Submitted 3 weeks ago by GrumpyCat@leminal.space to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Couple of sticks and an upside down bucket - you’ve got a drum. Add another bucket - bam! Drumkit! You’d be surprised how much sound and rhythm you can get from what’s around you using a couple of sticks. Get actual drum sticks if you wanna splurge. Listen to the Brazilian drums in Paul Simon’s The Obvious Child and just have a play. So much fun!
cowbell. could always use more cowbell. seriously IDK.
I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more cowbell.
But then it really helps to be a cow in order to make it sound appropriate.
Piano. Yes it’s a difficult instrument to master, but I can teach a 4 year old to play Mary Had a Little Lamb
Unlike a lot of other instruments listed here, you can’t hit the right piano key and get the wrong note because you didn’t hold your fingers right, or held the bow at the wrong angle, or hit the wrong part of the drum head, or blew too hard, or pursed your lips wrong. If you hit the right button, the right note plays.
Yes and no… with a real (not digital) piano it actually does matter how you hit the keys. If you don’t press quickly enough the hammer won’t have enough momentum to actually strike the strings.
I believe this effect is more pronounced with a grand piano, but the same thing can happen with an upright piano too.
Mayonnaise
Kalimba?
Recorders are pretty light and hard to damage by mishandling them.
No, I didn’t read past the title - why do you ask?
I was thinking the little egg shakers
No. Please no. Learn another instrument and some music theory before playing a shaker. People can totally murder a piece of music with a badly played shaker, throwing off all the other musicians.
Kazoo
Harpsichord
Mouth harp. There is literally no way to suck at it.
Banjo was pretty easy to make sound good in my experience
From what I’ve noticed, “not figuring it out” is often either a question of fine motor coordination or poor ear training.
Other times it’s outlandish expectations from yourself. Your not going to be playing "Money for Nothing " by Dire Straits for a while, but something along the lines of “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley is probably achievable within your first week.
Fine motor control is mostly just a matter of practice. Use a metronome and start SLOW.
Ear training in this context is being able to map a sound in your head to a finger position on your instrument. Again practice, pick a simple melody and try to find that melody on your instrument.
As for what instrument. What do you want to play? You could get any instrument in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to play that instrument.
I mostly play and teach guitar, you can easily get a reasonable instrument in the $300-$600 range. Sometimes cheaper.
Serviceable keyboards can be had for about $150.
To me woodwinds and brass seem harder than other instruments. If it were me starting over again I would pick Piano or guitar. There are lots of resources to learn and you can keep trying methods until up find one that clicks with you. Use a metronome, backing tracks, play your scales and practice in time.
Concertina.
That’s the perfect instrument for quick learning and then playing some complete music, not just a tiny part of it.
Needs no theory before starting, and you never look for the perfect tune. Only thing to really learn and practise is the coordination of both hands, and then for many songs you need only 4-5 buttons on both sides.
Unlike the piano or accordion, the variant with the round buttons has all the harmonies prepared for you.
Why not harmonica? They’re likewise keyed instruments and can be taken anywhere.
I’d argue though that the easiest instrument to pick up is a stick.
The easiest to learn music theory from? Any keyboard based instrument (piano, concertina, accordion, harmonica (virtual keys), autoharp, etc.). Bells, glockenspiels, vibraphones and xylophones are pretty easy too, but you need the aforementioned sticks as well.
I was told that the balalaika is what you play when you’re too drunk to play guitar.
Anyway here’s “Shooting Me Softly” from Rayman Origins for all the kazoo fans - m.youtube.com/watch?v=thsJg1LP46A
Honestly, stick with piano or guitar if your aim is to cover something. Try drums if you’re happy to let that goal slide, as it’s actually significantly different from most other instruments
Are you planning to get a teacher or are you planning to teach yourself? One is likely going to take you a much longer time than the other to get to an equivalent level of skill (take that from someone who did it the hard way)
As someone who’s been a drummer for over 30 years, let me say that drummers very much cover other drummers. Most of my drum practice has been practicing other drummers’ patterns and techniques.
But percussion is generally more rewarding than limiting yourself to an 8-piece drum kit or a cahone. Piano is a percussion instrument after all. But my favourite percussion instrument is the djembe — really versatile drum once you learn how to use it. Second favourite is kettle drums — but they’re rather niche.
Things I recommend a beginner percussionist avoid are tambourines and shakers. They’re easy to play badly, and you really need to master rhythm before you can make them sound good.
Drummers covering other drummers is a very popular scene on Youtube. Check out Alex Rudinger to start and just go down the rabbit hole.
I’ve been told a mandolin is dead easy to pick up.
And the hippie mums dig it.
Guitar honestly isn’t that hard
mitch@piefed.mitch.science 3 weeks ago
I thought that Ukulele was a pretty nice way to learn the foundations of string instruments
BlackJerseyGiant@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Much easier to pick up than a piano, for sure. Pianos are very heavy.
mitch@piefed.mitch.science 3 weeks ago
officer, promote that person
mechanismatic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That note was both sharp and flat.
DrDystopia@lemy.lol 3 weeks ago
Ukuleles has that weird tiny low string, it’s like a crocked toe or something.
On a more practical not, pun intended, why not some type of guitar? It’s a much bigger family of musical instruments and once you know one…
Echo5@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I picked up uke super fast, much easier than guitar since it’s only got 4 strings and they’re often nylon or whatever and not metal.