What is the hardest instrument to play?

vasselmeyer · September 2016

Hammered dulcimer

axisus · September 2016

TheBigDipper said:

Hardest for me (never having been a drummer or a pianist) is my pitiful efforts at learning to play a Chapman Stick. Playing independent parts with your left and right hands - now that's hard!

Yes, not necessarily the hardest, but bloody hard! I've wrestled with a Chapman stick for years. I thought that my piano skills would help but they didn't really. It's incredibly hard to get that kind of hand interdependence going when you have a limited view of the fretboard as well.

fretmeister · September 2016

Sporky said:

Cello is certainly an order of magnitude harder than guitar, but you don't have to put an awful lot of thought into your breathing which is why I thought trombone might trump it on overall difficulty.

I reckon violin is probably harder than cello because you've got the awful shrill noise of a violin to put up with, which I reckon is more of an ordeal than the wider left-hand stretches of the cello.

The cello and in turn the double bass get harder in 1 respect - stretches - and easier in another - intonation. In that the longer scale means a larger "sounds in tune" target for the left hand.

Violin doesn't have many mental stretches, but the intonation is very sensitive.

That being said, single or 2 note instruments are often easier than say a piano from an early academic point of view, when 10 notes could be played at once. A better grasp of harmony is needed.

Physically though - I remember my 1 attempt to walk with a sousaphone....

fretmeister · September 2016

What about risk of death?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-37223597

Sporky · September 2016

EricTheWeary said:

if you wanted to learn an instrument from scratch ( not the original question here, I know)it might take days or weeks to get a decent noise out of a clarinet or in an intonated note out of a violin but you could be playing a recognisable melody on a keyboard by the end of your first lesson.

Actually, I think that's pretty much what I meant (if not what I said).

By competent, I think I mean "good enough to be paid to do it for an audience". So coffee-bar/restaurant piano, wedding reception string quartet, brass band in a park sort of lark.

I do not mean to stifle wider discussion by this.

Roland · September 2016

I've always thought that the theremin must be amongst the most difficult to play. It's not physically difficult, but temperamental and inconsistent.

Flanging_Fred · September 2016

I think the Uilleann pipes and sitar are supposed to be hard (especially at the same time!)

I seem to remember soneone saying the harp was really difficult. But that might have been just commenting on taking it on the tube...

I used to play trombone, it's not that hard. I found that the violin and the cornet were both more difficult.

Ravenous · September 2016

I've heard the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) is tricky... lots of head positions and blow angles to get the full range of pitches and timbres from it. It's like a recorder with a much more primitive mouthpiece and harder to learn.

UnclePsychosis · September 2016

Of the "standard" orchestral instruments its almost certainly the Oboe or Bassoon.

I played in a lot of orchestral groups when I was younger and competent Oboists and Bassoonists were very hard to find. And it wasn't because they just don't exist---there were quite a lot of players, just not that many good ones.

axisus · September 2016

vasselmeyer said:

Hammered dulcimer

The pissed lute and the Rat-arsed harpsichord can also be difficult to handle.

paul_c2 · September 2016

What's easiest then? Bass guitar?

paul_c2 · September 2016

axisus said:

vasselmeyer said:

Hammered dulcimer

The pissed lute and the Rat-arsed harpsichord can also be difficult to handle.

Bizarrely, "they" say that the triangle is one of the hardest percussion instruments in an orchestra - contrary to its basic stereotype, the parts for triangle are often complex and advanced.

koneguitarist · September 2016

IMHO the pedal steel guitar. Sorry but you need all limbs, and in depth knowledge of notes that make up chords for various voicing support as you raise and lower pitch of strings with feet and knees.

koneguitarist · September 2016

Winny_Pooh said:

Bastardly complex when taken to its extremes:
Piano

Piano is one up from drums, your still hitting things, but gotta be more accurate! ;-)

Sporky · September 2016

Plus you're probably playing country...

koneguitarist · September 2016

EricTheWeary · September 2016

Yes, my eldest son being reasonably good at clarinet was given free bassoon lessons and free instrument hire because they were desperate for anyone to play one to a competent standard in the schools Orchestra. Not that he actually managed it.

UnclePsychosis said:

Of the "standard" orchestral instruments its almost certainly the Oboe or Bassoon.

I played in a lot of orchestral groups when I was younger and competent Oboists and Bassoonists were very hard to find. And it wasn't because they just don't exist---there were quite a lot of players, just not that many good ones.

Teetonetal · September 2016

paul_c2 said:

What's easiest then? Bass guitar?

Yes, you can get away with not needing to do very much at all.

EricTheWeary · September 2016

Teetonetal said:

paul_c2 said:

What's easiest then? Bass guitar?

Yes, you can get away with not needing to do very much at all.

Sassafras · September 2016

Piano is really difficult to play well and you try getting it in the car for gigs.
Chromatic harmonica is no piece of cake either.
Drums I find impossible to play to any decent standard apart from keeping a steady beat.

shamus26 · September 2016

octatonic said:

Don't google "tromboning" with the safety filter off.
Or do... I don't care, really.

Classic !!!,LOL,HaHaHa !!!

shamus26 · September 2016

When I was a kid I found that playing on the Linoleum came naturally.

BahHumbug · September 2016

Theremin?
onde-martineau?

kjdowd · September 2016

Glass harmonica. Oh no, hang on, that's the stupidest.

ToneControl · September 2016

Pink trombone

Aidanspaghetti · September 2016

For me its an Axe fx or anything with more than 8 buttons. =(

Dominic · September 2016

full size harp

AliGorie · September 2016

Flanging_Fred said:

I think the Uilleann pipes and sitar are supposed to be hard (especially at the same time!)

Sporky · September 2016

I've had an apostrophe.

The hardest instrument to play is also the funniest instrument - of my own invention - the trombazoodian.

Max_b3 · September 2016

Chromatic Harmonica? or Guitar like Tommy Emmanuel !!

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What is the hardest instrument to play?

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