing your bowing arm, etc etc etc, which is a completely different set of things. So, it is my belief that string instruments are harder than the piano to start out on.

I don't know if it's harder to be a concert pianist compared to a concert cellist/violinist; I'm not at that level.

Personally, I think the cello is harder than the violin at the starting level. The violin repetoire is certianly more impressive, but getting a nice sound (even open tones) out of the cello requires a lot more physical energy than the violin. Violin requires one clef, piano requires two, and cello requires three (Bass, tenor, treble). The strings are harder to press down, the positioning of the instrument seems less natural (because of the way your arms have to move), and it's just really hard to get great sounds on the lower two strings. The violin, of course, requires more precise finger positions, but the cello's hand shifts require more movement.

By the way, I've been playing piano for 13 years, cello for 1 year, and violin for 10 months, so this is my personal opinion.

Edit: and I forgot to mention cello's "thumb position:" Ouch. It's really hard to vibrate in that position. And it really slices up my thumb.

Hmmm I'm unsure... I'd say violin just because my attempts at teaching myself have failed dismally. :P I had little trouble learning the piano so I can't understand difficulty in learning it... perhaps, no instrument is harder to play at an advanced level than the piano... since there is just so much to remember with both hands.

Well, exactly what is the question? Once you get going, to actually PLAY, then piano. But to LEARN well, it would be violin. There are different factors in each question.

Well, exactly what is the question?


what is the hardest instrument to learn?

Oh... my bad.

The hardest instrument to learn is your own voice.

Guys guys, stop fighting or arguing for which one is the hardest to learn already. People think piano is the hardest, people think the French Horn is hardest, people think the harp is hardest, and the list goes on and on. The truth is that there's not such thing as the hardest for everyone. Everybody is strong at something, and weak at something. There are people who are weak at everything or one thing. It's all within every person, every opinion, every passion, every ability. Like someone mentioned before, if there was a person who knows how to play every instrument, and was to be asked, which one was hardest to know, that person will not mention one instrument, he or she will mention many instruments. If that person is lucky enough to think, not to know, which instrument is hardest, that'll be great. HOWEVER Billions of people exist on this planet, and what if there are others in the same position who have played all the instruments and say a different instrument is harder? That can happen, can't it? As you can see...
The term 'Hardest Instrument to learn' doesn't exist. Everybody has their own ideas about them. Congratulations for those who said "I think..." when saying which one is the hardest. I think is understandable. "I know" or saying "Piano is the hardest!" is not.

~*Hekutairu Yuurieru*~

Of course it's personal. But the topic was posted so that we could have a debate about it, and hopefully learn stuff about other instruments in the process. It's not "fighting," per se, it's persuasive arguing (or at least it should be). It's opinions, sure, but if the opinion has reasons behind it then perhaps we can enlighten other people about it.

Of course it's personal. But the topic was posted so that we could have a debate about it, and hopefully learn stuff about other instruments in the process. It's not "fighting," per se, it's persuasive arguing (or at least it should be). It's opinions, sure, but if the opinion has reasons behind it then perhaps we can enlighten other people about it.

Didn't mean "fighting" as in literally fighting lol. But I totally understand =]

well i know the ocarina is the easiest instrument i have learnt and i have learnt the guitar and piano...and many people agree

well i know how to play the recorder when i was like...in elementary school and i rememebered it was pretty easy for me...and the piano was pretty easier too...i mean, i first started rusty but it wasnt hard and i already knew stuff from my music teacher in public school...those are pretty much the only instruments i know how to play, lol

but i kinda forgot on the recorder...i havent played in centuries, lol (not really centuries, lol)

I don't think the recorder counts, since virtually everybody has to play it in elementary school music classes (but I forgot how XD). I have an ocarina, but I am absolutely horrible at it...

Anyways, the piano was pretty easy for me to learn, and I seriously doubt it is the hardest instrument. Sure, you need fingering, but EVERY instrument needs that. You also do not need to worry about playing in tune; you just need to push the correct key!

And for the people who saw violin is the hardest, HAH!!! (Sorry, I'm just pretty bored...>.>) But any violist would know that the violin is ridiculously easy to easy to play. The strings are much thinner and is easier to press down, and the tone is high and clear enough to know if you're out of tune. If you really think the violin is hard, take up a viola!

Btw, I forgot who said it, but I agree with them that all string instruments are very difficult to play, since they are very difficult to keep in tune and are delicate. For the other instruments, I have no idea; these are just my own opinions (except for the 3rd paragraph...the viola is definitely much more difficult than the violin!!!)

