Top 10 Hardest Instruments to Play

I have played violin for 8 years. I was trained in classical for 6 years and switched to fiddle 2 years ago. Violin is definitely the hardest! It is an art! If your finger is even slightly off, the whole song sounds bad. Vibrato, drones, double stops, extremely fast fingering (faster than electric guitar, AND you have to bow extra fast to it, picking fast is EASY! ) Also, I can play some piano (easy, I never had a teacher either), mandolin (taught myself it and it is similar to guitar with strumming and chords and it is easy) and also flute (taught myself, easy. ) I also play viola and cello. Cello is also very hard! It is hard to go fast on and actually sound good! So I would say violin and then cello. And believe me I have experience! I am a teacher, I play at events, I am starting a local band... You get the point!

I have been playing the wonderful and amazing violin since I was six. I am seventeen now. And I am nearly not as good as some amazing people out there like my favorite artist of all time. Lindsey Stirling, a girl who is just AMAZING at violin, she plays all of classical, fiddle if you please, and... Dubstep. What more could you ask of an instrument that cool? I love to play the violin, and it is for SURE the most difficult instrument to play. You have to keep the bow strait, tune to the exact, you have to keep your fingers in the right places our you sound like a dying cat that is being attacked by a bear. You have to keep rhythm, you have to sit striate, feet in front of you. To make the notes sound even more extravagant, you have to vibrato, and then shift into positions that are very high. Drones, and fast fingering and bowing and double stops and trillings and playing soft as a butterfly's wings then BAM! Louder than a drum in just seconds. You have to be very talented to play the ...more

It is obvious that this survey is completely biased towards the guitar and piano since it is a common instrument to play and people want to protect their dignity. It is very clear that the violin is the hardest instrument to play and I am not biased because I used to practice with the guitar and the piano. For the piano, every note you press is "correct" while the violin can be slightly sharp or flat. Is there a lot more technical difficulty on the violin? Definitely yes (staccato, harmonics, plucking, greater difficulty playing chords, shifting positions to reach insane notes. ) Yes, the piano can be hard to play, but it does not measure up to the violin. As for the guitar, it is quite difficult to play upon a MASTER level, but most people play it to play mainstream stupid stuff like some jack johnson song. Definitely not hard. However, there are two things that make the violin much harder than the guitar: the position the violin is held and the bow. You would be surprised how hard ...more

I have played violin and a flute both. Violin is really hard because you need to find a right pitch, tone and style at the same time. It just annoys me when my friends who are in band (I'm in orchestra now) say that all we need to do is place the finger. Placing the finger is not as easy as it seems. Go up to 10th position and feel our pain. They tell me vibrato seems extremely easy, and many of my friends who have been playing for years cannot master it. Make your bow to sound a perfect staccato is not as easy as it looks, trust me. It's way easier to play it out of tune in violin and also it shows up with a snap, so I don't get why my best guy friend, who plays symbols in our symphony needs to complain. Honestly, all he does is count about 20 measures and play one time and wait again. I really don't know, but is it even possible to play symbols out of tune? I'm sorry if I sound stupid. Honestly, I love band and everything, but they should just quit saying how orchestra sucks, ...more

I have been playing piano since I was five, and I am currently in sixth grade. I have had a quote on quote "graduation" from prison and have mastered my book series, theory, and master's piano. I moved on to college level music, mastered that, and now I play Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and many other composers. I am able to look at something and play it pretty simply or hear something and play it by ear.

All that to say, how did I get that far? Practice!

I practiced for art least an hour, everyday. Piano came naturally to me because of the amount of hours I put into it. Let me remind you, my lessons were once a week for 30 minutes. Practice is the key tot his instrument!

Playing piano is strange. One of my favorites, the original Moonlight Sonata (First Movement) of Beethoven had a lot of stretching my fingers. Yet. The more I practiced, the looser my fingers became. Before I knew it, it cam easy to me, and I was running away in the keyboard. It's like you feet is ...more

I have played piano for 11 years, and it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to get to level where I am now. These are the two main reasons why:

1. There is so much competition on the piano, simply because everyone plays it and that there are many talented pianists. You can almost never find a musician who does not play the piano, and many people who are not musicians also play piano. If you tell people that you play piano, they will not be impressed until you sit down and play. Even so, it's extremely hard to stand out in competitions and eventually when applying for college. For college, you are competing against hundreds, or thousands of prospective students who are at the same level as you or higher.

