Hi,
I've been playing flute for 7 years and I think it's time for a change. I have three particular instruments in mind. Oboe, french horn, and bassoon. Which one would be easier to pick up?...as far as fingerings and reading music and such?
I could really use the help.
Thanks

hmmm...
if you plan to stop playing flute entirely, I would say oboe. The fingerings are relatively close, and you stick to treble cleff. That being said, oboe is expensive.
I find though, that instruments with relatively close fingerings can lead to confusion when I try to play my origional instrument, that is why I dropped oboe, kept flute, and then added bassoon, whose fingerings resemble nothing.

Also, I've never played FH, so I don't know about that.
As far as bassoon goes, its tough, but rewarding. A flute player myself, I found this:
Bassoonists must learn bass cleff, and tenor cleff (at least)
Bassoonists must be prepared to spend a lot of money on a good instrument, and reeds
Bassoonists need to invest in reed adjustment tools, and learn how to use them
Bassoonists must be prepared to deal with comples fingerings
Oh, and it helps to have large thumbs...you have no idea how much you use them (both!)
Still, bassoon is very rewarding, and I highly suggest it. Plus- you can play the sorcerer's apprentice on it, and who doesn't love that?

Hey, I play French horn. French horn is the hardest instrument to play, but please don't let that discourage you. The French horn is a magnificent instrument that has an extreme range (well, only if your really good). They can go as high and sometimes higher than a trumpet, yet they can go as low and lower than the tuba. It takes ALOT of practice to get that good, let me tell you! I've been playing French horn for almost five years and I already can hit the extreme pitch range. But, you also have to have a really good ear for pitch. One of the reasons the French horn is sooo tricky is that there are alot of partials with the fingerings. Meaning basically that sometimes when you think that you're playing one note, it could very easily be a completely other note. Example: say you're playing a F on the French horn (fingering: key #1) that note that you get out could very likely be a D bellow it because they have the same fingerings. But, that happens it alot of other brass instruments too, just more common in the French horn. If you do follow up and start to learn the French horn, I recommend that you buy a Double horn (this type of horn has a trigger, making anything above a Ab on the staff easier to play if you use certain fingerings). I have a Conn 8Double horn and it's wonderful! Though I'm only in highschool, my horn is a professional level instrument.

I hope my information was of use to you!!!

I know these instruments were not really what you were thinking, but you should try Bb Clarinet or Tenor Sax. They sound great and once you learn how to control the dynamics of the tenor, it is a really nice sound. The other thing is, if you get sick of either, you can always try the other because they are basically the same fingering.

If neither are for you, I'd go bassoon. They are the big and expensive, but they sound AMAZING! At my school we have this girl called Maria who plays the bassoon and she practices at lunchtime. When you walk down the corridor you can hear her play and it sounds REALLY GOOD! Nice and woody and warm and happiness and smiling and ahhhhhhhhh......

lol. Hope this helps!

Well, you can probably already tell from my name what I am going to recommend. However, if you wanted to play the most inexpensive instrument on your list, I'd go with the French Horn. Although all brass instruments have their own special tone, I do like this brass instrument myself because of its nice round tone without being a blaring bass like baritone or tuba. The disadvantage to this instrument is that brass and woodwind embouchres tend to not get along too well. Either your french horn embouchre would overpower your flute embouchre or vice versa. The oboe is more expensive than the bassoon, but there are fewer oboe players than bassoon players where I live. In addition to this, playing oboe can actually strengthen your flute embouchre. This might go for bassoon too. I don't know though because I don't play bassoon. If you were planning on still playing flute though, I would go for another woodwind instrument.

I mostly agree.
However, having played both oboe and bassoon I have found that:
a.) Bassoon does tend to strengthen your flute em brochure. Mine got so much better after learning bassoon.
b.) Bassoon tends to be more expensive (at least where I'm from) so don't let that hinder your thoughts if you wanted to pursue oboe
c.) There actually tends to be less bassoon players in most areas. Some are abnormal, but usually the oboe is favored by many because it usually has the melody or counter melody. Not many woodwind players tend to enjoy the base line as much. Sooooo...bassoon could probably get you into college a tiny bit easier than oboe.

