My hand joints are getting better finally and I wanna learn an instrument. The thing is, I’m dumb and have struggled really badly with reading music in the past.
Clapping your hands
Recorder is one of the easiest to learn. If you want something you can use to accompany yourself, guitar is the obvious choice, but it does require some cramped hand positions. If your joints are still recovering you may want to look into keyboards instead.
For what it’s worth, I’ve found leaving to read music for a particular instrument is easier than learning to read it more generally.
Best of luck!
Bongos or cajon are so fun and there are a ton of videos online. Also, uke.
Someone with finger joint issues should probably stay away from cajon - it’s a knuckle-rapping simulator.
Piano
I don’t play an instrument – only one in my family who doesn’t – so I’m not coming from a position of any expertise. But, I’d think that it’d depend an awful lot on your specific situation.
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Do you want an instrument that’s portable? Do you want it to be something that you can easily carry around with you, something to use at home, or something that can easily move in a vehicle? I mean, a harmonica and a grand piano are pretty different beasts.
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How loud? Practicing an instrument can be kinda noticeable for people in the area, and some are a lot louder than others. If you’re living alone at a farmhouse, that has a different impact than if you’re in an apartment building.
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I’d probably play something that you like to listen to. I don’t know what instruments you like to listen to.
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I have no idea how much you want to spend. There’s a pretty big price range.
If I were going to learn to play an instrument, I suspect that I’d learn the keyboard so that I could hook a MIDI keyboard up to a computer and take advantage of that. I could just put on headphones and play it essentially silently WRT everyone else, whenever I wanted. And it’d let me drive a lot of synthesizer software. But those characteristics may be of no interest to you.
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The kalimba is super easy to play. Basically anyone can just pick one up and make something that sounds good!
It’s also very portable and basic ones are very inexpensive. It’s also nice to explicitly see the relationship between music and the notes when you’re learning.
What kind of kalimba would you recommend? I am dealing with what is probably some kind of auto-immune disease that’s attacking my fingers and wrists, so strong instruments would be hard, even now that my hands are getting better with the new medicine I’m on. My fingers are a bit fucked up in shape and I don’t have a super good range of motion. A kalimba seems like it’d be good because I can use my thumbs lol
I got a really cheap one off Amazon for about $35 and my dad loves playing with it and is quite capable even with his Parkinson’s. Just make sure you get one that comes with a tuning hammer.
I’ve heard it said that anyone can play guitar.
I play guitar. You’ve heard right.
Piano is way up there, not just because it’s mechanically simple to learn and understand (press button, note plays, always same note in same place) but because there are just massive amounts of resources to learn how to play. When I had more time, I had a lot of fun playing songs on a light up keyboard hooked up to a computer using Synthesia. I would download a song I wanted to learn (eg Moonlight Sonata), and the keys I needed to press would light up, so I would play the song bit by bit, building muscle memory. I was able to use a music sheet just to remind me of what my fingers already knew. Is it the “right way” to learn? Probably not but it’s fun and easy and that’s what I wanted.
The ukulele is pretty easy as far as guitar-like instruments go. The strings are nylon and there are only 4, so it’s easier to manage. If you like it, you can eventually learn to play the full guitar. And you only need to learn chords, not sheet music.
I second ukulele if string instruments are on the table!
Ukulele is easy, cheap and fun. Very great instrument to learn if you want to have fun without investing too much money and time!
practice. Nothing is easy without it. With it even the hardest is possible. So he question is how willing you are to dedicate practice time. Half an hour per day, every day for a few years.
Trombone.
You don’t need to learn finger combinations like on most brass and woodwinds, nor chords like piano and other string instruments. Just the 7 positions the slide can be at. Blow a raspberry and the note comes out.
Trumpet is similar but a lot easier to store and transport. Also those three valves are pretty much the same amongst other brass instruments like French horn, baritone, tuba, etc. so you can move between instruments if you choose.
As someone who could never get used to just kinda eyeballing where a note is supposed to be, I strongly disagree about the trombone.
You could have marked your slide, but also if you can’t hear when a note isn’t right you’re doing music on hard mode.
The problem with hearing when a note isn’t right is that by the time you hear it you’ve already played it…
I have to stop you there. Fingering for french horn is different from the other valved brass.
It sorta is. It’s also sorta not.
I wouldn’t recommend French Horn to most people as a first instrument without a good instructor.
Because of the rotary valves and trigger? Or for some other reason?
If that’s the only difference you’re calling out, it’s worth noting rotary valves and triggers show up on other instruments as well. In particular, tubas often have rotary valves, and it’s not uncommon to see trigger valves on trombones.
Having played both piston valves and rotary, the difference is negligible.
The fingerings are different. Playing one just doesn’t mean you can automatically switch back and forth.
Banjo has light action.
Damn, I got down voted for telling the truth. Banjo uses light strings, and if set up well has low action. Also since only 4 strings are fingered, chords are not the pretzels guitar chords are. Y’all know every instrument can be used to play any kind of music, right? What’s with the banjo hate?
Banjo’s got a general bad rap from it’s portrayal in many movies and shows. It is also a very different sound than guitar which a good number of people find discordant (it’s also easier to make it be loud and discordant, which happens with new players).
Well done banjo is just fine, but there’s a knee jerk negative response to its name.
It’s a shame. It’s a super fun instrument. Mine has spoiled me. My guitars feel huge after playing it
I hear you. I’m a ukulele player at times, so we’re in the same weight class.
Harmonica or accordion.
I don’t know about easy to be expert, but you can have a lot of fun learning and playing simplified versions of pop songs on a basic guitar. IMHO, every household should have one.
Piano/Keyboard
