ummm. I play piano, bass guitar, and trumpet, out of all of them piano is the easiest bass in the middle and trumpet the hardest cause of tone, clarity, and if u tounge wrong, like me, it obviously shows... but those rn't all the instruments and my sis plays bassoon which seems even harder. my friend thinks that clarinet is the hardest instrument...someone pls tell me he's way off track.. Overall though I think they're all the same...relatively speaking i mean ppl will judge ur skill relative to others that play ur instrument. u have to be able to shred on piano or improv relly well to be considered good and same w guitar. for trumpet u just need to play high and scream out high loud notes...so basically its all relative

ummm. I play piano, bass guitar, and trumpet, out of all of them piano is the easiest bass in the middle and trumpet the hardest cause of tone, clarity, and if u tounge wrong, like me, it obviously shows... but those rn't all the instruments and my sis plays bassoon which seems even harder. my friend thinks that clarinet is the hardest instrument...someone pls tell me he's way off track.. Overall though I think they're all the same...relatively speaking i mean ppl will judge ur skill relative to others that play ur instrument. u have to be able to shred on piano or improv relly well to be considered good and same w guitar. for trumpet u just need to play high and scream out high loud notes...so basically its all relative

I haven't tried many instruments, but I think flute and violin are easiest (those are my two main instruments..) although of those two I think flute is easier.

Of what I've tried (trumpet, clarinet, a little cello, piano) I find piano pretty difficult as the coordination and having to read and look at two lines is hard.. and part of it is I don't really know bass clef very well so that adds

String instruments are easy to learn at first but the music can get pretty hard like double stops or chords are hard to play on the cello if they go fast enough. flute/piccolo is the hardest to get a sound out of and a nice one too...Drums are not hard at all... reed instruments are easy to play...trombone is somewhat difficult because you use a slide.

clarinet?? NO ya my friend thought that, I told him he was def. wrong... pls do not compare pros just compare reg. high school kids... trumpet high schoolers suck... but clarinet hs can own and shred on any concierto or mozart piece. THERES TWO of them in my school, so clarinet I think is out, trumpet is easy to start on cause of 7 fingerings total but harder to play pro as there are changes you need to make to every note i.e. tuning slide issues, embuchoure changes, and it is extremely hard to find the right embochure, a embochure may sound good but with limits and restricition i.e. pitch, or tone but obviously oboe and bassoon seem to be harder. I would have to say Sarousaphone as the hardest instrument to play,, ha no joke pretty much a silver bassoon ...http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sarousaphone

HEY, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW A HARD INSTRAMENT TO PLAY, THE HARDEST IS THE ACCORDION, YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON THREE THINGS ALL AT ONCE (FOUR IF YOU COUNT THE SHEET MUSIC), THE BASS BUTTONS, THE BELLOWS, AND THE KEYBOARD, NOW YOU HAVE TO DO ALL OF THEM AT ONCE, HOW HARD IS THAT, LOL JUST LIKE A MINI ORGEN.

Shhhhh!!!!
my ears hurt.

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Caps key stuck?

The most physically demanding of the instruments I fool with is the cornet (presumably this would apply to trumpet as well, but I own a cornet, not a trumpet), which is why I say I "fool" with it: I haven't played it regularly in many years; it's too taxing on my lip.

In terms of accuracy, I would say the horn is the hardest. The partials are just so close together, especially on the F horn. There's also the difference in written and played note as well as the many alternate fingerings that make being accurate on the horn hard. In terms of expression though, I think the piano is the hardest. Perhaps its just my fingers being insensitive though.

As for the easiest, perhaps the flute or the violin. I just had to learn the fingerings and i could play a simple song in no time

The pipe organ is pretty difficult..so much going on

In terms of accuracy, I would say the horn is the hardest. The partials are just so close together, especially on the F horn.

Here we are verging dangerously close to a common and very silly misconception--which is not to suggest that the author of the quoted remark above is necessarily laboring under it.
Just to be clear: The harmonic series the horn uses is precisely the same as that which the trumpet uses. The only difference is that the horn is expected to go relatively higher. It is in the nature of the harmonic series that harmonics are closer together as they ascend, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with the peculiarities of the horn.

The compensation for being expected to go relatively higher is that orchestral horns traditionally specialize: First and third horns develop their ability in the higher range and second and fourth horns in the lower range.

My OPINION (and I play French Horn primarily).

The easiest instrument for me has been the Sax.
Double reed instruments are difficult, but Violin I think is the most difficult. If you don't have perfect pitch I don't see how you can ever play it well.

(someone mentioned Sitar -which I had the opportunity to learn in college and difficult -yes, but not like the violin.

John

I've always heard the most difficult of the wind instruments are the french horn and the oboe (or some other double reed).

The flute may be easy to play, but for most it's not an easy instrument to play well.

I think that the hardest instruments to play are oboe, flute, and french horn.
It's hard to play an oboe because of the way you have to produce a sound from such a small reed.
Flute is hard because of the different "embouchures" required to play higher notes (tighter embouchure).
French horn is basically hard with a combo reason of oboe and flute.



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I don't think that the flute, oboe, or piano are hard for me to play well, to be honest. The opinion above is for most people.

I would have to say that the baroque oboe is the hardest to play; I mean, look at old baroque pieces and see the oboe, and I wonder how those people played it.......

To me, the easiest instruments for me to play are the clarinet and piano, but maybe I'm just weird like that. I tought myself the flute (fingerings and all) without a single lesson (or a fingering chart), and I've been taking the piano for about 2/3 of a year and sound like I've been playing for like 2 years. I've played the oboe for 3 2/3 years and I play college level music, and I don't spend all of my time practicing.

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One last edit:

The violin is there with the baroque oboe in the hardest instruments. I don't know why, but it's weird for me, trying to hold a violin, 'cause it's so small and lightweight. Viola is a bit easier for me to hold, though. I can play a LITTLE violin, but not much, but it's more difficult than the oboe (modern) to me.

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Final edit for a while, I promise!

Flute is easy to start with, but it gets more difficult. I think that french horn is one of the more difficult instruments, but maybe I'm wrong.

Oboe is the easiest instrument that I've played.



That's just correction of my original post, no additions.

The flute may be easy to play, but for most it's not an easy instrument to play well.

Yeah, well, you can say the same about the piano. It's a bit of a trick for an absolute novice to get any sound out of the flute at all, whereas your pet cat can play the piano. But well? I think not. It's shocking how unmusical my pet cat is, anyway. No sense of rhythm, no sensitivity to dynamic gradation, articulation, or phrasing. And sight-reading? Forget it. On the other hand, he is not at all intimidated by the white keys, which puts him at least a notch above the late Irving Berlin.