Sorry if I've missed out on any instrument but I'm allowed only 10.
If you feel that some instrument outside this list is toughest to play then please post.

And please vote for the instrument which you have some experience in playing. Those who know more than 1 instruments are best suited for this poll.


Personally, I feel the Piano is the toughest instrument to play. It takes years and years of sincere dedication to be able to truly master the piano. I haven't. But I sure am trying....

Flute aint hard

once u get ur mouth rite it comes easily

French Horn and the Oboe are often said to be two of the hardest instruments but, in the case of the latter, I'm biased!

I voted violin, but i think that harp and organ are hard to. You havent put French Horn on there, or oboe which are considered to be the most difficult instruments.

hi,

I think that the piano is the most easiest instrument to learn. Playing any note on the piano produces a fixed sound. The sound gradually fades away, but soes not go up or down. It has a fixed notes, unlike the string instruments, because you have to find the note!!! Eg the violin, to play a C the violinist needs to move his finger until he does find the C, and when he does the note may be to sharp, or flat!!!!!

Manpreet

yes, i agree that violin is hard and i've voted for violin too. although my first instrument is piano.however, piano isn't that easy as u've thought.although piano have a fixed sound, but it requir lots of technical excercise.such as ornaments, the expressions.even the speed.if u've played a full version sonata or prellude, u'll find that piano isn't that easy.

i was really frustrated by appasionata-beethoven

just can't catch up the speed

This question is impossible to answer because each instrument has it's own difficulties: the violin requires a good ear (and years of practice) to get the notes right; the piano requires a great deal of co-ordination and the reading of many different notes at the same time as well as dynamic control; the organ does not require the dynamic control but adds feet to the co-ordination problem, not to mention lots of stops; woodwind and brass instruments require a lot of breath control and are often difficult to get a sound out of, never mind a note!

I think the best comment I've read on this issue was:

"The piano is a very easy instrument but you are expected to play very hard things on it"

(My apologies to the original poster but I cannot remember who it was, do tell me who it is if you read this as I thought it was a really good point.)

It's not hard to play a note on the piano so the pieces are more complicated; on the violin it's harder to play the instrument (get the right notes out of it) but the pieces are easier, mostly single melodies. By no means, however, are the violin pieces easier to play than the piano ones or the piano ones easier to play than the violin ones. There's only so much one can learn in a lifetime and ultimately for each instrument the difficulty of playing the pieces regarded as the hardest in the repertoire will be roughly equal since the best people have each taken a lifetime to learn so if the instrument requires that they spend more time working on technical aspects they won't have been able to progress through piece difficulty as quickly and hence the hardest pieces (which generally aren't written to be any harder than the best players can play) will be easier pieces but not easier to play because of the instrument being fundamentally harder to play.

Anyway I voted piano because that's what I play ! Philosophically, however, I think they're all the same: when things are subjective nothing is easy as nothing is ever perfect!

I've voted for piano.

The violin is hard no doubt but I've always felt that to extract a sweet melody from a violin is comparitively easier than to extract the same from a piano. Further, factors that make an excellant performance like 'touch', technical mastery, subtlety of dynamics and articulation etc. is very difficult to achieve on the piano and requires hours and years of practice.

I play both violin and piano, I say on violin the difficulty is not finding the notes, but the bowing. Piano you don't look at the keyboard when you play.

I'd say violin! I find it a lot harder to play than flute or violin...

QUOTE (david_t @ Oct 30 2004, 08:25 PM)

I play both violin and piano,  I say on violin the difficulty is not finding the notes,  but the bowing.  Piano you don't look at the keyboard when you play.

That it may be (I'm not an expert at playing the violin) but I'm talking about unmatched difficulties. On piano there is no equivalent difficulty to intonation on the violin if you press the right note you get the right pitch (assuming the piano is in tune!). However, I presume the main concerns that a violinist must take care with when bowing are production of a nice tone and articulation; both of which are concerns that a pianist must also consider and achieve with his/her hands.

guyz can any1 tell me da scales & chords of addat on piano(keyboard) plsz..i badly needd em

Piano: 10 fingers, 1 foot !!!
Violin: 4 fingers, 1 arm.

