Most difficult musical instrument to master?

Tonedef · 2011-01-21T09:26:53+00:00

I've heard it said more than once that it's the Harmonica. What do you guys reckon?

Most difficult musical instrument to master?

singemonkey

I don't think the pipes are too tricky. I think it's basically a simple reed instrument. All you gotta do, as far as I know is keep the bag inflated and keep pressure on it with your elbow.

[deleted]

X-rated Bob wrote: Somebody told me that the lower pitched wind instruments like baritone sax and bass flute are hard to play because of the amount of air you have to push around.

I used to play saxophone, Baritone, Alto, and Soprano, depending on the needs of the ochestra, mostly the Alto tho...
Not so difficult ?

I would have to say guitar too. of those that I grew up playing and could play... quite a few woodwinds and a handful of brass instuments.
Piano for we was much tougher than the instuments in the ochestra.

To play guitar like Tommy Emmanuel.. has to be the most difficult thing in the world to 'learn' ?
purely cause it cannot be learnt I think...

Like Steve Vai said "Tommy is not the future of guitar... because in the future, NO ONE will be able to play like Tommy!"

But then again, that "thing" that Robert Randolph plays looks pretty tough to me too. ?

Tonedef

singemonkey wrote: Also the tabla.

You made me google! I just learned something new. ?

That makes me want to listen to The Tea Party now.

Bob-Dubery

RE bagipes. What most people think of as "bagpipes" are the Great Highland Bagpipes, a particular type of bagpipe, just one member of the bagpipe family. Probably the next best known form of bagpipe are the Irish uillean pipes. The Great Highland pipes are mouth blown. The uillean pipes have a bellows rather than a pipe through which you must blow.

In no form of bagpipes does the flow of air directly effect the note being played. Blowing/pumping just inflates a reservoir.

With the Great Highland Bagpipes the only way to stop the chanter sounding is to remove the supply of air. So on those pipes (but not all bagpipes) you are forced to play in a legato fashion and if you were to look at a score for the Great Highland Bagpipes you would notice that there are no rests. This, in turn, means that Highland pipers have to learn several schemes of "ornamentation" which create an illusion of articulation.

So, yep, maybe they do pose some unusual challenges.

Bellow blown pipes like the uillean pipes can be played for longer stretches because the air going into the reservoir is colder and drier.

singemonkey

X-rated Bob wrote: Bellow blown pipes like the uillean pipes can be played for longer stretches because the air going into the reservoir is colder and drier.

How do you mean?

Yeah. Most types of bag-pipes are bellows driven, right? The French ones too.

domhatch

Tonedef wrote: Kuck, man, I was an expert at it 10 seconds after I was born.

Ha ha ha! :roflmao:

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote: Bellow blown pipes like the uillean pipes can be played for longer stretches because the air going into the reservoir is colder and drier.

How do you mean?

Because the air being forced into the reservoir has not gone into your mouth - where
a) it will get warmed a little
b) it will pick up saliva and various other forms of what doctors call "gunk" which, for a start, will get moisture into the reeds.

Yeah. Most types of bag-pipes are bellows driven, right? The French ones too.

Dunno. Bagpipes (hyphen war!) are all over the place. You get mouth-blown pipes in Italy and various countries in eastern europe. Things like the zampogna. The bellows are a comparatively recent innovation.

Other differences are in the way in which the chanter is constructed. The number of reeds, the degree to which they are enclosed, the shape of the bore... Also different types of pipes have different numbers and arrangements of drone pipes. Some have twin chanters.

So different types of pipes have different sounds. The uillean pipes sound distinctly different to the highland pipes. The Northumbrian small pipes are becoming.... less uncommon in Britain, and they have a sound different from eithe the uillean or the highland pipes.

flatfourfan

singemonkey wrote: I don't think the pipes are too tricky. I think it's basically a simple reed instrument. All you gotta do, as far as I know is keep the bag inflated and keep pressure on it with your elbow.

Yup.......you're pretty much spot on there. I played the pipes for about a year and man it was fun, more noisier than a drum kit though.

Hammeron

I wouldn't consider the 'Voice' to be a musical instrument in the true sense of the word.

Hammeron

Double bass drums.
Left and right hands.
Left and right feet.
Left and right brain.
Physically challenging.
Ultimate co-ordination.

Kalcium

Hammeron wrote: Double bass drums.
Left and right hands.
Left and right feet.
Left and right brain.
Physically challenging.
Ultimate co-ordination.

Wait a minute! This isn't bagpipes 101! Almost forgot for a second there ?

The Theremin looks pretty difficult, especially if you dont have a steady hand...

(how do you embed the youtube vid?)

FruitarGeek

Guitar

Piano is easy once you got it down, all the notes are in the same position for all 8+ different octaves. Guitars notes are scattered all over which makes every scale a new 'joy' to learn. Bass, well, Bassists dont need to play chords, most of the time they just need to walk (for the more experienced onces). Drums, well Once you have your Snare Tom and Kick etc its just a matter of getting those tight, with guitar learning the basics is never enough if you want to take it seriously.

Granted that most classical stringed instruments are difficult.

ezietsman

FruitarGeek wrote: Guitar

Piano is easy once you got it down, all the notes are in the same position for all 8+ different octaves. Guitars notes are scattered all over which makes every scale a new 'joy' to learn. Bass, well, Bassists dont need to play chords, most of the time they just need to walk (for the more experienced onces). Drums, well Once you have your Snare Tom and Kick etc its just a matter of getting those tight, with guitar learning the basics is never enough if you want to take it seriously.

Granted that most classical stringed instruments are difficult.

The one thing you are forgetting about the piano is that in order for you to use scales/modes properly is that you actually have to know the intervals of every scale and the position of every key. On a Guitar, you can play any chord once you know the basic barre shapes. The same with scales, if you know the shape its just a matter of moving it up and down on the fretboard. Not so with pianos. I still think a guitar has more nuances to learn (pick attack angle, pressure etc, pinch harmonics, natural harmonics, bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs). That said, the same applies to bowed instruments except you don't have frets (frets are wonderfully useful, they make the guitar easy to play). I still think the bowed instruments are the toughest.

MikeM

ezietsman wrote:I still think the bowed instruments are the toughest.

Wizard

I think all instruments are equally difficult to "master" ... because some "master" of the instrument has always taken it to the limit ... where very few can equal them.
Some instruments are just much more accessible to beginners and part-timers ... in allowing you to make something musical sounding quicker.

[deleted]

Hammeron wrote: I wouldn't consider the 'Voice' to be a musical instrument in the true sense of the word.

Hmm... I disagree with you on this - it takes serious training to master absolute control of your breath control, vocal chords, diaphragm, posture etc so it's arguably the oldest musical instrument in the world...

My money's on the violin and sitar being the most difficult though, the latter mainly because you have to have all the ragas in your head! (A serious feat in my little western-classically orientated opinion!)

nicovlogg

I'd have to say the violin. I had lessons for 3 years and the very difficult thing is that it takes considerable skill to get a decent sound out of it. After playing guitar for a few months, most beginners will be able to play some campfire songs decently enough to sing along to. But a beginner playing a violin is a sound straight out of hell. ???

Renesongs

I believe the Bag pipes must be the hardest instrument to master. I have heard several pipers on many occasions and I have been told that some that I have heard had dedicated a great deal of their lives mastering the instrument yet I have not heard one that has acquired the basics of playing an acceptably tuneful note. ☹