tangimango
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My friend said piano was easier to play and learn compared to the ukulele or guitar
easier to play, piano or ukulele?
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Dane
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Piano is often used to explain musical theory to people because the way its laid out makes sense and it's easy to see.
I don't believe it's easier though. It's different. But with a guitar you are using both hands to play a note, where on piano you are using each hand for a different part of the music. Left hand is playing one thing while right hand is playing another. It's not so easy to compare the two. Quite different. I believe there are more "techniques" available to stringed instrument players though, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, percussion, harmonics, false-harmonics, string slaps, etc etc.
Also, some people understand certain instruments easier, and pick it up faster. You might give 3 people each an accordion, a flute, and a guitar... then find out they didn't all find the same one "easiest"
Piano is easier for playing. The notes are all in a line, and you don't need to trim your fingernails.
However, I found it difficult to take my piano to the beach. It kept sinking into the sand. So I got a ukulele.
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But seriously - - - a piano is much easier to play if one wishes to play melodies & accompany them at the same time. A uke is easy if all one wishes to do is bang out chords, but picking out melodies AND accompanying them on a uke is NOT easy. At least for me it isn't. Your mileage may differ.
However, I found it difficult to take my piano to the beach. It kept sinking into the sand. So I got a ukulele.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But seriously - - - a piano is much easier to play if one wishes to play melodies & accompany them at the same time. A uke is easy if all one wishes to do is bang out chords, but picking out melodies AND accompanying them on a uke is NOT easy. At least for me it isn't. Your mileage may differ.
The Big Kahuna
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ichadwick
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I think it's more inclination than either one being "difficult." They are generally (the video above notwithstanding) quite different styles of play. You can play easy guitar - just chords - probably sooner than you can play easy, two-handed songs on the piano. But you can't play stride music or boogie woogie on the guitar very well.
I find the coordination required for keyboard confounds me: I can get the right hand working, but my left hand keeps wanting to turn over and grip something. Maybe too many years playing guitar/uke has done that.
I find the coordination required for keyboard confounds me: I can get the right hand working, but my left hand keeps wanting to turn over and grip something. Maybe too many years playing guitar/uke has done that.
peanuts56
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If you want to make music the easy way, play a cd or turn on the radio. Any instrument,whether it's a djembe, ukulele, piano or harmonica take dedication and patience. Dizzy Gillespie once said,"you spend a lifetime trying to master an instrument, in the end it masters you"
When in doubt, practice!!!!!!!!
When in doubt, practice!!!!!!!!
OldePhart
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I think it's probably a wash (my wife plays piano, I play guitar, bass, and uke). I can find my way around a keyboard but not well enough to call it playing. I think I could learn it pretty quickly though, were I so inclined. Piano and stringed instruments are entirely different though, requiring different skills to play beyond the beginner level. The piano keyboard is a great help for learning theory because the intervals that form the basis of western music are so clearly displayed in black and white.
John
John
stevepetergal
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In my experience, it's equally easy to play either badly.
SailQwest
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Hahaha, it's not even close. Ukulele is waaaay easier to learn and play than piano. I'm not sure about guitar (I am not now, nor have I ever been, a guitar player) but I imagine it's still much easier than piano.
Just acquiring the skills needed to read piano music well enough to play a very simple piece requires a lot of time and effort.
A beginning uker should be able play through a simple 2 or 3 chord song within an hour. (I would imagine that's it's similar with a guitar beginner.)
coolkayaker1
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There's no question in my mind: a hurdy gurdy is harder to play any intelligible music on than either a ukulele or a piano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlIbMA6VFA
Played by a novice, a hurdy gurdy sounds like a dentist's drill.
(note: the young lady in the video is a hurdy gurdy veteran master, and thus there is some semblance of a song somewhere in there if one listens really hard as they would to a railroad track for an oncoming train; mandatory to hearing a tune is to clear the mind of everything else, such as the kids screaming in the back seat of the minivan (which can easily be confused for a hurdy gurdy to the untrained ear)).
(No offense whatsoever intended by this post to the lovely, unbathed people on Hurdy Gurdy Underground, btw.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlIbMA6VFA
Played by a novice, a hurdy gurdy sounds like a dentist's drill.
(note: the young lady in the video is a hurdy gurdy veteran master, and thus there is some semblance of a song somewhere in there if one listens really hard as they would to a railroad track for an oncoming train; mandatory to hearing a tune is to clear the mind of everything else, such as the kids screaming in the back seat of the minivan (which can easily be confused for a hurdy gurdy to the untrained ear)).
(No offense whatsoever intended by this post to the lovely, unbathed people on Hurdy Gurdy Underground, btw.)
