What is the Hardest Instrument to play?

I'm just saying that saying guitar is easy is a hideous generalisation and classical guitar is underrated.

It's underrated because the majority of music that has been written for it has been by second-rate composers. Many performers also seem to cultivate a Zen-like (i.e., boring) approach to playing, which I suspect is not exactly enthralling to audiences.

It's underrated because the majority of music that has been written for it has been by second-rate composers. Many performers also seem to cultivate a Zen-like (i.e., boring) approach to playing, which I suspect is not exactly enthralling to audiences.

Sorry, I meant that it's underrated in terms of it's difficulty, but in response may I remind you that within the last 50 years classical guitarists like Julian Bream and John Williams have had their performances watched, admired and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide, a lot of whom were not classical music fans. This would not have happened if there wasn't something enthralling to audiences in them.

As for the quip about second-rate composers, it's subjective, especially since the classical guitar repetoire includes lute music by Bach and Purcell (at least one of whom was not second-rate), As with all of these things, it depends on your perspective.

Also, just a small point, surely the 'Zen-like' playing style of certain classical guitarists would suggest more difficulty in playing the instrument, since this concentration would only be necessary if the instrument was hard to play? Just wondering...

Sorry, I meant that it's underrated in terms of it's difficulty, but in response may I remind you that within the last 50 years classical guitarists like Julian Bream and John Williams have had their performances watched, admired and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide, a lot of whom were not classical music fans. This would not have happened if there wasn't something enthralling to audiences in them.

As for the quip about second-rate composers, it's subjective, especially since the classical guitar repetoire includes lute music by Bach and Purcell (at least one of whom was not second-rate), As with all of these things, it depends on your perspective.

Also, just a small point, surely the 'Zen-like' playing style of certain classical guitarists would suggest more difficulty in playing the instrument, since this concentration would only be necessary if the instrument was hard to play? Just wondering...

No, I meant that many classical guitarists cultivate a dynamic range between pianissimo and mezzo-piano. Starting out as a mellow instrument to begin with, that tends to intensify the effect.

I'd agree that it's not an easy instrument, however.

For me, 4 Mallets Keyboar is difficult along with Marching Snare and Tuba.

Guitar and Double Bass pretty easy and Violin quite challenging.

That's my opinion

I've heard the oboe is quite difficult to play well. It takes very strong lungs to be able to play it and a lot of stamina. I think it's worth the effort, though. To me, the oboe has one of the most beautiful sounds of all the instruments if played correctly.

What about Trumpet or something like that?

(I know absolutely nothing about brass, I'm more of a string kind of guy)

Trumpet is not nearly as hard

Let's see..... I agree with bassoon.

I've heard the oboe is quite difficult to play well. It takes very strong lungs to be able to play it and a lot of stamina. I think it's worth the effort, though. To me, the oboe has one of the most beautiful sounds of all the instruments if played correctly.

aw, you're making me blush :) I'm an oboe player myself. The oboe is actually a very difficult instrument to learn but half of the difficulty is making the reed. You need a reed that matches your own embouchure. It's not really that difficult, but I would strongly not recommend it for someone who can't get private lessons. You need those lessons to learn how to make the reed, and so that your teacher at least can fix the reed to your liking. But all wind instruments require strong lungs and stamina. I'm still firm in my belief that the didgeridoo is the hardest instrument to play.

p.s. you're right about the oboe having the most beautiful sound <---- and not just because....ok, yes, because I play it

I'd say the theremin is the hardest instrument to play. Getting the pitch right and giving it beautiful articulation is a tedious feat.