I've only played Flute and Bass Clarinet (And piano by ear)...They're both quite similar...But, I'd say flute is much harder.

Bass Clarinet- Not hard at all to learn, it's the mastering that's hard.
Flute- Hard to learn. Trying to figure out how to get the best sound from the mouthpiece takes a lot of work. After you learn it, it's quite easy except for maintaining beautiful High-High notes. It's nearly impossible for me xD Always sharp....Danggit.
Piano- I find this the easiest. I can't read the Sheet music while playing, but I can easily play by ear. Play a song and watch me go.

Here's my 2 cents

Guitar-
Hard, basics are easy but doing more than the basic can be very hard, but in the end all it take's to play is a lot of time.

Flute-
Medium-hard, can be difficult to hit the higher notes and getting the mouth position correct of each note, takes a long time to be able to play fast.

Tuba-
Easy-medium, 3 pistons combine them and get the mouth tighter as the notes get higher, dosen't really involve fast playing (no more than an eighth note in most cases)

Piano-
Hard, two scales, two hands and lots of notes.

Conclusion-
Guitar and piano are the hardest but i'd say the piano is the winner because of it's two scales, 88 notes and two hand inderpendence.

IMPORTANT!!!

All instruments are time consuming and hard to master

hm........ I would have to say that violin is hardest... at least for me. I play both piano and violin and piano seems a little easier.

I haven't played many instruments other than the piano.. so I can't really talk. But I can see how the violin will be hard, I hopefully want to learn violin later in life.

It is definitely string instruments since you have to be pinpoint exact or you could end up being slightly flat or sharp. The strings also slip or tighten easily due to weather, so you always have to recheck and retune after some time of playing or not playing. I play the violin myself and if you have small hands it may be hard to reach some notes with your pinky, but a pudgy finger might take up too much room on the string and lead to the sharp or flat problem. Tuning is definitely a pain at first and it takes a good amount of time and concentration to be able to do it [and a good ear].

I'd also say piano is hard as you take on the more complicated stuff. Sometimes you wonder if the people who can actually play it grew five or more extra fingers on both of their hands.

Hm. Well, I guess it just varies from person to person.
String instruments are easy to me, because all of the fingerings make sense to me and such. Winds and Brass fingerings, though, I really just don't get. Plus, I hate having to worry about embrochure (I play Clarinet).
So, viola is really just easy for me.

Piano actually isn't too difficult to learn, but it is indeed difficult to master.
Pretty much, I think Double Reeds and French Horn win for hardest in my book.


Edit: Oh, and natrually, harp is insane. All those strings, and eight pedals...ack.

I think pipe organ must be pretty hard. Never tried it (always wanted too!) though.

I've tried a few instruments just here and there, and the hardest I have to say is Guitar--I still don't comprehend it very well, even though I know how to play single notes "on command." But I just can't play chords at all.. I'm no guitarist, but I have to say chords on that damed instrument, I just still cannot understand (the strumming).

Trombone just needed for me to get over the hump of memorizing the positions, and using common sense for higher (MUCH HIGHER) and lower (MUCH LOWER) notes. Clarinet really isn't that hard to learn, or get to an intermediate level, but like all instruments, it has it's quirks and [just like everything and anything in life] it's going to be difficult to master.

Piano, in my case, wasn't too difficult to learn, but piano (consider that it has the most solo repitoire written for it) to master is something that you have to have your life revolve around it; which takes me to another conclusion, there is not hardest instrument to master. Someone may be an excellent pianist or guitarist, but are they a musician or, even gone as far to say, an artist? People sometimes forget that instruments don't make the music, it's the person playing it. Now, sure, the person playing needs to play the instrument decently, at least, but we listen to music, not to people playing instruments.

Alright, well anyway, this went on way too much. XD But you'll find my point somewhere in there.. or maybe you won't. Hehe.

Theremin. Definitely Theremin.

sounds weird but trombone takes most people 3+ years to make a good sounding sound on it, and when u play really fast stuff it hurts! when you play it for awhile but soon enough you build good muscle for it

for me,the hardest one is violin.

I would also have to say the violin is my most difficult instrument to play. I am learning a Mozart Overture in my High School Orchestra. I really know that you will probably hate me for this, but I really can't stand Mozart. Too happy and ornamented. Oh, that's a subject for another forum. Sorry. My problem with the violin is all of those high notes like in 7th. Mozart was very demanding.