2. Mastering difficult pieces by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, and Mozart requires all of your concentration. Your tone, interpretation, dynamics, phrasing, tempo, posture, personality, and even the way you carry yourself are things that judges look for. In advanced ...more

When you think of piano, you normally think it's a very easy instrument, right? "I mean, so many people can play it... It can't be that difficult..."

Now, this is where you fall into the trap of the piano. It is very easy to learn as a beginner, but it gets harder and harder to learn, and it is up there as one of the most difficult instruments to master. To be able to play two hands, both the treble and the bass, maintaining perfect coordination of both hands WHILE also needing to keep dynamics, tempo, musicality, etc all in good condition is really not an easy feat.

I have played other instruments before, such as string instruments. The piano is certainly not a difficult instrument to pick up as a beginner, because it really isn't that difficult to hit a key, or several keys. Certain string instruments, on the other hand, require you to position your hand at the perfect spot on the strings to play the exact note. Any higher, it's a flat. Any lower, it's a sharp. Despite ...more

People who say piano is easy because "you just press and it sounds" clearly haven't played up to a high level. You don't just press one note. Every finger in both hands must be independently coordinated- sometimes you are playing triplet thirds against leaping semiquavers between both hands. All while pedalling clearly, memorising these notes and fingerings, controlling the tone of each and every note. Just compare the scores of the hardest piano piece to the hardest violin or horn or clarinet piece and it's not even a close competition except for maybe violin. The amount of skill required to not only play Ravel Gaspard at home let alone perform on a different piano can't be surpassed. People play a few pop songs on piano and conclude it's an easy instrument. That's an insult to true masters of the Piano.

French Horn is definitely the hardest instrument to play. You can play practically every note without any keys down. The Partials are extremely close together. A high F and a high G, notes right next to each other, are the same fingering which means you have to use your mouth to move between them. Which brings in the lip trill, which is awful. My student teacher said it best when he said horn players have to have an ego, if you are the least bit unconfident, you will crack on about every single note. If you have the confidence, you won't crack. You also have to hear the note before you play it or it will be the wrong note/partial. Plus, horn has the tiniest mouth piece ever which are smaller than a bottle's opening. Then horn plays a lot of the wood wind stuff, like trills and running sixteenth notes and thirty second notes, which most of the time has to be tongued by double or triple tonguing. Also, the fingerings for notes in different octaves aren't the same, and we have about ...more

French horn by far is the hardest to play. It took my son many months to even get familiar with hitting the right notes. If you are beginning, it might be best to start on trumpet & get familiar with that before advancing to French horn. His band teacher told him this after a year of playing, laugh out loud. This instrument takes a lot of practice & self-discipline in order to really make the sound beautiful, but you can do it. This instrument takes a lot of lip control & blowing or you will be hitting wrong notes remember, there are only 3 fingers unlike that of a flute or clarinet. If a child gets really frustrated with, maybe switch them to a different instrument or maybe they find blowing into an instrument challenging. In that case you always have strings, drums, or piano. Music is beautiful- just don't give up on it.

I am a French horn player. I have played most of the instruments out there, and by far the French horn was the most difficult to me! However, my mom said I always had a natural thing with French horns, not to mention, all of my family has played the French horn; so I was kinda born into it! I have worked with a handful of major league conductors, and they all claimed that the French horn is the hardest instrument to play! And this is why. French horns have a tendency of close notes, now everyone is probably questioning it. Close notes on a French horn is probably the most hardest, because there are three keys. That's not it, because you have to use your lips to adjust the sound on a small mouth piece, however, on a violin there are strings and they don't have to use your mouth nor a mouth piece! Not everyone has the lips to play a French horn. Most techniques such as, articulation, pitch, rhythm, skill, and much more is probably other difficult and most hardest parts of the French ...more

I am 14 and I played trumpet 4th through 8th grade. My 9th grade year I wanted to try something different and I switched to French horn. I have only been playing it a few months but this is what I have discovered so far. The challenge with trumpet is strengthening your embouchure. Playing the French horn doesn't require as much strength as the trumpet, but the partials are VERY close together and hand position inside the bell is tedious. I will tune my horn, but once I start playing, I will be terribly out of tune just because of a small shift in my hand position. Also because of the close partials, it may take me 2 or 3 tries just to get on the right pitch. This is especially annoying when I need to start on middle C or the E and G right above it. I will admit this is not as much of a problem in the upper range for me. Even though the partials are closer together I can control the pitch better. The French horn requires much more precision than the trumpet.

