General Music Chat

Just wondering what other people's perspective on this is. I think about this question regarding guitar and piano mainly, but feel free to post about any instrument.

I personally feel that guitar might be harder to learn than piano, although I'm not great on either. I'm a very visual person and it's so much easier for me to see the notes on a piano. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. With the guitar the main advantage to me is being able to play in different keys easily. The hard part is having the same note in multiple places and since the notes aren't as visually distinctive as they are on the piano, I rely more on memorizing patterns and intervals. Arpeggios are more difficult, playing fast is more difficult, getting a good sound is more difficult. But man it's fun to play!

But that's not to say piano is easy! I believe it takes more hand coordination. Playing chords are harder because you can't just move the "shape" like on guitar. And forget about some of the classical piano sheet music I've seen!!

Anyway, I'd be interested in knowing someone else's opinion on this. If not piano or guitar, what do you think the hardest (or easiest) instrument is?

if you ask me the most difficult is your first instrument

well its 2 differnt thing to learn and to master a instrument. both of them are easy to learn with dedication, but masterin them goes beyond just playing. IMO you have to know music theory thoroughly to master any instrument (except the drums, of course)


between piano and guitar, i cant decide

piano for sure. i play both, piano since kindergarden and guitar since 4th grade, piano is so much harder.

thats probably what i would think too, since you need amazing dexterity in BOTH hands to master piano

If you're thinking about a guitar as more of a strumming instrument, then I'd have to agree with you. But I guess I'm thinking of it more in a jazz improvisation way. Listen to some Joe Pass or Jimmy Bruno and you'll see what I mean (they just happen to be my favorites). And for some 2 handed dexterity how about Stanley Jordan (I think he used to be a piano player). But yeah, I have to agree about the drums being in a different category. I have a friend that actually compares playing jazz on drums with playing it on guitar. Craziness.

thats probably what i would think too, since you need amazing dexterity in BOTH hands to master piano

Don't know about anyone else here but I use BOTH HANDS to play guitar!

Never really sat down to the keyboard so I couldn't compare between the two. If it has strings and frets, I can probably figure it out relatively quickly but that is just because of my familiarity with the guitar!

I would say that it takes work and dedication to truly master ANY INSTRUMENT!!!

Yeah, and finger picking takes a lot of coordination.
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Also, What about the calluses? Never noticed any calluses on a pianist's hands . . .
And then there's the pain factor, before developing calluses.
And even after developing calluses, an experianeced acoustic guitarist can still experience pain after a few hours of pressing down on those hard metal strings, and sliding up and down them, which will eventually slice right through eevn rock-hard calluses.
Also, it takes less than a pound of pressure to play a chord on a piano.
It probably takes 10 - 20lbs of pressure to fret an acoustic, especially a 12- string. I know that if I grab someones forearm and squeeze like I'm fretting a chord, it produces bruises . . .
I'm sure several of you guitarists have experienced a cramp in your thumb, at one time or another . . . .
However, on the other hand . . .
Learning keyboard does require a lot more theory.
That's probably why there's a shortage of keyboard players . . .
But, seeing as that theory applies to ALL music and instruments, I guess that argument may not really apply.
But a keyboardist can play more than 6 notes at a time . . . and 2 different rhythmss at once.
As a guitarist, I respect a good keyboardist - especially their knowledge of music.
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Dosn't really matter which is harder to play.
What matters is the music you can produce from your instrument.

The theoboro.

Also, Samick had asked this...

Also, What about the calluses? Never noticed any calluses on a pianist's hands . . .

How about some bloody fingers with some deeply broken off nails? I'll send you some pics the next time I'm done performing a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody

Uh...Samic... I think you might be pressing a little too hard. Bruises? That picture in your profile is gross. I play several hours a day and my fingers are completely smooth. I wonder if you shouldn't maybe get some flatwound strings?? Or maybe a guitar with lower action??