Definitely organ. You play with your feet, you play on two manuals, there's no dynamics so you have to manually switch the registers, sometimes you can use feet to switch the registers if the organ has feet sequencers... So you're playing with two hands, on two manuals, holding the pedal with one, pushing the swell with the other and changing the register with one swift move while keeping focus on the notes.... Definitely organ :D

Your voice is the only instrument you can permanently break if you practice incorrectly, and you can't go buy another one if you do break it.  And you don't know how to practice it correctly and safely until... you've practiced!  Catch 22!  And no matter how well you "play" the voice, you can only practice so much in a day before you hurt your ability.  Violinists and guitar players develop calluses and can take a Tylenol and can keep going, and going, and going, until they get it right.  But I've only got so many low E's in me in a day.  If I haven't learned what I need to learn by the time I've used them up for the day, too bad about me.  Ditto high G's.   And you can't decide rent a cruddy voice at first, and then buy a slightly nicer one, and then buy a slightly nicer one.  You've just got the one you've got and you have to figure out how to make it work.  Mine is great for blending in small choirs and quartets, but it's a small voice.  It's never going to be able to cut across an orchestra for opera or giant oratorios.  I just don't have the physiology for a big sound.  On the other hand, someone with a great big voice can have real difficulty damping down the sound to sing in a group with people like me.  They will stick out like a sore thumb.  Some people have a big wide vibrato that adds richness to their sound, and some have a fast vibrato that helps their agility for fast runs.  You get what you get, to a certain extent, and your teacher can't really borrow your instrument to show you how to get the best possible sound from it.  They can only demonstrate on theirs, which is, of course, different.  

I've heard one of the most difficult instruments to play is the lap steel guitar.

Keeping your left hand straight to play an in tune chord takes a lot of practice. Without good technique it sounds like sniffing glue - whatever that sounds like.

Has anyone mentioned percussion? I don't think so. It may look easy, but the devil is in the details. Counting measures. All musicians count measures, but percussionists are the black belts of counting bars, expected to sit there sometimes for 75 bars or more in silence before they get up and actually whack something with a mallet. The conductor may give a cue, maybe not. It takes a lot of discipline. And they only get one shot. It's different if your part is important like the snare drum part for Scheherazade. And then there is the timing issue with your place in the orchestra and the loudness of your drums.

I personally think the hardest instrument is the piano.   The fact that it uses both clefs, so each hand has its own music range, and the dynamic contrasts you can achieve by playing it makes it on top of my list! :)

The hardest button to button.

- Jack White

Three hardest to play instruments I know , Jaltarang, Sarangi and Indian Tablas

This issue seems frankly erroneous

There are many guitarists, that does not mean it's easy play.

The key question is: How many guitarists play the guitar well?

And now you deduce what is "well".

You will die in a brain chaos before find out firmly

No, the harp has pedals.

Classical harp has pedals. :)

The violin and accordion are the hardest western cultre instruments to learn to play. So I have been told.

As far as playing a mastered instrument. hmmm..... :veryunsure:  Will it's not hard for a master to make it look easy.

Let's put it that way. :)

Edited February 27, 201412 yr by Musicstories

Violin is the Hardest Instrument to play . Guitar is easy to understand and Play compare to Violin .

I've noticed that for some, any instrument they don't actually play is "pretty easy".

   As for VIOLIN:

   If you have no ear for tuning, forget it.

   If you have fat blunt fingers, forget it.

   Then:

   You will need a teacher from day one to develop correct form and avoid intractable bad habits that will prevent you from mastering the instrument later-- primarily with bowing assuming you can play in tune.

 THEN:  add 12 years or so and thousands of hours of practice, and some measure of talent, and  Taa Daa!

                            Easy Peasy!!!

has anyone even tried Liszt's arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies (especially 9). The amount of stamina to actally play it professionally would be unimaginable. I just sight-read the 9th a couple times for fun.

I have small cold sweaty hands, tough skin, and fat short blunt fingers for playing both cello and piano. 

For cello, as long as you don't touch violin pieces, you're safe. As soon you start, you go down a rabbit hole of playing multi stops, harmonics and notes high as A7. (any of you ever try to play a touch-4 and a touch-5 harmonic as an octave and try to be in tune?)

Edited February 26, 20251 yr by Chemathmusician0510