Which instrument should I play?
I'm 23 and I've never played an instrument past short music classes in school. I'm thinking about picking up the cello but they're expensive even on craigslist
Start with the ukulele. I swear to god it's the easiest shit in the world
piano should be everybodys first instrument
If you can learn to play piano, you can teach yourself, at least on a basic level, every other musical instrument. Its a great first instrument because you can visually see every single note. you can observe music theory in action
instead of playing a c, then an e, then a g and thinking they sound good together. you can play a c,e, and g at the same time and see the intervals between them and recognize it as a major triad
its the most OP first instrument there is. digital keyboards can be had for way cheap too. you can get a good enough keyboard to practice piano on for like 250-350 usd. you can even get free upright pianos all over craigslist if you have the room for them
Same question here, im between guitar and piano, I would love to be able to play piano, however, they are way more expensive and it would be impossible for me to travel with it. Guitars on the other hand are way easier to handle, i have around 2 months of experience with both instruments btw.
Well guitar and piano are the obvious choices. Cello might be kind of really fucking hard.
I want to learn to play the viola. I can already play the guitar, banjo, and trumpet. Are lessons absolutely required? I don't know if i have the money for that. Should I pick up a different instrument?
>>62001063
you can get keyboards that run on battery power, some can even use usb power but they're much less common. a 61 key keyboard is more portable than an acoustic guitar.
If you dont require 88 weighted keys you can get a keyboard for like 50 bucks, maybe even free
some of the best keyboards from 10 years ago are on par with the cheapest keyboards today. think about that for a minute. there were pro musicians shredding 10 years ago on the equivalent of garbage keyboards today. you dont even need features, most every cheap keyboard in the world has a piano voice
>>62000804
Guitar is piss easy until you get to advanced shit. You can do a lot with it, but you have to be a fucking legend to get any respect
Piano is the most useful, but can be a bitch. At least it was for me, I can't play anything without strings
Horns are interesting but other than a Sax you can't do a lot with it by yourself
Strings like Cellos are cool and cellos tend to get a mix of backing parts and leads which is nice. They can be hard if you don't have guidance when you're learning though
>want to learn how to play bass but don't know how to start or what bass to buy
these days lessons are not required for any instrument. I would pick a few different youtube channels that specialize in beginner lessons for your instrument and follow along. like 2-3 different tutorials
only difference with real lessons is that there is a teacher to hear you and point out your mistakes and bad technique. for a self taught you will inevitably learn some bad technique that will be irreversable.
pro-tip: many of the most famous instrumentalists play with what teachers would consider to be bad technique. as long as you perfect whatever it is you're doing, you can tell everybody else to just shove it.
>>62001175
bass guitar or upright bass?
for guitar I would start with the cheapest decend condition 4 string you can find used. and a super cheapo amp (like a 15 dollar amp on amazon) and just use headphones plugged into the amp. You'll learn pretty quick if you still like it, and you'll get a chance to see what it is you like to play, and what kind of instrument you want for your first "real, decent" bass. no need to waste away money for your first into level instrument, throwing away 120 bucks for a beginner instrument is not a bad way to go. better than throwing away $400 on a mid level instrument only to find out its not what you even wanted down the road.
Be careful if you're looking at acoustic bass guitars, they are extremely low volume.
>>62001188
Do you think youtube videos will be enough, even for the violin family? I play a few instruments and I learned, for the most part, myself. But I've heard that the Violin family is a whole different beast
>>62001291
If you play with wrong technique you will be prone to getting tendinitis on any stringed instrument. You will be way better off having 2-3 lessons so that you are set up proper. After you feel that you have a solid foundation go off and teach yourself more.
>>62001291
yes I do. you just have to keep at it and know the difference between what sounds good and what sounds bad.
for any fret less instrument its important that you practice with a tuner. playing consistently in tune is more difficult than you might think.
Another good tip is to listen to the pieces you want to learn like hundreds of times. (this is good for any instrument really). literally hundreds of times. it makes learning it loads easier, and you'll be able to spot your own mistakes which will be very important without a teachers guidance.
Just be prepared to sound like shit for several weeks. dont let it bother you, you WILL eventually get better. lots of beginner video tutorials by more than one teacher, lots of listening to your exercises, and TONS of practicing.
lessons would be a little bit faster but they require equal dedication and don't come cheap.
but seriously my best tip is to not try to practice something you've never heard before. knowing what its supposed to sound like will speed things up tremendously
>>62001380
>>62001392
thanks, I've been trying to get advice, but all I got was people telling me that its hardest instrument ever and it'd just result in huge arguments about what the hardest instrument is. I think I'll find a viola to rent in case things don't work out.
>>62001228
bass guitar. where should i look for lessons? do i learn tabs? IDK how to start
>>62001432
Any instrument is hard, it all depends on how hard you want to push yourself.
