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The most complicated instrument to use or learn?.....

101.78.237.12
Posted on August 11, 2014 at 07:09:55
wangmr
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 don't know if this has been asked before - seems a pretty pertinent question. seems to me the accordion, by the looks of the musician.

thanks for interest.

roger wang

 

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RE: The most complicated instrument to use or learn?....., posted on August 11, 2014 at 07:20:48
Tadlo
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 I would say the organ because there are multiple keyboards, including one for the feet.

 

RE: The most complicated instrument to use or learn?....., posted on August 11, 2014 at 08:01:54
hesson11
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 I keep telling myself it's the guitar, but that's just an excuse for my pitiful playing.
-Bob

 

I would have said the piano, posted on August 11, 2014 at 08:56:01
Mike K
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 until someone suggested the organ, which I agree with.

I tried accordian as a child - zero success. I tried trumpet as an adult -
zero success. My problem was and is that I have to think about every note
I'm about to play. I have the same problem when I type on a keyboard.

Drums are another candidate - you've got all four extremities going at once.

But I don't think any instrument is easy. You've got to have a natural
penchant for playing, or you'll never really be good at it. And even if
you are good on your instrument, you've still got to practice every day.

And what are we to think of people who can play different types of
instruments really well? Benny Carter was not only a world class alto
sax player, he was also a very very good trumpet player. He was also
recorded playing trombone, clarinet, and piano. How different are
those five instruments from each other?

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

Drums are another candidate - you've got all four extremities going at once., posted on August 11, 2014 at 09:11:10
Awe-d-o-file
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 Only the good drummers do that, most don't



ET
ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

Physically you mean? You're there with accordion... piano can get extraordinarily complicated..., posted on August 11, 2014 at 09:27:06
musetap
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 also harp, Kora, all the wind and brass instruments (intonation is a bitch!), a Grand Organ, and... trap drums.

Learning how to divide your body and brain into four separate time makers AND
keepers is tough and if you get good at it you have to learn to how to be in several
bands at the same time and you still get things like this:

What's the best way to confuse a drummer?
Put a sheet of music in front of him.

Any instrument can get very complicated to play depending on how complicated the music is, how far you want to go with it.

Bagpipes can't be easy and even if you're a virtuoso (yeah I said it) no one will really acknowledge it.




"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

However, you've got the challenges of touch on the piano [nt], posted on August 11, 2014 at 09:55:43
Chris from Lafayette
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Organ is most complicated, but, you press down a key, you get the note perfectly., posted on August 11, 2014 at 10:39:02
John Marks
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 A four-manual pipe organ plus pedals and a huge variety of stops and mixtures and coouplers and expression aids is a candidate for the most complicated of instruments.

Indeed, before the advent of automated telephone switching exchanges, large electromechanically controlled pneumatic pipe organs were the most complicated machines ever built.

That said, you press down an organ key, and unless the organ needs repair or tuning, you always get the right note!

AFAIK, the hardest instruments to get a reliably good sound out of in terms of just the tone of the note and no odd noises, are in the double-reed family: Oboe, Cor Anglais, and Bassoon, and the larger variants of the Bassoon.

JM

 

RE: The most complicated instrument to use or learn?....., posted on August 11, 2014 at 10:55:00
BobM
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 I first learned to play music on the accordion as a kid, so I can't say that I thought it was hard. It's just the instrument that I played. Then I switched to the piano and found that while my right hand made the transition easily my left had had to learn a completely different technique.

I've made several attempts to play a full organ over the years, but found it was far better for me (and the listener) if I kept my feet away from the bass pedals and just used the volume pedal for emphasis. Drums werent all that hard. I think most musicians who have an innate sense of timing and the beat could probably play a basic drum kit with a little practice.

I've also played the sax and flute and some guitar. After playing keyboards for so long and dealing with their linear nature, and the ability to "see" musical theory laid out right in front of you, I found wind instruments to boggle my brain when trying to spontaneously compose (jazz). I had to think too hard about the theory, but maybe that would have become more natural over time.

But the hardest thing I could never do is play anything requiring concentration and 2 hands working independent of each other and hold a basic (non-singing) conversation.



A gentleman is best defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion ... and doesn't.

 

Moog??, posted on August 11, 2014 at 13:21:16
STEVE H
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Seems to me the most complex instrument. At least in the 1970's.

 

RE: The most complicated instrument to use or learn?....., posted on August 11, 2014 at 15:20:58
DeeCee
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 I would agree with organ... I took piano lessons LONG ago and enjoyed it but never had the time to keep up with it.

