what should i learn to play first?
My parents made me (and my brother and sister) take solfège and piano lessons. Among the three of us, I seemed to be the more capable and more inclined to music.
I do like piano, it's very versatile, but it's quite hard and I've never had the patience to sit there and learn for more than fifteen minutes at a time. Then they had this great idea to move the piano to the living room, where the tv was, so I couldn't (and wouldn't) practice when someone else was there (almost always). Then, growing up, my hands and fingers grew, and my fingertips are as large as the rest of the fingers, so I have problems hitting the white keys between two black keys. Then I went to high school and I had to study more, and combining these things with volleyball trainings was quite difficult, so I quit playing the piano.
Then my parents gifted me a guitar (they claimed I said I would have liked to learn guitar) but again, same finger problem: with a finger I hit two strings.
I still think they did the right thing directing me to music, because I can read and understand it (unfortunately cannot sing / ugly voice), but I wonder how things would have gone if they put another instrument in my hands. I see many friends of mine who play wind instruments, guitars, accordion... I mean, portable stuff, that you can play wherever you want. They play in the town band, but also together as their own band, during local festivals, wedding parties ad so on.
I would recommend a wind instrument, but since you say that you have nobody to play with, then I'll say acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar or, since I love it (and I like Eagles too), banjo. You can practice in your room without being too loud and disturb other people. These are good because you can sing while playing, if you can/want.
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In all seriousness, i would recommend guitar. And as far as destroying your fingers, after playing for a while you will build up calluses. I have been playing guitar off and on for roughly 20 years and have never hurt my fingers, aside from maybe soreness from continued play.
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also since you are looking for a beginners instrument you might want to go to a pawn shop for your first one.
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Voting Acoustic, Uke a runner-up.
something somewhat easy to start out with
Most of the common instruments are relatively easy to start with. Some of the brass/wind things are weird because of... I don't know... keys... or something... always needing to transpose things (I don't play them, but some friends do).
that won't take ages to learn
You're completely out of luck then.
Don't go into it thinking about that. Think about getting the basics, and knowing that it will take ages to learn. But the basics will take only a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, depending on how much you confuse yourself. Try to avoid confusing yourself. If you start to confuse yourself, and you don't un-confuse yourself within an hour of really working at it, move on, and try something else -- come back to it some other time.
If I manage to stick with it, I can always graduate up.
With instruments, it's more like graduating across than up.
The musical foundations that you learn on one instrument will mostly carry across to any other. It's the muscle memory and other physical parts that'll be what really changes if you switch instruments. And outside of something like bagpipes or rarer more expensive exotic instruments, the skill is about the same across the board. Even drums are a great foundation instrument -- rhythm is massively important for any other instrument.
Anyway, I am thinking more toward classical/folk music but also some classic rock such as the eagles and maybe some progressive rock.
Until I read this, I was disappointed that Piano wasn't in the poll. Either piano or guitar are probably the most versatile and accessible instruments in the world (maybe drums or the human voice too...). Piano will be very useful if you start recording things into the computer and want to create custom tracks of other instruments without the hassle of bothering someone else to physically record them. I'm mostly a guitarist, but I wish I'd gotten more piano chops earlier on.
Anything that won't destroy my fingers is also a plus (leaning toward nylon strings for this reason).
Nylon or steel doesn't really matter -- they'll both destroy your fingers at first.
Then you won't be able to play for a couple of days while you wait for the blisters to heal, and then you''ll have calluses, which will help prevent this from happening as often. It'll still happen occasionally, especially/mostly/only if you get out of practice, but once your fingertips are callused, it's completely fine. This is normal. (Yes, with nylon, it won't happen as fast.) But nylon vs. steel is really about tone and guitar setup, rather than finger care.
I didn't grow up around music much, and it's always a struggle for me. Honestly, I kind of resent that about my childhood, but it's a very minor complaint. I can fool someone who doesn't know how to play into thinking I know how to play, but someone who really knows how to play can tell that I barely do. Rocksmith is actually pretty decent. Tuner apps on phones are great these days. Try not to get too sucked in to online guitar tablature, but go ahead and grab a small handful of basic favorites to learn. I'm not big on the same genres as you, so unfortunately I can't make any good beginner recommendations there, but I do wish you the best of luck.
If nothing else sticks from this post, my best advice is simply this: keep at it.
