Hardest musical instruments to play

I have been learning Spahish guitar (classic/flamenco) for less than one year and it seems it is really a hard instrument to play especially the right hand techniques, not to mention flamenco types (Solea, Bulera, Farruca ...)
But things are going better for me now

but it is still a really hard instrument.
What are the hardest instruments to play?

Hi,

I Guess its guitar only....

Learning a little basic guitar playing is not hard, everyone can learn to play some basic cords in a few days. The guitar is one of the most popular instruments. But learning to play flamenco guitar is ofcourse a different story.

I've heard that the horn is really hard to learn.

Ofcourse the big Internet has an answer to your question: What is the hardest musical instrument to play and learn to play & understand how to play?

The Theremin maybe?

Easy to learn but notoriously difficult to master...

Chris,
this is ture for all instruments

Andres Segovia died at the age 94 and he played at least 8 hours per day.

I Guess Synthesizer

Pah! That's nothing:

Obviously the skin flute.

Mark

One of the most challenging instruments to play is the cotton swabs.

marc: how do you play cotton swabs?

Monu Tripathi wrote: marc: how do you play cotton swabs?

See? Now you know why it is hardest!

IMHO, any instrument that has discrete notes such as Guitar are substantially easier to play that the ones that have continuous notes such as Violin. The reason is that the purity of the note depends on the location of your finger on the string. A slight variation will make you offkey. While this is not a problem in guitar because you just have press the string anywhere between two bars to get the same note. Flute is kind of in the middle of the toughness scale because you have to produce half notes with your intuition.

The ultimate instrument is of course your vocal chord! No wonder people like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi spend their life time in trying to achieve the timbre, precision, and speed, of the notes.

Paul Anil wrote:While this is not a problem in guitar because you just have press the string anywhere between two bars to get the same note.

Well, that isn't completely true because a wrong press between the bars makes a terrible sound.

John Todd wrote:

Paul Anil wrote:While this is not a problem in guitar because you just have press the string anywhere between two bars to get the same note.

Well, that isn't completely true because a wrong press between the bars makes a terrible sound.

That's not the point. Pressing between the wrong bars will still produce a valid note...a B may become a B# or Bm...both are valid notes, though not valid for that particular composition. But a minor misposition on violin will produce a completely out of tune sound. The margin of error in Guitar is huge (it as much as the space between the two bars) as compared to violin, where there is practically no margin of error. You either strike the right note or are out of tune altogether. The precision that a Violin requires can only be achieved after years and years of practice.

Another thing, people having very little music sense (practically tone deaf) can play guitar by mugging up the chords within weeks. IMHO, it's not possible for a violinist.

BTW, I am not a violinist

The harp, because you'll constantly be accused of being gay even if you're not. The flute follows a close second.

Yes Paul I got your point.
Your argument regarding the guitar is valid for bass and acoustic (country) guitar playing, those type aren't demanding but believe me, playing flamenco guitar is a completely different story.
Just check a couple of videos on YouTube (Paco De Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Juan Serrano).
Playing tremolo -correctly- on a spanish guitar is one of the most diffecult technique to achieve.
I'm spending literally a couple of months for one movement of rasgueado.
Any way, it is really an amazing journey

John Todd wrote:Yes Paul I got your point.
Your argument regarding the guitar is valid for bass and acoustic (country) guitar playing, those type aren't demanding but believe me, playing flamenco guitar is a completely different story.
Just check a couple of videos on YouTube (Paco De Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Juan Serrano).
Playing tremolo -correctly- on a spanish guitar is one of the most diffecult technique to achieve.
I'm spending literally a couple of months for one movement of rasgueado.
Any way, it is really an amazing journey

I just watched this by Paco De Lucia (came up first on the search) and I see your point now.

Paul Anil wrote:...this is not a problem in guitar because you just have press the string anywhere between two bars to get the same note...

When depressing a guitar string behind a fret, you only get the correct note if you are not "bending" the string at all. Bending is a portamento technique to transition between notes without defining intermediate notes. On guitar, this is typically a half or full step, and requires the player to hit that pitch by ear (as on a fretless instrument). Unintentional bends have the effect of detuning the notes (usually a quarter step or less), and are a common problem when fingering difficult chords.

Check this, one of my favorites
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_qzLH3FgxM

John Todd wrote:What are the hardest instruments to play?

Theremin