With any instrument practice and patience is essential. I bought a tin whistle and intend to try to learn that (but the patience thing is in my way).

I was inspired by a Grover Washington solo in an Eric Gale album.

- DeeCee

 

Interesting comment, posted on August 11, 2014 at 19:05:23
Mike K
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 I'll pay more attention to that from now on.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

RE: Organ is most complicated, but, you press down a key, you get the note perfectly., posted on August 11, 2014 at 19:12:55
Mike K
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Posts: 13976
Location: 97701
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 In the 1980s, I attended many, many jazz concerts at the Paramount
Theatre in Denver, Colorado. At that time it had a fully operable
full sized theatre organ. Whenever Dick Hyman was playing the concert,
he would always play 2 or 3 tunes on that organ right after intermission.
3 keyboards, godknows how many pedals and levers and what not that he
manipulated with ease to make that mechanical monster sound almost
heavenly! And, wonder of wonders, he could make it swing! I was always
amazed at his ability on that thing.

Fats Waller could also make a full size organ swing, and there are
recorded instances thereof.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

RE: Physically you mean? You're there with accordion... piano can get extraordinarily complicated..., posted on August 11, 2014 at 19:15:14
Mike K
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Posts: 13976
Location: 97701
Joined: September 23, 1999
 Some wag once defined an accordian as a "bagpipe with pleats". I don't
agree with that, but it's still funny ...

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

French Horn. nt, posted on August 11, 2014 at 21:33:34
David Smith

 

Double Bass - my instrument, posted on August 12, 2014 at 00:38:07
andy evans
Audiophile

Posts: 4382
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 Easy to play badly - very hard to impossible to play well.

1- For a start it's one of the biggest instruments you have to carry about with you so you're exhausted before you start

2- It's very hard to tune in the orchestra because of the low notes

3 - Even if it's in tune you usually aren't playing it in tune

4 - All the music written for it thinks it's a cello and almost nobody plays it like a cello. Even when they do, like Gary Karr, it doesn't sound like a cello anyway

5 - Because it doubles up the cellos and they go down to C it has ridiculous extensions called "fire escapes" or 5 strings which makes it a real monster and even worse to play.

 

Yeah - that's what they want us to think!, posted on August 12, 2014 at 01:01:08
Chris from Lafayette
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 French horn players have built up this mystique about their instrument over the years, so that listeners will forgive any clam that issues forth, as in, "Wow - did you hear all those flubs? Oh wait - never mind! - it's just the french horn section, and they've got an instrument that's SO tough!" ;-)

 

RE: Organ is most complicated, but, you press down a key, you get the note perfectly., posted on August 12, 2014 at 05:46:01
vinyl survivor
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Posts: 1471
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 If you want amazement, you should see Hector Olivera perform Flight of the Bumblebee on the pedals of the organ live. I was impressed. One of the world's best organist if you get the chance to see him.

 

They are all the same, posted on August 12, 2014 at 06:34:14
vinyl phanatic
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 That is because composers over time have learned what the maximum capabilities of every instrument are, and they have written to those capabilities. Granted, some instruments are harder to start, others are harder to maintain, some require more physical effort, etc. etc., but in the end, no instrument is easier or harder when it comes to reaching the highest level of proficiency.

 

Voice, posted on August 12, 2014 at 06:38:33
Pat D
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Posts: 12506
Location: Fredericton NB
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 You can't hear your voice the way other people do. You hear it from the inside, they hear it from the outside.

The way other people describe your voice is seldom very useful. I know what forward, back, light, dark, and many other images mean on other singers. Some other images don't even mean much when applied to them. Most vocal images have nothing much to do with how one produces the voice from the inside. You sort of have to guess at what the voice teacher or coach is attempting to communicate, and with luck, you might occasionally succeed.

If you feel bad, so does your voice, and maybe the right note doesn't come out. If you feel good, maybe your voice does, too, or not.
-----
"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser

 

RE: Yeah - that's what they want us to think!, posted on August 12, 2014 at 06:50:45
David Smith
 Do you have a reason to disbelieve? Ever tried it?

Dave

 

You said complicated, not hard, posted on August 12, 2014 at 08:33:56
jec01
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Posts: 1462
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Joined: September 22, 2004
 Many instruments that aren't that complicated are fiendishly difficult to play.

I think that the most complicated instruments to play are large pipe organs and large drum sets. This is partly because both require the use of all four limbs, and partly because they're all different. The basic outlines of a violin, French horn, piano, etc., are immutable and pretty straightforward: if it doesn't have four strings, it's not a violin. A pipe organ can have lots of manuals (the one at the Naval Academy has five) and an almost limitless number of stops (the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops lists over 2,000). Meanwhile, a drumset can have as many components as the stage will hold and the roadies can carry. See the link for an example.