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If you have zero musical experience, I'd say start with a ukulele. The tuning is different but the chord patterns you form are the same as a guitar, so your fingers will get into good habits. Yes a "D" chord pattern on the guitar becomes a "G" chord pattern on the ukulele but your fingers will still get into good habits. They are also cheaper than a guitar, so if you do decide it's not for you, it's not a huge waste of money. If you started with an electric guitar you are looking at spending money on an amplifier and a fair chunk of money to get a decent guitar. Sure you can get guitars cheap, but sometimes beginners find the cheaper instruments are more frustrating to play and it contributes to them wanting to give up. I started on a cheap nylon string and the sound from that was awful. The frets weren't lined up correctly so it sounded out of tune the whole time. It nearly put me off until someone give me a Taylor acoustic. A decent ukulele is much cheaper, easier on the fingers and you can learn chord patterns and strum/picking techniques on that which can be carried over to the guitar, mandolin and banjo.
Also I'd suggest you start out just with learning chords and playing simple songs rather than note for note learning on a complicated piece. If you use chords and then learn to pick around the chords and start experimenting with the notes that 'sound right' with those chords, you'll also get the hang of music theory a lot more than just doing what the tab tells you to. I know too many guys that spend all their time learning to play specific songs, which are great for party tricks, but they have zero creativity or 'jam' abilities. So as cheesy as it might be, learning chords is a better starting point than learning the lead line for your favourite song. Eventually it will become second nature to know which notes will fit into whatever you're playing and you can improvise like a boss.
I have played guitar for more than 20 years, and now play most stringed instruments as well as the trumpet and harmonica. I bought a cheap ukulele last year and when my two boys are ready to start learning I'll use that to begin teaching them.
Images for clarity on the chord patterns
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I wonder if this could be the first song the OP learns...
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First of all, you should go for any instrument that you are really interested in. I myself play the French Horn, which is similar to the Trumpet in many ways, but a bit harder to learn. Because of that, it would be pretty easy for me to learn Trumpet or other Horn-like Intruments. If you learn Guitar, you will probably have an easier start if you then want to learn other sorts of Guitars.
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I've learned to play piano and guitar all by myself. I think basic simple piano songs are a bit easier to learn than guitar songs. But you won't drag your piano on barbecues etc. Both instruments require splitting left hand movement and right hand movement but later as you progress with skills it might be harder to hit the right keys on piano as it requires more muscles involved. More advanced piano playing is much more difficult than guitar playing because you have to practice with whole body - not only fingers, hands and wrist but also torso, arms and even feet (remember about pedals). Guitar is easier to transport, also when you'll learn some basics you will be able to play almost every song with chords. Your fingers will hurt at the beginning though. The softest strings are in electric guitar, it is the most expensive though (remember that you will have to buy also amplifier - I think that's how you call it in English) and it's not as easy to take with you as an acoustic or classical guitar. You can always pick thinner strings to make it a bit better for your fingers. The differences between thick and thin strings are: different sound, thinner are used to play solos as they bend much easier.
Since you are into folk music I'd advice you to learn guitar.
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They say once you learn how to play piano you can master any other instrument really easy, but I don't think it's a cheap option so... guitar. xD
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I have been playing drums for over 10 years now and while at first I wasn't really that motivated to learn I stuck by it and haven't regretted it one bit (I only regret the fact that I didn't practice more from the start). It's definitely a great instrument. Even if it might take a while to get the basics down, but after that you can play along with most songs. It can really be rewarding. I would also say that the drums is probably the instrument with the most freedom (Just have to make sure to keep the beat). Other than that I would say the piano is probably a good one too especially if you want to learn to read notes. Wanted to get into the piano myself, but never really felt it.
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Ocarina!!! (I've always wanted to learn the ocarina)
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Now that we are into 2017, it's time for me to get off my ass and get started on some of my resolutions. One of these was to learn to play a musical instrument. Since no one in my family / close friends is musically talented, I'm asking SG for help. And here's a GA :-)
Betrayal at Krondor GA - LVL 1+
Keep in mind that I have 0 musical background other than faking my way through a high school chorus class a long long time ago and having once dated a girl that played piano... so looking for something somewhat easy to start out with that won't take ages to learn. If I manage to stick with it, I can always graduate up. Anyway, I am thinking more toward classical/folk music but also some classic rock such as the eagles and maybe some progressive rock. More inclined to learn a string instrument but I might consider a something else if it gets recommended enough. Anything that won't destroy my fingers is also a plus (leaning toward nylon strings for this reason).
Especially interested in hearing from folks who managed to figure things out on their own or taught someone in a similar boat. But if you grew around music and/or have tips still feel free to share.
UPDATE 1/10:
Looks like Guitar wins by a landslide. Which is awesome because I was pretty much really between Guitar and Uke in my head when I started this thread. Based on all the feedback I'm wondering if 'acoustic' is really the right one to start with (going to look into what I'm told is called 'classic guitar' as well) but now that I've narrowed to guitar it should be a lot easier to research. Thanks for all the feedback!
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