I feel like this vote is off and too biased. Not everyone has played all of the instruments listed here and wouldn't know what to judge, they would only pick their own instrument, believing it is the most difficult because it might've been the only instrument they play. I've played, oboe, flute, clarinet, as well as piano. I have been playing oboe for the longest and still currently play it. I have to agree that oboe has been the hardest instrument, and especially the hardest instrument to start out with.

Even after playing for 5 years and practicing daily, it is still very difficult. Reeds are always an issue, and the $12 reeds you buy at your music store don't do justice. Most beginning players don't know and will continue to buy those disgusting reeds at their music store. A few go out, venture online and take a look at the custom made reeds online which was what I did. I tried a few online reed makers, ranging from $15 to $25 usually per reed. I never found any of them to ...more

Now, my vote may be biased because I have not played all of the instruments listed, but I do have some experience with French horn, piano, clarinet, and, of course, the oboe. Oboe is by far the most challenging instrument I have ever played. I love it to death, though. To start off with, reeds are expensive. And I mean EXPENSIVE. $15.00 for a reed that isn't very good at all. $25.00 for a good reed. $30.00 for one, singular, great reed. Or $35.00, depending on your seller. Keep in mind that these reeds only last so long, and if you're someone as clumsy as I can be, well, you're going to need a lot of money. Oboes are also very picky instruments. They need the right temperature, the right moisture, et cetera or else they just won't play in tune. Kind of like piccolo. Except the embouchure on oboe is much more complicated than piccolo, which is saying something. And the fingerings are crazy complex. They seem completely random, inconvenient, and all over the place. Oboes also put some ...more

This or French horn. There are far more variables to deal with, especially as an orchestral oboist, that other instruments don't have to deal with to anything close to the same extent. You're expected to be perfect at all times regardless.

The physical effort involved with simply producing a note is crazy.

It's also incredibly difficult to teach - most of the technique is internal and difficult to explain or its something you have to work out for yourself. It's simply possible to just shift a finger, change a hand/bow position etc. It's generally only when the technique gets in the way of playing that it's something you can actually understand how. And what to fix. Even then, it's not obvious.

Oh, gosh! I think this should be number one! I will listen to objections on my opinion. But... This is out of my experience. I do not know the ins-and-outs of the Violin, But I'll have my beliefs. I've been playing for about two and a half years. And although my band director says I'm one of the strongest players out of the entire 80 kids in band lessons, playing the oboe is just summed up to be difficult. Keeping the reed from breaking by keeping it moist is an absolute pain, and when they do occasionally break, they cost about 10 dollars for one, at least at my music store. But the oboe's just too special for me to give up playing it, its got a special sound to it that no other instrument can achieve.

The flute is by far the hardest instrument to play. Don't say it's easy, it's not. I'm in grade 6 and played the flute for almost two years now. I am in first chair and considered extremely gifted, however you have to work your butt off to play it well. The trumpet section in band say "oh, it must be so easy" but they're wrong. I bet the trumpets would pass out after playing one song, that is if they can even get a sound out of it. You have to deal with a dizzy feeling. It requires a lot of talent, hard work, practice, and determination. I stay after school for an hour and a half every Tuesday so I can practice. Then when I get home I practice for two hours. Every day I practice for two hours at home. I get finished with lunch early, then spend 15 minutes in the band room practicing. Believe me, it's very hard. But I love playing it because it's an escape from reality. It feels good, even if you are dizzy. You feel tired yet energized. I want to be a flutist someday. And if you do, ...more

I have been playing the flute for over eight years now. I truly believe that the flute has the hardest and most unique embouchure out there. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that violins and strings have a lot of work ahead of them, but truthfully they don't have to have the right format for their mouth. Also if on other instruments not all but most if you have the fingering and certain harmonics of the instrument down you can play any of the types.
This isn't true with flutes. Every flute has a different embouchure, because of the size of the head joint and the opening to the head joint.
I should know I had to change my flute four times well mine was getting repaired.
Also that is another thing with flutes you have to make sure you take extra care of everything because if you don't have a good well oiled cork in the right position in the head joint you will cause a natural note to actually sound as if it is a flat. If someone picks up a flute for the fact that they believe ...more

Flute need all of the correct articulations, a clear sound, and correct fingerings in order to even get a quality sound. That's not to mention the time put into making all of this happen. You also have to hold in an awkward positioning for long periods of time. The scales are a must learn and the tempo is usually quick and we need to be exact and sharp.

Also not to mention that just because our instruments are small people think that it's easy. We don't get enough recognition. Our instruments are also made fun of just because we have to hold them up and to the side.

