What's the easiest instrument to learn?

[losthobos]

Clapping hands....through real life has taught me the average punter can't clap on the two and four...
And without this skill best forget about trying anything more complex....it ain't gonna be easy and it ain't gonna be pleasant.....

 

[SteveBox]

A related question. What is the easiest musical composition to play?

Answer: John Cage's 4'33"

As an added bonus, you can play it on any instrument!

 

[Pipemajor]

A related question. What is the easiest musical composition to play?

Answer: John Cage's 4'33"

As an added bonus, you can play it on any instrument!

Hope you haven't breached Copywrite by publishing that!!

 

[Mike t.]

Is autoharp an option? I think the challenge is drawing the line of how technically proficient someone has to be to say they play a certain instrument. There’s a lot of guitarists that can play the chords for enough songs to entertain an audience but haven’t learned how to play a lead line. I think that’s one reason the guitar is so popular is that’s it’s possible to “just” be a “casual” guitarist. Which is something that seems much more difficult for other instruments.

I had heard one time that teachers going into the more remote Appalachian mountains would be given a quick lesson on using the autoharp for the class room music years ago, portable and easy to use, being it’s selling points. I don’t know how true that is after seeing all those strings to go out of tune! I play “casual” guitar and agree that it is just more campfire friendly, sounds sweet, chords played softly and light weight, and doesn’t have to cost too much. There are guitar players at the old timey music jams I go to who “flat pick”? on the guitar that are truly amazing, it’s like they are playing two guitars at once.

 

[afuller5]

Hi all,

I would add kalimba to the list of "easy" instruments to play. It is small and portable. It can play a melody or simple chords/arpeggios. You can also add harmony to a melody. Most kalimbas are diatonic though there are chromatic kalimbas. They do need tuning occasionally. They are not very expensive. Very nice kalimbas can be purchased for under 150 USD. Kalimbas start about 20 USD. Below is a video of me playing a hymn medley on the kalimba.

Later,
Allen

 

[Squeezeplay]

Comb and tissue is relatively easy…….and I think judging by the way Pete Barbutti played it the cigar is probably a close second

 

[Tom]

Don’t forget bass guitar. I start people on bass if they really don’t think they have the ambition for guitar or accordion. “Play the chord root on every “one.” “ Gets ‘em going pretty fast.

 

[oldbayan]

Ukulele, tuned as a C chord

 

[Squeezeplay]

Don’t forget bass guitar. I start people on bass if they really don’t think they have the ambition for guitar or accordion. “Play the chord root on every “one.” “ Gets ‘em going pretty fast.

Yup. I agree it’s pretty easy, but much more expensive than a comb and a piece of paper

 

[Ventura]

i nominate whistling

 

[Dingo40]

And:

Google Search

 

[Mike t.]

Just got me thinking… they say about 60% of people can whistle. How does the other 40% ever get the dog to come to them?

 

[Ventura]

keep a few biscuits in your pocket at all times

 

[Rosie C]

1 Triangle, one note, no way to really screw it up.
2 Mouth harp, one note, no way to really screw it up.
3 Beginner recorder, one note at a time, limited notes.

Oh, I'd have to take issue with number 3

As a half-decent recorder player myself, it is an utter mystery to my why for decades English schools gave 7 year olds recorders to play, when it takes a very delicate technique to sound good. These days I fight the prejudice caused by generations of said 7 years olds, playing a nice renaissance recorder moderately well through our band's PA system to unsuspecting audiences!

p.s. and I shall be playing it tonight at Morris dance practice!

 

[Rosie C]

Guitar seems to be fairly easy, judging by number of players.

I failed to learn guitar - tried three times but nope, not for me. As @JeffJetton says, I'd vote for ukulele, lots of two finger chords. Though why ukulele is so popular when mandolin is essentially the same instrument is another mystery to me. (I play mandolin, it also has lots of two finger chords)

 

[JeffJetton]

I failed. As @JeffJetton says, I'd vote for ukulele, lots of two finger chords. Though why ukulele is so popular when mandolin is essentially the same instrument is a mystery to me. (I play mandolin, it also has lots of two finger chords)

An interesting point that I've never thought about.

They do lack some of the advantages I pointed out for ukulele. Mandolins tend to be more expensive, don't they? They have more strings to tune, and those strings are the higher-tension, metal, finger-hurting kind. And while it's a small difference, they're not "grab-and-go" like the uke--you have to strap them on and find a pick.

Also maybe because mandos just don't seem to have the reputation as an accompanying instrument that ukes do. You don't see/hear a lot of people strumming a mandolin and singing along with it, solo. They're mainly played in a band situation with other supporting instruments.

There's just this sort of low-key, low-pressure, casual, "have fun and don't take yourself too seriously" vibe that the uke has developed for some reason. It's the pickleball of instruments.

 

[Rosie C]

@JeffJetton yes to the metal strings, I have vague memories of sore fingers, but I have hard-earned callouses now. Good for playing, less good for contact lenses, as I wasn't able to do the left lens due to lack of sensation on the finger tip.

Price wise, my main mandolin was £50, with a £20 set of strings. But I think you're right about the image, I suppose mandolin suggests bluegrass, folk, oldtime etc. in a band I setting.

 

[Ventura]

Mandolin ?

remember Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley ?

check out his live at the Royal Albert Hall concert