learning an instrument

[Merkavar]

so i guess my earlier post didnt get through when the site dissappeared.

basically any hints or advice for learning an instrument

damn this kyboard and scapist

so i keep coming back to the idea of learning an instrument, mainly piano, violin or guitar, normally after seeming a youtube video of someone covering a song.

im thnking piano would be easiest, are any of these instruments easy to self teach?

like when i say play i dont mean le 1st chair of some orchestra level i just mean other people can recognise the song im playing

 

[Nouw]

Work hard and have patience. Put your hours in and you'll be rewarded with success. Patience is virtue, especially when you can't get the notes, sound or etc you want. Piano is easy to learn, but you'll want some kind of guidance to improve your technique.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Patience. Patience. And some more Patience.

I think with most instruments you may want some help at the beginning, to get your bearing so to speak. Other than that, its all about patience, and persistance. You arent going to be incredible straight away, youve just gotta stick with it!

and GOOD LUCK

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

There is no easy instrument, though some may be better suited for you than others. If you don't have the lungs stay away from instruments that require your breathe. If you have massive sausage hands you might find it difficult to play piano. Etc.

Get a feel for an instrument and see where it takes you.

 

[shogunblade]

so i guess my earlier post didnt get through when the site dissappeared.

basically any hints or advice for learning an instrument

damn this kyboard and scapist

so i keep coming back to the idea of learning an instrument, mainly piano, violin or guitar, normally after seeming a youtube video of someone covering a song.

im thnking piano would be easiest, are any of these instruments easy to self teach?

like when i say play i dont mean le 1st chair of some orchestra level i just mean other people can recognise the song im playing

I have been playing Guitar for only 3 years, and it takes some time (Pushing on the strings in the beginning kind of sucks, I blame Guitar Hero for making it easier than I thought it turned out to be at first. Now, it's relatively simple), but it's perhaps the easier instrument I can speak for. I have heard Bass is simpler, but I can't speak for that at all.

I'm trying to teach myself piano as of last week, and it's taking its time, but I'm having fun with it, and in the end, if I am having fun with it, it's all that matters, right? (Plus, ELO on Piano...Can it get any better?)

 

[Zac Smith]

so i guess my earlier post didnt get through when the site dissappeared.

basically any hints or advice for learning an instrument

damn this kyboard and scapist

so i keep coming back to the idea of learning an instrument, mainly piano, violin or guitar, normally after seeming a youtube video of someone covering a song.

im thnking piano would be easiest, are any of these instruments easy to self teach?

like when i say play i dont mean le 1st chair of some orchestra level i just mean other people can recognise the song im playing

I have been playing Guitar for only 3 years, and it takes some time (Pushing on the strings in the beginning kind of sucks, I blame Guitar Hero for making it easier than I thought it turned out to be at first. Now, it's relatively simple), but it's perhaps the easier instrument I can speak for. I have heard Bass is simpler, but I can't speak for that at all.

I'm trying to teach myself piano as of last week, and it's taking its time, but I'm having fun with it, and in the end, if I am having fun with it, it's all that matters, right? (Plus, ELO on Piano...Can it get any better?)

Bass is just as hard as guitar I would say, I been playing for about 5 years now, yes it's very similar in some respects but there are also some very big differences, what's easy on guitar may not be so easy on bass

 

[Charles McGuffin]

Piano is surprisingly easy. We still had an old E-Piano standing around and still knew a little bit about reading notes, back from musical pre school, so I searched for sheets online, practiced everyday and I recorded this 3 Month after

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9uV2aSvh0&feature=channel_video_title

 

[DustyDrB]

Piano can be easier. I think different people have different aptitudes for certain instruments. I've been playing piano for six years but still kind of suck at it. I've been playing the mandolin for one year and am pretty damn good (though I have played guitar for ten years, so some skills transferred over).

Just make sure you're using proper technique. I taught myself how to play guitar only by reading tabs online. No further instruction came until a few years later when I decided to get more serious. A bad technique will definitely limit your ability, and those habits are hard to break.

 

[mronoc]

Guitar is almost definitely easiest, there's a reason absolutely everyone everyone plays it.

 

[Limecake]

Piano is the simplest to play, it's also the easiest to wrap your head around (every key represents a note) this also means it'll be easier to teach yourself how to read music, you can do it on any instrument but you might need to make an extra mental step (what note is on the page? now how do I place my fingers on the fretboard to make this E string into a d?)

I've never played violin but from what I've seen it's not simple, control of the bow and where your hands are might be a slightly more difficult than the other two.

just pick up one you enjoy playing (or hearing since you'll be doing a lot of that too) I just know from personal experience that everyone and their mom's dog plays guitar now.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

i started with piano/keyboard. start by practising chords, then start doing repetitive tunes like this:
just dont play the chords and arpeggios at the same time. do one hand, then add the other.

guitar is hard because most people dont bend their fingers in the ways they do for the chords. not to mention you need to play for a while to get the muscle memory needed and toughen your fingertips, as well as speed up.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

Guitar is almost definitely easiest, there's a reason absolutely everyone everyone plays it.

Because it's the most popular.

It's actually easier to play more complex pieces on piano.
I even found violin to be a bit easier to play than guitar.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

No, none of these instruments are easy to learn. Nor do I think any of them is worth learning unless you pick it up very early. You'll always be at a disadvantage versus others, and I don't think the skills are particularly worth learning as an adult anyway. If you haven't had musical talent when you were a child, you're not going to pick it up now, and there's little more pretentious than somebody who is bad at a musical instrument still trying it anyway.

I still call that bullshit.

If you want to learn an instrument, just practice. Even if you'd want to be a professional, as long as you don't want to be the best in the world, it doesn't matter when you start.

But it can take a lot of practice. But even that can be fun, when you see your progress.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Out of all of them, the guitar is the easiest to teach yourself.

The piano you might be able to teach yourself if you have the patience and the time to practice, but you might need a teacher.

The violin you will need a teacher, trust me on this, I play that instrument and you need to learn proper technique. The violin will require a lot of time and patience to learn since it's kinda hard to learn and a lot of people stop playing it because of it.

 

[AquaAscension]

Piano is easy to learn, difficult to master.

Guitar is moderate to difficult to learn, difficult to master.

I don't know about the other ones.

Reasoning behind my statements: You don't have to build calluses on your fingertips to play piano from day 1. Chords are relatively easy to play on piano as well (you just have to learn them which is tough). However, piano is kind of the grand daddy instrument for Western music. It's much easier to visualize the scales with all the sharps and flats because you quite literally have them laid out in black and white. White keys are the natural notes while the black keys are the sharps or flats. Yeah, you could argue the white key of C is actually B#, but then you'd be nit picking and not helping.

I'd say learn them both. The music theory stuff won't change between them (Chords will still be made the same way but played differently of course). In any case, do yourself a favor and actually learn music theory. Nothing worse, from my perspective, than running into someone who can play well, but can't play with other people because they don't know how music interlocks with other instruments.

 

[Angry_squirrel]

It's been said before, but practice and patience. It's going to take a very long time before you can play anything you like.
Also I recommend you learn a portable instrument that isn't guitar (so violin out of your list)
I've played drums for a few years now and the inability to transport them easily has always been a pain, it also takes a lot more motivation to get up and play them.
As for why I suggest against guitar - I find there are too many guitarists, and that guitarists I know have a lot more trouble getting into bands than anyone else.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

PPPS: I think the Piano is the best Instrument ever, because as a single person you can easily play rythm and lead, and you can basically play any genre of music.