I can only wonder how the other instrument players would react to know that we have to use more air than any other instrument... Including the tuba.

The flute is by far one of the hardest instruments to learn and play. Don't believe me? Try playing a sound on a flute. It takes nearly everyone at least about 30 minutes or so to get their first real sound on the flute, and about another four weeks of practice to consistently be able to make a real sound on it, and this is before you have even begun to touch upon intonation, good tone quality, fingerings, reading music, or proper posture. An instrument that take four weeks to simply consistently make a sound on it, and as you get into the high or low registers, you have to have an even more perfect embouchure (mouth positioning and shape) to even make a sound. It takes 2-3 years of hard practice before one even begins to be able to start making a sound on this instrument. Additionally, the flute takes more air than any instrument in a band, except for the tuba, and, in order to be heard in a band, flutes cannot simply play softly, they have to play clearly and loudly when they have ...more

I totally agree, I've played piano for as long as I can remember and it's a very intricate instrument to learn and play well, busting your brain over different melodies, harmonies, rhythms and other multiple voices that go unnoticed by most listeners in the background, and giving your music a personality (sometimes I feel as if I'm my own band or choir stuffed into one person). I can honestly say I've never had the chance to play the organ, but throwing in extra keyboards and having to play even more notes with your feet?! I admire you organ players and I hope to be able to play this powerful instrument someday!

Seperates rhythmical patterns at once, varying not only by hand, but by leg or even fingers. Coordination to where the keys are mastered to pianist level, then adding the feet, then understanding the stops, how to arrange them, the ability to leap out and change them during performance, understand the thumb tabs, and the toe tabs, what the different keyboards do, and how to arrange the different voices. You have several keyboards to manipulate, with both hands and feet, literally dozens to hundreds of voices to order, volumes to maintain. Piano allows for some allowances on hitting keys slightly, try that on an organ and the note will play and ring out through the church, allowing for no error. The keys must be depressed properly or a harsh chopping sound will burst from the pipes. I could go on.

Having only ever played one instrument beside the organ (piano), I don't know how accurate my opinion is. But I think the organ is pretty dang tough. I've been taking lessons for a year now and feel like I have made very little progress. You are doing all these different things at once: right hand, left hand, pedals with both feet, the volume pedal, switching stops in the middle of it. To put it simply; you have to really coordinate. I really enjoy playing it, but it is so tough. I definitely think it is way harder than piano (which I have been playing for four years now.) In fact, I probably would've given up by now if I wasn't so stubborn. Maybe I just don't have the skill for it, but I know I'm not the only one who thinks it's hard. I know people who have been playing it for years and say they are still learning. The organ is a beautiful instrument, though, and I hope to one day play it well enough to do it justice.

I'm a brass player, and some of my experience with the other instruments on this list is minimal at best. All I know is: I play the French horn proficiently, I can make a sound on the flute after a while, I can't make a sound on an oboe, and I'm decent at jazz piano. I also took organ lessons for a year, and for me it's the hardest instrument. Reading piano music is hard enough when you have to coordinate two staves and two clefs with two hands, but now you have to ALSO use both of your feet, and often play a different keyboard with each hand. Even if the music is simpler like a hymn and only has two staves (because the pedals will just be playing the lowest line), the coordination necessary to pull it off is maddening. In addition, while with piano you can let the natural decay connect notes when using the pedal or when they're fast enough, with organ you must hold the keys down for the entire duration you want the note to sound. As a result your key changes have to be very quick and ...more

I think it's telling what obscure instruments, such as the bagpipes an oboe end up on this list.

I wouldn't say the pipes are the hardest. With good instruction and a the obligatory practice, it is possible to become a very competent piper in a few years. The pipes only have nine notes, and there are not dynamics or rests, so in a way they are a very simple instrument to play.

But the pipes are incredibly hard to break into. They're not like a trumpet, clarinet or a piano where you can play simple beginner tunes full of minims and crotchets. You're straight onto quavers and semi quavers. Even slow tunes like Amazing grace have short notes. This is made worse because pipes don't handle crossed notes well at all. So fingering has to be perfect from the start. Because there are only nine notes, pipe music is decorated with embellishments - groups of up to six grace notes played very rapidly after each other. They require skill and precision to play properly.

