Ok I agree with everyone ! All of these instruments are very hard to learn like the Oboe, tuba, Volin all the wood winds strings brass EVERYTHING ! BUT, has anyone tryed to to play the Pipe Organ ? It is without a doubt the most complex instrument. The number of pipes can climb anywhere near the 30,000s. The keyboards or ( manuals ) can reach anywere from 2 to 6 or more ! Thats a lot to control... what about reading the music ? You must read 3 lines all at once each at a different tempo! Hey ! what about the pedals ? You have foot pedals that take years of practice to learn. You can not look down while you play the pedals. Maybe once in a wile just to check but you must concentrate on your left hand right hand and your registration ! The way the Organ makes sounds is through pipes but how do the pipes sound ? They sound through something called stops. Stops are what the Pipe is that you are pulling out. If youpull out an Oboe Stop then you`ll hear an Oboe ! Everything musical that you can think of ANYTHING AT ALL aplies to the Pipe Organ ! It is without a doubt one of THE if not the most difficult instrument to play and get the hang of !

i think flute is the hardest,not only because its difficult to start, but because the speed you have to play on some songs

TUBA`S KICK BRASS!!!!

Hahaha! Nice one, man.

one of the hardest instruments in the world to play in the world is a pair of indian drums called `tabla` every hit has to have a perfect technique and it is commonly played fast. It takes a lifetime to become good at and it sounds incredible.

your mom is the hardest instrument to play.

The GHB Great Highland Bagpipes ... is the hardest instrument in the world to master.

Its funny i have read almost all these posts, I played the violin for about 8yrs and got to the point were i was leading the violin section in an orchestra and the funniest thin was the whole time i could actually never read ANY of the music, you guys rate drums as a relitively easy to hard instrument to play or master. I dropped the violin and started the drums because it was shit to be honest, now iv been playing for 8yrs and i can say one thing that it is 10times harder to play the drums then the violin, and believe me mastering it is a work out, please think drums are for the violent poeple who have anger problems, so not true. Trying to get all four limbs timed right with such speed yet agility is extreemly hard. I look down on anyone who says drums are an easy instrument! Ok i havent played alot of other weird instruments but iv mucked around with bass and thats easy to pick up even the popin & slappin and elect is easy except funk so im not saying i know it all. And also they say drummers make the best manual drivers so i cant disagree with that. By the way i live in Perth Western Australia quite a beautiful part of the world. Now the part were i get poeple baggin me lol, let it begin.....Oh btw ur javascript is easy to get by...

I think the oboe is one of the hardest. It is all about breath control. It took about a year of work to get a really nice tone out of my oboe, but it was worth the wait. I wouldn`t recommend this for anyone at primary school age. I also play piano, violin, clarinet and alto sax, but none as well as the oboe which is my main instrument. I think clarinet and sax have been easy to learn as they take a step back from the oboe and blowing into them is a doddle.

VIOLIN

i`d half to say the frech horn because theres only three notes that u use and u half to comebind to make differint notes

Why are you people arguing on what instrument is harder. Do NOT ever ask anybody which instrument is harder, especially if they already play an instrument. It all depends on how much you want to learn the instrument. Any instrument can be easy to you, along with that it could be hard to you.

I saw a reply that said something about the triangle being the hardest (but of course, they were joking). The triangle could be hard to some people.

I think all instruments are hard to play and master but all of you that say flute isnt that hrd, well, i didnt think so either until i started playing Piccolo, then i realised how hard flute is, so i vote Piccolo!

C`mon guys, it depends on the person playing!
But I think no matter what, the VIOLA is harder than the violin! It`s bigger, more uncomfortable, harder on them fingers! (harder vibrato needed) and so on.

But OMG the viola is nothing compared to the French horn! I play the viola, piano, and French horn and this is the difficulty order for me:

FRENCH HORN!!
piano
viola

All you string only players need to take up a brass instrument for a change, then talk. That`s what I did and boy has my mind been changed.
I can`t talk about woodwinds though, cuz I`ve never played any of them.

Oh, and Coetz: if you were the lead violin in your section and couldn`t read music, that must`ve been one sucky orchestra!