Ive dabbled in a repetoire of instruments... but as for the hardest? it depends on an individuals abilities and weaknesses. Pianists usually have good hand-eye coordination, and the ability to control both hands interdextrously. Guitarist have good pressure guage and well, calloused fingers. Violinist are somewhat specialists in approximation and estimation, also they must have very very accurate "air-sense" or spatial awareness e.g. where do you put the bow? Harpists have a very good "flow" because without it the music will sound very detached.

Then of course the actual music you are playing will have a huge impact on the difficulty of playing the instrument. If a piece of music is not specifically developed for that instrument, usually it will be harder to play. However, the piano is so popular precisely because it is so versatile and with a good pianist can churn out almost any piece of music.

Also, people who play big instruments when you have to BLOW is a different case, you need a good set of lungs. Though, what the heck is a theremin? Continuing about the piano, if you are playing an extremely hard piece that goes all over the keys, obviously its going to be quite hard, but since you are using only your hands (well and one foot) and they do not go all over the place, it is relatively easy. you dont need much control for this one.

However, on the topic of MUSICIANS. well you are considered a musician in your own right whatever instrument you play. But are you good enough for your music to be considered art? In that case you need two essential things. 1. You need to (obviously) play very well and produce accurate and precise notes, this is were the element of beauty comes in. 2.You need to put emotion into the music so that it flows through it and forms the intricities and the complexity and the elaborateness of the music.

I could go on and on about what the different types of musicians and artisians there are but... ill save it for another day. :P

Flute, because it needs a lot of air from you.
You need good breathing skills.

hmm!? i always thought that if you was good at 1 it just takes practice with others. mainly need just good hand eye co ordination. my main skills are in the piano, i can play guitar farely well but not many songs as it didnt really interest me. i would take a guess in pipe organ but i wouldnt know as i havent tried it, would like to tho and play sumthing crazy like decisive battle from final fantasy 6. i dunno somethin bout using your feet as well as your hands might throw me

I tried out the organ in my old church XD that was funny... the organist tried showing me how it was done, and its so complicated! It was like... pianos stacked on each other with a ton of levers and pedals thrown in! Heh... I really have to hand it to anyone who plays the organ.
It kinda depends on what instruments people find the hardest. I find my harp hard to learn, since you have the 7 pedals and a lot of things to think about at the same time. The pedals are for flats and sharps, right? So it can get awkward if there are a lot of accidentals in a piece (pedals up, flat, pedals down, sharp). And there's hand position (fingers down, thumbs up, back of hand flat, elbow up etc etc), the harmonics I never get right, posture (no slouching! XD). And with all the physical stuff, you have to get it to sound like something too XD (yeah, which I still suck at, even after 5 years!)
I guess it's much the same with any instrument, really. It just depends on what you find hard or easy.

Hmmm.... I've only played flute and little bit of piano x]
I think piano is easiest to pick up but one of the hardest to master and flute other way around~ well to some extent as I haven't "mastered" the flute(?)

But damn, Violin looks tough with the perfection with position and everything else... makes me want to try it @_@
Drums to me is like driving a manual car! You have to use all your limbs but awesome when it's making sounds x_x
I've heard French Horn is hard, but I haven't held one and try to work it myself

So yeah, Violin + probably the string family (excluding piano) and drums for me

I have to say the basson. There are seven palm keys...on one hand!!!

well each instrument has its difficulties so u hav 2 specify which type or i'll say all are difficult until u learn it

It actually depends on what instrument you pick up. There's never an "easy" instrument to learn at all. Only way to master/know how to play an instrument is to practice and learn from it.

I have no problems with the violin, but I try to learn piano myself - and it's mission impossible xD

The first instrument you ever learn you will always consider to be the easiest to learn. So I can very easily say that the Sax is by no doubt the easiest instrument in the world. Why can I say this? Because I've been playing it since 4th grade. What did a marching band friend of mine that plays Trumpet say about that? He said it's the hardest thing he's ever tried. I think we see where this is going...

Although I think Piano is kinda hard if it's not your first instrument (But not the hardest). The whole thing about playing two different parts at once is a tad confusing at first, but you eventually get the hang of it.

today i tried to play just two melodies at the same time... just two different notes xD and i just failed xDDDD

are vocals instruments too? O.o

Some people debate that vocals count as instruments, but others don't consider them to be. It really depends who you talk to.

I believe that all instruments have their own challenge and difficulty, but having said that... the results show the amount of effort you put it.

Brass instruments are hard but guitar is also hard. I did it for two years and didn't learn anything.