Hi, I wonder if anyone could offer me some advice. I have played the piano now for 7 years and have reached ABRSM Grade 6. I am now thinking about starting a second instrument - perhaps the clarinet. I`ve been told that the clarinet is a fairly straight forward instrument and that I could perhaps teach myself. Is this true? Any help? Thanks

1. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE...I went from 1st chair 2nd band to 1st chair 1st band over the summer and I owe it strictly to lots and lots of practice.
2. Method books help A LOT for beginners.
3. DON`T EVER EVER EVER GIVE UP!

yeah i agree that if your starting your first wind insterment go ahead and do clarinet the wind use part is easy. I would suggest getting Rubank Intemediate method book. Its a great series but if you can find a fingering chart, your current music knoledge should be sufficant to skip the beginer book. good luck

Hey. I have also been playing piano for 7 yrs, and i started clarinet 4 yrs ago. Clarinet is a great second instrument. (it is one of the 14 i play) I say go for it. What would it hurt?

I like to say this is my 2 year of playing the b flat clarinet and last year my teacher did not teach me much but I basically taught my self. getting use to the fingerings are hard at first but you get used to it. I have gone from level 1 to level 4 it was hard but I praticed and did not give up and I had people in my school band willing to help catch me up because I just start my first year of high school and to get in a performance we must get 70% or more we are the best high school band in our city. But with your experience you should not have a problem.

G`day there mate. I don`t play the clarinet but i i`am trying to play the guitair and harmonica and i have a mate who plays the piano and he is very very good as are you i`m shore. You`ll have no Worries and i say go for it mate!

My second instrument is the Sax - I now have three Alto/tenor & soprano. I recomend this instrument because it will be your first wind instrument, a year after starting i was already on grade 4. Because you can read music you`ll rapidly get so good on it. Also everything is written in the Treble clef! I am a gambler but i reckon you are probably much much better at sight reading in this clef. Which also gives you a great high. And you can play the melody lines of things from your piano books eg. LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE came out a F****n beauty on my sax. Good luck on what ever you choose.

The clarinet is a great choice. I played piano for several years before getting my clarinet and I learned very quickly.

However, be careful if you teach yourself. Unlike the piano, you have to work hard to make a good sound with proper tone. You probably should at least check in with someone who plays the clarinet to make sure you are creating the right tone. The playing is easy, the only hard part is positioning the mouthpiece in your mouth correctly.

yah... u should play clarinet, but it`s not really good to learn an instrument w/o taking lessons because u could start practicing mistakes and then when u join band or sumthing, and you have 16th note runs (especially in Rondo Royale ) u r going 2 have a hard time because some fingerings will be awkward and half the books don`t show all the higher notes clarinet can play and most don`t show all alternate fingerings. I have a friend who taught herself, but she never made it out of 2nd chair(in a band of 2 clarinets, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone) and she never really played it anymore after she got out of the school in 12th grade, so, I would definitely recommend taking lessons over teaching oneself.

The clarinet is a good instrument to learn but its hard when you first play. Start with the begining book for Rubank or Accent on Achievement. Accent on Achievement is a good book for bands, but you still can learn really well for a beginner. I started off with Tune a Day for a Clarinet and that was hard. Im in my 6th year of playing the clarinet now, and yeah... good luck mate!!!

Its real easy to play now, im learning the really high notes, i didnt teach myself I had a teacher, but you could teach yourself with any instrument as long as you can read music. I also played the Keyboard for a few years before playing the clarinet and i wanna play the flute now!!!

The clarinet is a great stepping stone to all of the other wind instruments. You can switch form clarinet to sax in a few days. Apparently switching from the sax to clarinet is much harder and can take months. Also starting on flute doesn`t get you used to reeds. I`m not saying it`s impossible to play all of the other wind instruments starting on something else, but starting on clarinet will give you the best head start. After you`ve played clarinet for a couple of years, you can easily pick up a flute or a saxophone and be playing reasonably well within few months.

Anyway, the point of all that was that I think that you should play clarinet, especially if you want to play any other woodwind instruments.

if you what to play you hav toy play heard you hafe to what you whan to and dont go to sibley

um i don`t have any advice i just need it. ok i just started the clarinet about 2 weeks ago and i only know te g and f note. i want to speed up the pace but i don`t understand the things in www.wfg.woodwind.org/images/clarinetkeys.jpg. i also can`t afford any books (i`m only 12) can anyone help me?