Happy listening,

Jim

"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno

 

You might have the right take on things..., posted on August 12, 2014 at 10:10:09
genungo
 Different instruments are difficult and/or complicated in different ways. It may be that there is no way to compare one to the other.

Pat D made an especially interesting point, in that an instrument such as the human voice makes special demands on the intuition of the instrumentalist. How would you measure or quantify such a thing?

Asking which instrument is "most complicated" is similar to asking which man is the "most manly". Is it the weightlifter, or is it the marathon runner? One man is unable to do what the other man does, that is all we really know.


 

Did you notice the smiley face? [nt] ;-), posted on August 12, 2014 at 20:20:39
Chris from Lafayette
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Ooh! Good one!, posted on August 12, 2014 at 20:25:31
Chris from Lafayette
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 There also can be a lot of charlatanism in teaching voice too - for the very reasons you describe.

Good singers deserve a lot of respect - the solo vocal quartet has been the ruination of many a recording of Beethoven's Ninth! (There's always at least one culprit in there!) ;-)

 

I don't think I interpreted it correctly, sorry. nt, posted on August 13, 2014 at 00:16:45
David Smith

 

Yes! complicated and hard, too!, posted on August 13, 2014 at 04:01:45
Timbo in Oz
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 The musical instrument of humanity even just in speech.


Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger


 

RE: You said complicated, not hard / very valid point [n.t.a.], posted on August 13, 2014 at 04:15:57
wangmr
Audiophile

Posts: 2410
Location: Downtown
Joined: November 29, 2012
 .

 

RE:thank you for your professional observation [n.t.a.], posted on August 13, 2014 at 04:17:06
wangmr
Audiophile

Posts: 2410
Location: Downtown
Joined: November 29, 2012
 .

 

For complicated I'd add one more - bass clarinet, posted on August 13, 2014 at 11:16:00
David Smith
 On some instruments there are up to six different keys for each pinky, pretty crazy. Sound production is pretty simple but of course making it sound great is a different matter.

Dave

 

Actually even sound production ain't so simple., posted on August 14, 2014 at 08:23:20
Rick W
 The throat register and octave changes on bass clar. are considerably harder than "regular" Bb clarinet. At the time I started playing bass clarinet I was a fairly decent clarinet player (for a jazzer). It took me around 8 months of shedding before I got a grip on some of the octave changes and throat register on bass clar., and was able to avoid squeaking. Its also tough to play with facility all over the axe and get a big sound in every register.

There's a reason why so many classical clarinet/bass clar. players are knocked out by Dolphy's bass clarinet playing.

 

full size accorion would have to be on the short list, posted on August 14, 2014 at 10:48:31
Jay Buridan
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Posts: 10284
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 Just ask Richard Galliano

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

RE: The most complicated instrument to use or learn?....., posted on August 14, 2014 at 15:43:50
Kberube80
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Posts: 119
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Joined: April 11, 2010
 Supposedly, it's the French Horn.

 

French horn is a monster, posted on August 14, 2014 at 16:02:43
Jay Buridan
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 I switched from trumpet to horn in 10th grade and played horn through high school. French horn definitely belongs on the short list of challenging instruments.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

I believe it, posted on August 15, 2014 at 21:59:45
David Smith
 I used to play in a band with Douglas Yates on bass clarinet, when he couldn't make it it was really hard finding a sub because most bass clarinet players were terrified to put themselves in the position of being compared to him...

Dave

 

Yeah, he's excellent. I love his alto playing too - heard him years ago with George Garzone. nt, posted on August 16, 2014 at 08:32:10
Rick W
 nt

 

Oboe is the most difficult chair to fill in an orchestra..., posted on August 16, 2014 at 10:41:33
mwhitmore
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 I understand oboe players must spend almost as much time making reeds as practicing. (See "Mozart in the Jungle".) And the bassoon---even the best players "fart" occasionally. As to the comments about the French horn, how about the *natural* horn, with no valves?

 

"The oboe is an ill wind that no one blows good." (NT), posted on August 16, 2014 at 14:47:55
Kal Rubinson
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Location: New York
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RE: a thanks for most varied interpretations [n.t.a.], posted on August 20, 2014 at 23:40:08
wangmr
Audiophile

Posts: 2410
Location: Downtown
Joined: November 29, 2012
 .

 

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