Piano, piano, piano.

i voted saxophone. because i cant for the life of me get a note without a squeak. though im sure when i can it wont be so bad!
well i (properly) play cello and piano, i would definitely say piano. simply because its not easy to 'experiment' and make totally new sounds. like...on the cello whatever sound you wanna make you can make it, however you want. on piano, to a degree, its always going to sound the same.
and im just awful on the piano, so i find it hard.

I don't think there are some instruments which are potentially harder than other,
since every instrument has specific difficulities to play (otherwise, every people can play it!) and have relative strong and weak pionts to play certain kind of music. e.g, it is diff. to play chord on violin than piano.

Moereover, some people may have some advanage particular instruments.
Futhermore, great composer usually drive the instrument to its up most limit, so even piano is easy to play chord, it doesn't give you any advantages to play Beethovan sonata easier.

One may claim that piano is easy to play since it can be sound by a few years old kids, but it doesn't let you become a musician for only striking notes by a 3 years old kids.

Porbaly, anyone who play music of Bach in their instrument will find it difficult to play well

So, there are no point to say one instrument is harder than other.

Hope it didn't discourage to you guy, It is my point of view only.

Joseph, guitarist

QUOTE (Fayzan @ Nov 2 2004, 07:16 PM)

guyz can any1 tell me da scales & chords of addat on piano(keyboard) plsz..i badly needd em

ENOUGH!

QUOTE (fluty tute @ Oct 28 2004, 10:56 AM)

Flute aint hard once u get ur mouth rite it comes easily

Although, it does take a while to alter your enbrouchure to get a nice tone.

i'd say out of keyboard based instruments organ is the most challenging - due to stop changes, co ordination of feet, and the fact that due to the huge dynamic range of the organ, if you play a wrong note its really loud and echoes if you're in a church for at least a second or two!

horn out of the brass, because to play a note of the same difficulty on a horn compared to trumpet, its about 3 or 4 notches up on the harmonic series; so there are more notes on the same valve combo in a closer area than on trumpet or trombone.

wind is prob oboe, but i dont play any woodwind instruments.
same goes for strings

as i've said before....nothing is easy...the easiest thing has always appeared to be the most difficult ones

hi everyone, this is my first post on here....I hope that I won't do something wrong or screw something up. I vote that oboe is the hardest instrument. I just started on that instrument so of course thats how I feel on it. I play many instruments and I think brass is harder also but my vote goes to oboe all the way.

Hmmm, as everyone made a good point about the piano (wich I chose, beacuse I`ve been playling it so long). I have to wonder, what about the cello!! Playing it round about 4 years now, I would say, in some areas its just more difficult to play oppose to the violin! On the violin, the notes are close to eachother (wich in some cases its a bid hard) but if you want to play on the cello - You have to jump up and down on the fingerboard like a clown and you have about a meters length to do it all in, have you ever played with your thumb??? Let me tell you, its hard!... AND KEEPING PITCH WHILE YOUR AT IT! I must say, hats of to anyone (me included ) who plays the piano - technically demanding in everyway- and the strings - musicly (pitch wise) and physicly demanding!

A humble pianist, and cellist

I'd voted organ as I cannot coordiante all my limbs very well but it probably is easier if you learn properly in a structured way.
As a few people have said french horn is meant to be pretty difficult because of the pitching
I think part of it is how good you have to be to get a good sound like violin and oboe you have to play for a few years before it sounds any good (with a few exceptions i'm sure lol) but sax or piano sounds pretty good within a few weeks

Double bass. It really takes a persistent person with talent to master it.

oboe/bassoon/double reed anything

gotta be oboe
*has just returned from a week away and discovered that she has forgotten everything she could play a week ago...lesson on Tuesday*

Otherwise organ, more than one keyboard and feet as well, that's scary.

This pops up every so often.. I'm going to say what I said last time (I think!)

The hardest instrument to play is the one you can't play yet.


Also, an instrument that is technically easier to play (ie Piano) will have much harder music to play on it, than say, a violin, which is much harder to get in tune etc. So it all balances out in the end anyway.

I would have said Trombone if it was on...it just seems hard because you have 2 know exactly where the positions are and i dunnoo, it's just wierd for me. Well it's easy for trombonists obviously....