That's a good point about the 2 different rhythms for each hand... although you can find that on guitar as well. One thing I think would be difficult on piano is playing complex chords with your left hand while playing an intricate solo with the right hand.

heard stevie ray vaughn wore the calluses off his fingers from playing guitar so long once, & used super glue on his fingertips to keep going. {true or not]. sounds like it would work?

Irminsul - you break nails on keyboard? Hmmm - I learn something every day. Thanks for weighing in . . .
and - ok, I'm game; what's a "Theoboro?"
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musicmaker2b - Yeah, I found out about the bruise-thing by accident. I'd gotten a cramp in my thumb, and was discussing with a friend that if you're holding 4 fingertips down on the fretboard, then the one single thumb is pushing with an equal force on the backside of the neck.
I demonstrated a couple chords on their fore arm . . . I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I felt like sh** afterwards . . .
Yeah, I do press pretty hard, and lower action does help. A lot of what I play would be easier on electric guitar. But - I'm not playing to be easy on myself.
My fingers usually look the same on either hand, before practice.
Most of my songs skip from one chord to another pretty quickly, and I have to grab the chords pretty tight . . .
I recently tried Elixers (with the slippery teflon-like poly-coating) to alleviate the sliding injury. But their lightest guage (.012 - .053) is too heavy, and the slipperiness was actually a hinderance . . . A lot of the finger tip raggedness is caused by slding over the frets . . .
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Irminsul - you break nails on keyboard? Hmmm - I learn something every day. Thanks for weighing in . . .

Yeah, I've had bloody fingers quite alot. Had one teacher, briefly, who played so furiously on the keyboard that, when he played, large chips of ivory would fly all over the place. Most pianists have short nails to begin with, but I have long ones because I play the harp. I have to put on fakeys alot, to allow me to play harp after a bout with the piano.

I'd like to add this. I'm not sure what virtue there is, really, in disfiguring oneself in order to play an instrument. To me music is about joy, not inflicting personal pain. I'd be more than happy if I never broke another nail down to the bleeding quick again in my life.

and - ok, I'm game; what's a "Theoboro?"

My bad, I mistyped it - it's actually "theboro", a renaissance Italian instrument. I could not find a real good photo of one on the net, but I found this illustration - its the weird looking large instrument on the far left ->

http://www.nrinstruments.demon.co.uk/index2.gif

It's an altered type of lute. If you look at the neck you'll see there are actually two fretboards, one on the left for two or three bass strings, and the rest on the right for melody and chordage. I am a fan of a local Renaissance performance group called "Musica Reservata" and talked to their theboro player after a concert one night. With all the time one has to put in on this instrument to be competent at it, it gets my vote for most difficult to master.

To master an instrument to me means to conquer all possiblities.

Guitar/Guitarists in question:

Wes Montgomery, Stanley Jordan, Les Paul, Carlos Santana, Pat Methany, Eric Johnson, Roy Clark, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, Tuck Andress. All contributed to the guitar world yet all different from one another.

Pianists/Keyboardists ditto'd from the top:

Rick Wakeman, Thelonius Monk, Billy Joel, Tori Amos, Johnny Neel, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Keith Emerson, Chick Corea.

Bottom line is whatever your instrument of choice the language of music is what is wide open to it and their are limitless possibilities. To stop learning is a reason for death no matter what the subject matter.

To master an instrument to me means to conquer all possiblities.

Guitar/Guitarists in question:

Wes Montgomery, Stanley Jordan, Les Paul, Carlos Santana, Pat Methany, Eric Johnson, Roy Clark, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, Tuck Andress. All contributed to the guitar world yet all different from one another.

Pianists/Keyboardists ditto'd from the top:

Rick Wakeman, Thelonius Monk, Billy Joel, Tori Amos, Johnny Neel, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Keith Emerson, Chick Corea.

Bottom line is whatever your instrument of choice the language of music is what is wide open to it and their are limitless possibilities. To stop learning is a reason for death no matter what the subject matter.

Ever heard of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Kinsey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Rudes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Stewa ... usician%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Johansson

I dig on some of their stuff .