Then ...more

This is very disgraceful that bagpipes are only number 6. As my instructor said a long time ago they are either 1 or 2 for the most difficult instrument. I've been playing the pipes for 12 years now and I still wouldn't say I've mastered it. In so many of the other instruments above this 12 years is a really long time to master something. I'm basing this off of getting to top end level. There are so many embellishments involved with learning the bagpipes and these are some of the hardest out there. Those are also unique to the bagpipe itself. Yes it has only 9 notes but add embellishments to it and it becomes a lot harder. If you add the drones that actually covers the whole entire scale of a piano cause the drones are each an octave lower than each other and the chanter. The pipes take a lot of air and maintenance. It is definitely a very delicate instrument and very difficult. Any change in blowing can make it go out of tune and you sometimes have to play for 20+ minutes non-stop. ...more

There is no way that this is the 8th hardest instrument. I understand the top two (french horn and violin) as well as oboe at 4th, but piano at 3rd?! Guitar at 7?! Flute at 5th?! Even the Harp should be higher! Bagpipes are definitely in the top 5 if not top 3 hardest instruments. With bagpipes you learn on a practice chanter for a while then once you master the chanter you move on to the full bagpipes. The pipes require more mechanics to get them to sound right than any other instrument. Then once you learn the mechanics you have to recall what you learned on the chanter and apply that to the pipes. It takes a long time to learn and there is no way that it's the 8th hardest instrument.

Bagpipes are definitely one of the hardest, for reasons stated. I'll say as someone who has only been playing for 2 years on the pipes (3 on practice chanter) that I'm amazed at great pipers-YouTube "gordon duncan" or "stuart liddel" and you will see what I mean. No doubt that any instrument takes years to master it (meaning play it very well); my partner used to play the French horn and yeah-that is very hard instrument to play. For pipes, I'll say that you first have to learn how to play the tune on the practice chanter, then jump and play it on the bagpipes (whole nother instrument) then if you play in a band, have to memorize it again with the band. The goal of a pipe band is to sound like one large bagpipe (sometimes they through harmonies in there too). Put that and have to march in sync and it takes lots of concentration and practice.

Keep in mind that the slightest over blowing or under blowing will put the drones and/or chanter out of tune. Additionally if you don't ...more

Cello is hard but has a rich, pleasing sound. Each instruments have their own challenges and such, but the cello has two major difficulties that combine into a very hard technique to master: playing the right notes in tune while having it in a upright position leaning against your front while sitting down. This requires a special form of hand and arm that can't be fully extended, unlike the violin/viola and can't be bent fully, unlike the bass. The cello also requires a bow stroke that extends your arm in a 90 degree angle but folds in like a wing while coming down. I've played all string instruments, as a symphony conductor, but I think the cello is the hardest of all. I majored in oboe, though, but other than simple techniques and sound enhancement there wasn't much to it. The violin requires a lot more technical efforts that take a while to master, and the cello even more than the violin.

In my opinion, the cello is among the hardest instruments to play. As previous commenters have mentioned, cellists must move their fingers great distances to reach notes that violins and violas can play with ease. Although the string bass player does have to move their fingers more than the cellist, their part tends to be very easy because of this. Many times, the cellos will be given the counter melody or harmony part in a piece of music, meaning that they have to play similar rhythms to those of the violins and violas. However, they have a much harder time with shifting, which makes their part more difficult. Another aspect of the cello that makes it difficult to play is tuning. All bowed strings except string basses have large tuning pegs held in place purely by friction. The basses have large tuning pegs with gears. Why, you might ask. Well, this is because there is more pressure on the strings of a bass then on the strings of any other bowed string instrument, as the strings of a ...more

Every instrument is hard, the piano is easier at first, because it sounds good and tuned when you press a key, to produce sound with a cello is difficult, not to mention the correct pitch. The cello has the widest range of the string family and the same or similar difficulties as any string players have. Nonetheless, even though the piano must be easier, the music pieces they have to play can be very complex, so, is it really an instrument more difficult than another? It depends on what you want to play. Twinkle twinkle little star is harder in a cello than a piano, playing chords is also harder, but, playing two melodies at the same time, is something unique and also difficult.

I play the cello and have the opinion that stringed instruments are more difficult to play than all others. All musical instruments are a challenge and good performance will not be easy. However, stringed instruments require two techniques that set them apart. The first is intonation: your fingers must be in the proper place to get a good sound, and the second is shifting: moving your hand up the fingerboard to play the desired notes. Combined, these two important techniques will make stringed instruments quite a challenge to play. In addition to this there is vibrato and things that must be done with the bow to get a good sound out of the instrument.