I guess I'm not the best judge since I haven't played most of these instruments, but of the two I have played (piano and violin) I personally find violin more difficult. The piano music I play is more challenging but with violin intonation is so much more challenging - good pitch is much more essential in violin than in piano, IMO. Piano you don't need to worry about that at all, as long as your piano's in tune. I also find playing violin at high positions challenging. Plus I think the difference is more dramatic between a beginning violin student and a professional violinist than between a beginning piano student and a professional pianist - not to say that the difference between the latter is minor, but in relation to the former it is smaller. If you've ever heard a violin student in the first few months...

I voted paino but the difficulty of instruments depend on the person who is trying to play it, i think. Some people are naturally better at some more 'difficult' instruments and other people find them awful to learn. It's a personal thing.

The most difficult instruments I ever learned were the piano and classical guitar. The way the two staves are arranged is totally ridiculous. Can you imagine an alien arriving and asking why both staves look identical, but the notes are different? He'd think we were joking! Then you have to read both at the same time and co-ordinate your hands correctly.

Guitar was my first instrument and it wasn't for years till I realised how difficult it was.

Third most difficult, I'd have to say trumpet. Haven't played it for a long time. Not difficult to get an octave, but then on....!!!

I think that the oboe is a good example of something that is deemed 'difficult' because 'everyone says so', a bit like 'the british always carry brollies'...etc. What's difficult is getting a reed that is suitable. Once you have a good reed, it really isn't any more difficult than any other instrument.

Easiest so far are the clarinet and sax.

Steve

PS My comments are only about initially learning the instruments - up to approx grade 5. I realise that to master any of them is a whole different story!

They are all hard for some people I guess - I wouldnt even think of trying to play the drums - I would be terrible and i just dont think I would be able to move my limbs at different times to each other.
I learnt the bassoon in a week to a standard which enables me to play in an ensemble comfortably, same as with Oboe, but again, tone wise, I dont sound great but I didnt find them that difficult. I've been lerning the french horn for quite a few years and feel like I'm getting no where, and my fiddle playing never seems to progress very much. There are aspects of all instruments which are difficult to master, whether it be co-ordination on percussion or piano and organ, or embouchure control on a wind instrument. According to the book - Best instrument for your child, french horn is considered the hardest.

Surely it depends on the individual? E.g. a kid who struggles with co-ordination at the best of times but has an excellent ear wil probably find a string instrument easier than a keyboard or percussion instrument. Out of the limited instruments I've had a brief go at I found drums near impossible! Every instrument has different hard things about it so you just try to overcome the difficulties. I agree with teh quote about piano music, I also think as a competent pianist your expected to be able to sightread most things put infront of you, whereas as a competent singer or another solo instrument your generally given the music earlier etc. becuase people realise you have to learn it and work out wheret he dodgy bits are!

YES THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT...FRENCH HORN....THEN OBOE



I think the sax is easiest in that you can get a good sound out of it fairly quickly.... but much more to it than that.





am a beginner on the trombone..... it is no different from finding the correct position on a string instrument... I should imagine

its not that you cant play an instrument, its just that you dont know how too!

Out of the two on there I can actually play, I find violin so much harder than flute. Flute can sound great even at Grade 1, but I never managed a good sound on the violin! all the way!

Although I think it is impossible to class one instrument as the most difficult to play, I do believe that percussion is quite demanding, as you're expected to be able to play all the different percussion instruments (and there are lots)!

Sorry, but I have to disagree. My 7th and 13th arms ALWAYS get away with my harp playing, and these flowing locks get in the way of the theremin something awful.

good one.


YES!


As with any instrument...

according to the guinness world records book, oboe and french horn are meant to be the hardest.

having said that, i play oboe and cello, but i'm rubbish at the cello! i find woodwind instruments easier *shrugs*

I voted classical guitar because I have tried to learn several times and failed miserably. Despite playing other instruments I just can't play it.

Out of the instruments that I play seriously I would say that for me the flute is the hardest but I know that everyone finds different things more/less difficult and each instrument has its own difficulties. With the flute I just think there is so much to consider when playing compared to say the Violin or piano. On top of note fingerings you have to think about your embrochure, air flow and direction, intonation, breathing, tone quality etc whereas with the violin the biggest difficulty is intonation and bowing. I have to say I find the piano much easier. to me it is a much more black and white instrument in the sense that you press the correct keys and the piano more or less determines the sound that is produced, the player only has limited control. The main difficulty I have with this instrument is reading the music!

Heh, just goes to show: I find flute so much easier than violin or piano

Organ or Harp