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janeray1940
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This exactly
I've actually learned far more theory on ukulele as an adult than I ever did on piano as a kid, but I'm going to credit that more to maturity and to having a good instructor than to ukulele being easier to play. I think both are equally difficult to play well.
Dane
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That can be said for a lot of instruments. Ever heard a novice play a violin? It sounds like someone is lighting cats on fire and throwing them off an overpass into oncoming traffic.
I'd never heard of a Hurdy Gurdy before, thanks for sharing
OldePhart
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Ahhh...but that is where you are comparing apples and oranges! If you compare strumming three chord accompaniment on ukulele (or guitar) to playing a piano from sheet music the uke or guitar is going to be hands down easier. But, one can learn to play piano accompaniment with no ability to sight read just as easily as one can learn to strum and "roll" on a uke.
The comparison for the person who is sight reading and playing sheet music on piano would have to be compared to the ukulele soloist doing similar technique. When you get into that realm, the ukulele (or guitar) is probably far harder than piano - you have to convey the impression of a complex piece of music using only four notes at a time and a range of about 3 octaves where a good pianist can pretty easily have six, eight, or more than a dozen if they're letting notes sustain - and spread them across 7 octaves!
John
OldePhart
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Played by an expert, a hurdy gurdy sounds like a dentist's drill run through an auto-tune...
John
iamesperambient
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I took piano lessons while self teaching
myself guitar I found piano difficult to learn
and play guitar is much more friendly
and easier to pick up on your own and ukulele
is even more friendly and easier to learn on your
own than guitar piano is very technical and uncomfortable
to learn so ya uke in my opinion
SailQwest
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Does your friend play the piano, or do they just think that playing piano is easier?
I'm sure there are a multitude of people on UU who actually play both uke and piano. I'd enjoy hearing their thoughts on this.
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kypfer
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... you can do exactly the same on a keyboard. Just figure out which three keys to press to make up the chord(s) you want and go for it ... of course, on a piano the audience expects there to be a semblance of melody and continuo, far fewer people have seen virtuoso performances on a ukulele, so they're quite happy with a couple of strummed chords ... it's all down to perception
As for the hurdy gurdy ... grossly under-rated. A magnificent instrument for leading outdoor dancing, bags of volume for relatively little effort on the part of the player. Check out Sille Ilves http://silleilves.bandcamp.com/album/perwg for a revelation!
PeteyHoudini
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I play both piano and ukulele though I rarely play piano these days. I took many years of classical piano lessons and it taught me a lot. I also took 3 years of guitar lessons as a kid as well.
As said already in this thread, one can learn to accompany one's self at the piano without reading music like the ukulele. On the piano, the notes are all there. One has to hunt them down on the uke fretboard and that hurts the beginner's fingers. Simple piano is rather easy. However, the piano requires a major investment of time and practice to play the larger works like Beethoven's sonatas and Bach's preludes and fugues. However, it's a building block process. The uke doesn't have a vast body of pedagogical materials written for it as building block process. The piano has grades 1-10 in Canada (Royal Conservatory method).
Your question should not be which one is easier but it is better to state your goal for each instrument? Becoming a concert pianist on the piano will take eons. Learning basic chords to sing along won't take that long. Learning to do chord solos on the uke in different keys will take lots of time. Just playing C chord, F chord and G chord won't take a life-time.
The piano has a rich repertoire written for it. The uke as we know it only goes go back as far in the popular mind in the early 1900s since the Hawaii Pavilion in San Francisco.
Petey
As said already in this thread, one can learn to accompany one's self at the piano without reading music like the ukulele. On the piano, the notes are all there. One has to hunt them down on the uke fretboard and that hurts the beginner's fingers. Simple piano is rather easy. However, the piano requires a major investment of time and practice to play the larger works like Beethoven's sonatas and Bach's preludes and fugues. However, it's a building block process. The uke doesn't have a vast body of pedagogical materials written for it as building block process. The piano has grades 1-10 in Canada (Royal Conservatory method).
Your question should not be which one is easier but it is better to state your goal for each instrument? Becoming a concert pianist on the piano will take eons. Learning basic chords to sing along won't take that long. Learning to do chord solos on the uke in different keys will take lots of time. Just playing C chord, F chord and G chord won't take a life-time.
The piano has a rich repertoire written for it. The uke as we know it only goes go back as far in the popular mind in the early 1900s since the Hawaii Pavilion in San Francisco.
Petey
CeeJay
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Please NEVER try to pick up a piano on your own .....a groin strain is never a pretty or painless thing...
I thank yow ....