I play the flute, however I plan on playing piccolo as well in ninth grade. My mom played piccolo, she told me how difficult it was, I've met people who play piccolo, my best friend from band camp told me how difficult it was, and you know what? I'm not going to tell you that flute is harder, because I got the opportunity once to play it, and it is difficult. To all piccolo players, I appreciate your hard work, I adore the sound of your instrument, I was honored to play piccolo once for 5 minutes last summer, and yes, it should be above flute. You are all amazing and overlooked by many. When I tried out piccolo, the small keys weren't a problem, I actually liked them since I have small hands, I had to use a thinner air stream and like twice as much air as the flute. Kudos to you for staying strong when playing such a difficult instrument!

I play the flute, but I have to play the piccolo in one of my songs in band, because it has a solo. It is so hard because it requires SO MUCH air. It is so hard to play high, and I have to play way up high in the third octave, and it's hard to get the fingerings right because you hands are packed together. It is also so hard to tune. I am constantly out of tune. I have band first period so I put the piccolo together about 10-15 minutes before band and try and tune it. Even if the instrument is in tune how much air you blow affect how sharp or flat it is, so I still am almost never in tune. It also causes you to lose so much air, I almost passed out during band once. So I say piccolo is hardest to play.

I play several instruments - the flute, guitar, piano, and alto sax, just to name a couple - but out of all of them, the piccolo is definitely the hardest to play. It's like the flute... But worse. Since it's so tiny, it is so loud, meaning that the smallest intonation difficulty is blatant. And of course, there's the fact that even getting the notes out is always a struggle. You guys thought playing the flute was hard? (Which oddly is rated higher than piccolo) Right. Multiply all the problems, guys, and you get this little package. Air support? You need tons of it, like triple that of a flute. And then the air stream itself needs to be miniscule or you will be greeted by a terrible shriek that makes any dog howl.

Maybe the piccolo is not the hardest instrument, but it most definitely is harder than some of the instruments above. Seriously, guys. You must be kidding me. Why is the flute, drum, and piano rated above the piccolo? Just because they're common doesn't mean they're ...more

I say piccolo is the HARDEST to play. I play the piccolo (and flute, of course); it has its similarities and differences. Piccolo is the loudest instrument in the band/orchestra. It is the smallest, yet it takes the most air. The fingerings are the same. I highly recommend you use alternate fingerings for extremely high notes, such as the high Ab. High notes are stupid hard on piccolo. Notes on the piccolo are absolutely nothing compared with flute. You need very good lung power to play piccolo well. If you play with not enough air, you will be flat. If you play with too much air, you will have a sharp tone, so it's hard to find that "in-between" stage. This is all thanks to a different embouchure. It is shrill to the ears, so make sure you have your earplugs handy. I cannot compare flute/piccolo to other instruments, considering the fact that those are the only instruments I play well. Fingers are tightly packed, as well. I guess piccolo is recommended for those with smaller hands ...more

While I agree a piano might be one of the hardest, the guitar requires you to manipulate strings to produce notes. A guitar is harder than most strings because it has 6 string where most others have only 4. I don't think hitting notes with precision like on a violin really count as hard to do. Once you get good at any instrument, you should be able to hit a note perfectly without thinking about it. With a guitar it might not be as noticeable when hitting a note slightly off, but anyone that's any good considers this unacceptable. The violin has a small neck making it easier to play faster, so anyone who thinks needing to play fast is a valid argument is wrong. Some of the best guitarist play just as fast and have to move a longer distance across a neck and stretch their fingers farther. Guitars have all the same elements like vibratos. Most of the people who are voting for the violin seem to know nothing about the guitar and just think because it's an instrument they play it should be ...more

I am voting the guitar to be the hardest instrument to play. I do not have piano lessons, but can play many songs on the piano. So why is the guitar harder than the rest (it should at least be 2 on the list)? My guitars have 22 frets each, meaning that they can play 138 notes. That's a lot. Then we move onto chords. There are endless possibilities with chords, as they all come from the main chords - C A G E and D. So only five chords to learn, then everything will be easy? Think again. There are over 400,000 chords that you can play on the guitar. That's a heck of a lot. There are so many different styles of playing, so many different tricks to learn. You have to have dexterous fingers, and need to have a lot of skill to play the guitar. You can make people feel happy, sad, angry - the list goes on. And it's all with one instrument. The guitar isn't just an instrument that you can pick up and play. You can't say that because you can play a simple riff ( for example e, f, g and then ...more

I have played the violin, tuba, and the electric guitar, and I have found that the electric guitar is definitely the HARDEST instrument to play. There's the acoustic guitar, and the acoustic is harder at the beginning, but it should take a shorter time to master acoustic because it doesn't have as many tricks as electric. There are... Like dozens, maybe HUNDREDS of different styles, techniques, etc. On an electric guitar. I don't think the violin should be at the top. Have you ever seen a guy shredding ultra fast on a violin? There is also only one style to master on the violin: classical. Only a guitar has the difficulty of shredding, tapping, multiple styles and lots more. 24 frets and 6 strings is a LOT harder than an instrument with 4 strings. The only other instrument that might have the same difficulty as the guitar is the piano since there's so many buttons on that thing.