>>62001063
Guitar is so fun. But im biased since I play guitar. Guitar has a larger learning barrier, but gets significantly easier if you stay with it. Piano is easier up front but to master the instrument is infinitely harder than guitar.
>>62001141
That's just false
what's a good and inexpensive digital keyboard?
Get a synthesizer, its the fucking 21st century
>>62001533
that is not false.
>>62001606
the inexpensive ones are all used so it wont do much good to just throw out model numbers. yamaha made a bunch of keyboards that are decent and can be had for next to nothing today. "good" is subjective
>>62001291
As someone who's played violin for 10 years and am at a professional level, I'll just say that the violin is an incredibly difficult instrument. Anyone starting, wanting to learn on their own, should begin with either piano or guitar. Piano is best because honestly it's the most versatile. Violin is a beautiful instrument as well, but you have to spend around 8-10 years sounding like shit till you don't sound like shit. Barely. Guitar is also nice, but I had to stop playing because you can't play violin an guitar at the same time; it messes up your left hand "posture."
>>62001606
for playing piano the casio privia keyboards are the best value in keyboards probably to ever come out. they are way cheap and surprisingly good quality. casio is undeserving of its reputation for being shit. they have the lowest price point but great performance to cost ratio
yamaha also has good cheap boards
>>62001710
Also, forgot to mention, you can find pianos everywhere on craigslist for free or near nothing. Usually they need to be tuned, but that's like $70. If not, it's no biggie. Keep in mind you need to lug it home yourself.
>>62001710
Who did you study with?
>>62001753
A teacher.
>>62001432
anons advice about bad hand technique giving you tendinitis is legit, its a good idea to learn this part from a teacher throughout 2-3 lessons
>>62001710
this is truth. an unskilled ear can easily distinguish between a 'bad' sounding violin player and a more experienced one. same goes for wind instruments: flute, clarinet, oboe. the piano and guitar are a bit more tolerant for beginners and are also more conducive for learning technique.
another tip for music learners: record yourself. you most likely sound worse than you think you are.
>>62002135
This is very true. Although, often times that goes both ways. Sometimes you think you sound better than you really are. Either way,recording yourself is a really solid way of seeing where you're at. One more thing: If anyone here is/wants to play violin, please keep your right fifth finger curved. You have better control like that. There's this padded adhesive ring thing you can get from most drugstores that can help you keep correct position if you stick it on the top of your bow, above the frog. The world needs more people playing violin, but it takes a lot of effort. Probably twice as much as piano. As someone else said, take lessons for like 3 weeks to 3 monts, so you can at least get the very basics down solid before going on your own.
>>62001099
You could Probally teach yourself, I know bowed string instruments have the reputation for having a fairly hard learning curve but hey dont all instruments? Its all about the bowhold. Practice your bowhold whenever possible and you should pick it up fairly quickly
>>62001491
Yeah, I felt that not sounding like complete shit was easier in piano, also hand movements felt way more natural, but I did really enjoy both for the short time I played them, thing is I didnt put any effort outside the mechanical aspect of it (practicing the same 3 cords every day, hand placemenet, etc), it wasnt until this summer that I grabbed a guitar and tried to play some songs that I realized how fun it can be.
>>62000804
You've played no instruments, and you want to go fret less bow first?
Nah m80. Get yourself an easy one first like piano or bass, or recorder. Since you wanna learn violin maybe you should start with guitar, so you can learn to play in tune.
>>62001024
I hate to use this way to describe it, but its a fucking meme instrument.
So many pleb-tier basic bitch "quirky" girls and skinny faggot cuckold men play it and think its "hella f*cking epic" and play the same shitty songs at coffee shop open mics with it.
Just go for guitar.
>>62001175
Just get a Squier Jazz or Precision bass.
They're cheap as fuck and the recent ones actually sound not too bad. You can get one new for about $160 CAD.
>>62002845
I can confirm this. my first bass guitar was a Squier P-bass and it was a perfectly fine instrument to learn on. The electronics were a bit spotty but nothing a retard like myself couldn't fix without spending any money
>>62002921
My friend as a stock Squier P that sounds better than some MIM ones I've played.
>>62000804
A bit late here, but play the instrument that you want to play.
If you want to play cello, save up and get one, learning guitar, piano, ukulele etc. will just be getting in the way of what you really want to do.
If you do end up learning a bowed string instrument, for gods sake get lessons - a good teacher will get your technique set up properly and fix things that you'd never even notice working by yourself.
>>62002845
>>62002921
I can get a Dean Edge 1 for 100 bucks. Do you think that would be a solid option for first bass? I've thought of buying a squier but nearly 300 USD is risky if I end up not liking it
>>62003158
I cant tell you from experience as I've never payed one, but it looks like a fine bass to learn on, especially for $100.
