Hey, I`ve been playing violin for seven years and piano for a little less than that and I always wanted to play an instrument like a clarinet. So I have a couple of questions.

1) How difficult, from your experience, was it to learn how to play clarinet? How difficult do you think it would be for a 17-year old to learn? Not that I am that age or anything

2) As a beginner, it wouldn`t be necessary to go full-blown and buy a ridiculously good clarinet for an unspeakable amount of money, right?

3) I was looking on E-Bay and noticed that there were clarinets in the $50-$100 range. To me, thats a very affordable price, and keeping the aforementioned question in mind, do you think these clarinets are worth buying? Seeing as how they are so cheap, one would think their quality is horrible or something. I guess I could settle for a crappy instrument for a while until I decide whether or not I want to seriously play the clarinet.

4) If the clarinets mentioned above won`t suffice, do you have any recommendations as to what brand or type of clarinet to buy? Or if you want to be really helpful, a specific clarinet?

Those are my questions, thanks in advance.

- Sean

A brand new good student clarinet like Yamaha 250, Buffet B12, Vito 7214 ..... costs about $350 - 450. These are good instrumnets for a serious beginner. You may also buy good used one from ebay for 1/3 or 1/2 of the cost.

a tuba player of my band started to play clarinet at the age of 45. After learning and practising for 2 years, he is now the 2nd chair clarinet player.

hi my first time on the forum and i am just waiting for my clarinet to arrive i purchased one of ebay its a blessing Bb i dont know any thing about them im just hoping its ok it was cheap £50.00 let me know what you think of them any any tips on learning to play it thanks all
steve

I have been playing for 8 years and i would say that you should go with a clarinet for a beginner that is in a moderate pric range. I started on a Selmer usa 1400 and still have it. It has been through a lot and it still plays beautifully. i would not trade it for one of the newer student clarinets because the new one tend to break a little easier. If you have any further questions you can e mail me.

I purchased a Yamaha 250 (B flat) for my girls last year. They played it a little and forgot about it. My daughter will be taking band (clarinet) next year in school so I decided I would break it out now, give it a try and see how long it would take to make a decent sound and learn a few songs. If I could play it I reasoned, I would inspire my daughters to try. I would also be able to guage what type of effort it would require to learn.
Well I must say that in three weeks I find myself looking forward to playing the clarinet each day. I just learned my first song Yankey Doodle and I`m learning aquarius now. I still haven`t learned any real notes {I don`t know where any of the notes are actually) so I am just playing by ear. I am already looking into buying a new mouthpiece (needed an extra if one of the girls got interested and my oldest is scheduled in school with it next year) thats my story I`m sticking with it, I have the yamaha 4C right now.

My Questions:

Are there a big difference in mouthpieces?

Will I notice the difference from a 150 dollar one to a 4C brand?

What should I do next to continue learning I am 45 years old and feel like I should have been playing a woodwind all of my life. But until three weeks ago I hadn`t played one at all.

Will my daughter be able to use a Yamaha 250 in her school band she will be in sixth grade?

Thx in advance Jeff...