I'd say that electric guitar has a very high difficulty to learn. I've been playing for 3 years now, and the only reason I'm as good as I am is because I locked myself in my room for 3-4 hours a night. Once you get past the burning callouses and dents in your fingertips, there is still a very huge world of things you haven't learned. In guitar, the string arrangements are yet confusing at first, and hard to get a grasp on. Keep in mind also that guitar chords take form in shapes almost, and you have to have to have good muscle memory to do, unlike the piano, which all you do is separate your fingers more accordingly. And there are so many different scales you can use to solo, different chord forms, chord progressions, and picking techniques that affect the difficulty.

I've been playing the clarinet for 5 years now and its pretty difficult because you need to find a good reed, you need A LOT of air, you need to be able to articulate notes, change dynamics, and much much more. It's a complicated instrument. Its definitely not easy.

It kind of annoys me that clarinet is so low on the list of hard instruments to play. Violin is the hardest to play apparently which I do not believe but I wouldn't know because I only play the clarinet. I also think that clarinet is harder to play than the piano. To play a note on the clarinet you have to blow enough, hold the clarinet right, have your mouth right, and much more. But for piano all you have to do is push a key. Sorry for my rant.

Many people say it's really hard to play, but like anything, you need to practice. Don't forget, no one's perfect right off the bat! I've been playing for 5 years and it's not nearly as hard as when I first picked it up. Posture and breath stamina are key. When playing, you need to keep a steady airflow, trying not to puff your cheeks. Posture will help a lot with this, opening up your lungs and help you breath easier. To keep from squeaking, make sure all the pieces are lined up. Having the mouth piece slightly off could cause it not to sit flat on you lips and squeak. Although the clarinet does break into 5 pieces, it doesn't take too long to put it all together. Also remember, this is so its easier for you to carry around. In the end, I highly suggest trying it out, and not just because I personally love it. As you get better, it really has a beautiful sound and an amazing addition to any band or orchestra. Good Luck!

Honestly, many people make jokes about "Oh hey lets go play the clarinet and derp around! " It is actually a difficult instrument. If you look at a picture of one, you will see 6 holes on the front and 1 on the back. You will also notice a ton of keys. These have multiple fingerings for each. Also, saxophones have an octave key. That means that if they are playing, for example, low G, if they press the octave key they will go to a high G. On a clarinet, we have a register key. If we play a fingering for low G, it turns into high D. You have to go to a completely different fingering altogether.

Not to mention that you have to have your mouth in the exact right position on the exact right spot. If you have your mouth in the wrong spot on the mouthpiece, you will either squeak or have no sound coming out at all. It is an underrated instrument for being difficult.

I've played the clarinet for about 2 years now. I am very good at it but it can take me weeks before I get a song just perfect. I auditioned for my 5th grade honors band and when I got the songs I felt very intimidated. One of the songs was very hard for me. It was William Tell Overture. I couldn't if my life depended on it, play that fast. So when the concert came I just played as fast as I could but I failed with that song miserably. And even though I didn't squeak, there were some squeaks in the concert. You never know when you going to squeak. It's always a hit or miss with squeaks. And if you don't squeak and your your hand placement is off you won't make a sound at all. And since clarinets are quiet instruments, you need to be spot on. Clarinets are one of the hardest instruments I've played in my life.

As a 50 year old terrible guitarist I started playing drums about a year ago because it has been relatively easy for me to keep time in my head and on the guitar. I quickly found that that I had a knack for the drums and immediately enjoyed playing them. As I have progressed it is clear to me how difficult the drums really are to play well. I agree with everything said here about how difficult it is to play drums. Although I have listened to thousands of songs over and over now that I play drums I can really appreciate the incredible skill of so many "professional" drummers... Even on types of music I hate. That's another thing... On the guitar I would not think about trying to play styles of music I don't care for but that is not the case with drums. I would recommend the drums to anyone with an interest in playing instruments. Yes they are difficult and impossible to master but compared to some other instruments way more fun! Plus it can be a very good workout!