I suggest that you give stringed instrument a try... its significantly harder though cause you'd have to read more notes at the same time but its also rewarding

Wow, looks like you have a lot of responses to sift through for a simple question. People just love trying to recruit people for their instrument.

I play most of them anyways, so I can't be biased on that account. So here's a short lowdown from my perspective:

Flute is probably the easiest instrument to find one of, and the easiest one to find a teacher for. Everybody and their mom plays flute... I can see why you'd want to switch. XD The three instruments you mentioned though, are complete opposites of the spectrum. They are generally rather expensive and hard to find less than expensive teachers for. You can teach yourself any of the three and end up anywhere between fail and successful, but getting a teacher will steer you away from that 'fail' region.

If when it comes down to it you are willing to deal with all obstacles in your way, pick the one that you:
A.) enjoy the sound of the most
B.) enjoy the repertoire the most.

With bassoon and oboe, your sound (and life) will depend on these expensive little strips of wood that can easily chip or crack when you're most careful. Buying reeds at a store will likely make you sound like a MIDI recording - except with intonation problems. Learning to make your own reeds... will make you sound ten times worse yet until you figure it out. It's an art. You have to learn to make reeds like you learned that perfect flute embouchure. Only difference is that you didn't have to buy expensive tools to work on your flute embouchure. The good news is, once you figure the oboe or bassoon embouchure out, it's pretty easy. Oboe fingerings confuse me because it feels like a clarinet in my hands, yet it's fingered very very weirdly. Bassoon fingerings feel a bit more natural simply because they're so ruddy different. Also, with oboe you get to double English horn/cor anglais if you eventually become serious enough. English horn is about one of my favourite instruments.

Horn is my instrument of choice. Although you don't have to deal with those pesky reeds, playing horn is pretty much like training to be an olympic gold medalist. You have to workout every day and be careful not to overtax yourself. Your lips are everything and you'll spend years and years finding new tricks that both improve your tone and your range. It's almost like Pokémon in that respect! Learning is a very gradual process, whereas being a flute player already you'll probably learn much faster with oboe or bassoon. Be prepared for a lot of sucking at it for a year or two or more (however, you might surprise yourself!). Keep the flute for now if you want to go to horn, at least until you're decent at horn. Again, horns like oboe and bassoon are expensive, but you don't have to deal with reeds. Don't get a single horn. Just don't. The solo repertoire and orchestral parts can be very very rewarding, though.

Good luck on your choice!

Ok, so I play French horn, but I'll try not to be biased lol.

You've picked all (by all reports) of the hardest instruments, it seems
Oboe and bassoon too I think are particularly unique, however, from my short (I emphasise SHORT, perhaps 6 months) time playing clarinet, I found that reeds are very inconsistent and a pain to deal with, because its not always your skill that's in question, but sometimes just 'the reed playing up.' I have no idea of the cost of these though.
French horn is apparently THE hardest instrument, but I haven't learned enough instruments to verify lol. I personally really like its mellow tone, and - as previously mentioned - it has a very extensive range. It is, I suppose, hard to learn, and - at least where I'm from - you probably won't have many other people who play it in your area. But it is a beautiful instrument, as is the oboe and bassoon.

So all up, it could be more difficult to transfer from the complicated fingerings of flute to the simple ones of F horn where the embouchure is the all important skill, but oboe is often the base of any orchestra and bassoon no doubt a rewarding instrument to play

I am curious as to 1)why you think it's time for a change and 2)why you want the easier choice.

If you want to change because you are bored with the flute, then I would hope you wanted a challenge, which all three choices can be. Hmmmmmm.

If you want to change and you want the easiest, go with the Oboe. It's the same clef ledger lines, and similar musical lines. You don't have to make your own reeds, you can purchase hand made reeds from people/services; then just learn to adjust them.

You might also consider not changing, but just adding. I have no idea where you want to go with your music, but, if you take up Oboe you will have two instruments. And if you like musical theatre at all, you can later take up the saxophone and be able to play a REED Book in the pit of a musical production. Many msuicals are written for woodwind players who double, and it makes little sense to hire individual players to play a single book.