No instrument can be mastered. It is just not possible, but drumming us by far the hardest instrument to play. Drums have been around forever, anybody who hits anything in time could basically call themselves a drummer. People have been hitting things to a pulse forever, from all time periods, and from all parts of the world. This makes drumming not only one of the oldest musical forms, it makes it one of the most widely played the most widely played. You don't see some guy in the streets of Dubai, or a tiny village in Ecuador playing the Bassoon. Drumming ranges from very subtle and complexed brush strokes for jazz, and advanced double bass riffs for heavy metal to playing a marching snare drum in the cadets (one of the most widely acclaimed percussion groups in the world), or playing bells in a concert band. That's right bells, if you play bells you're playing piano except with sticks. ( right now piano is the #3 hardest instrument to play on thus list right now making drums at ...more

Playing the drums is much hard than you think. There is a lot more to it than hitting things. There's a STYLE to things, if you can believe it. And there's also an actually proven and true way to hold drumsticks! Did you know that, everyone who points with their fingers on the stick? And then again, there are multiple kinds of drums. If you're counting keyboard and auxiliary percussion instruments, you've got at least 400 instruments to learn. If you think drums are easy, please take the test my percussion teacher use to give me. Please explain to me what a snare drum is, how to tune it, how it works, and name every part of the drum in thirty seconds. Go! And if you can do that, then I'm impressed. Now get out your rudiment book and play swiss flamdragadiddle inverted cheesy taps with the eighth note at 180. After you've done that, you can say drums are easy. Thank you.

On a standard drum kit alone there are too many styles to count, which means another way of playing the instrument entirely. A professional metal drummer may play a lot of straight blast beats and have incredible speed, but they could possibly be lacking the independence and high level syncopation of a Latin or Jazz Fusion drummer, and vice versa. This is just one of the many things such as technique, groove, dynamics, and all around feel of playing drums that make it such a uniquely impossible instrument to master! There is just so much to learn and so many different ways to play, and as a reminder, that is still just with a drum kit, and not all the other forms of percussion.

The harp has all the complexity of a piano (two staves, multiple notes in both hands), but the additional plucking action really sets it apart from piano - you have to be on the note and prepare before plucking. Then, seven pedals, each with 3 positions to control the accidentals. But you have to time them exactly right so you don't get buzzing, and if you're doing them fast then you have to release them on the spring rather than putting them exactly where you need to. You have to build up your callouses on your fingers by playing a lot. Painful! And controlling the timbre of the strings is really hard too - I can hear how I want it to sound, but its hard to make it happen. There are 47 Strings! Violins have 4! Why is harp number 11 on the list - its only because not many people play it and vote for it! It should be number 1! (I played piano and oboe before starting harp, but now I just play harp because It's SO CHALLENGING! (But good).

As a professional harpist, I'd say that the harp is VERY challenging to play. First of all, you have to play a different note pattern on each hand simultaneously which can be an extreme challenge for some people. Next, when you play the harp, finger placement is very picky. You don't ever use your pinkies while playing and you place your four fingers down on strings before you even play them, which can be especially difficult when it comes to playing faster and more advanced songs. Lastly, when you play the harp, you almost have to multitask. In addition to using both hands simultaneously and keeping track of finger placement, you may also have to deal with levers or 7 pedals with 3 settings too. Playing the harp isn't as easy as it looks.

I have been playing the celtic harp (no pedals) for the last 4 years and it is very challenging---despite my having played the piano since I was 7 years old and am now retired. I have a degree in music, am a professional singer, and have taught elementary school vocal music. When I began harp, everyone said it would be easy because I play piano. Yes and no! With harp, one has to "place" all 4 fingers down before playing so one is constantly looking ahead--unlike piano. The finger patterns are very different from piano and hand techniques different as well--so sometimes I have to block out my piano hand technique so I don't try to use it on the harp. Like piano, one is playing different patterns on each hand--simultaneously and that's where being a pianist helps a lot. With both piano and harp though, if one plays musically and corrrectly, then even the simplest piece will sound beautiful and that's one's incentive to keep on practicing!

Belongs near the top of the list. Maintaining correct hand position, correct articulation to produce good tone, anticipating and pre-placing before playing the strings... Much more difficult on the harp than the piano, for example, although you can play nearly the same music. You do need to understand music theory because you can expect to do your own transcriptions and arrangements of things you hanker to play. Not so many composers want to write for us because a best seller might sell, maybe 50 copies.