Which Instrument Should You Pick Up?
In case you have been inspired by my mandolin journey, or by something else
As I have written elsewhere, I have been a bit around during the last few months, picking up several types of instruments.
Apart from being very interested in music and in both listening to and producing it, there could also be an element of continued search for the right instrument hidden somewhere in my behavior.
I mean, if you go all in for something one day, only to change direction the next day, isn’t that because you haven’t settled fully and for real for what you first decided upon?
Well, it isn’t that simple, to be honest.
My journey has mostly been about stringed instruments. I had already some experience from many years ago with playing the guitar, and it was haunting me at times that I didn’t do that anymore, even though I had liked it when doing it, feeling that it was a good occupation while doing it, and also a promising learning process that could lead to even more joy from playing music going forward, when I would get better.
My guitar journey at that time only stopped because I had some outer problems to deal with, making it difficult for me to pay for the training. But, logically speaking, I could have continued without a teacher, just on my own. I had two guitars, lots of spare strings, and all I needed was probably some kind of instructional material that could guide me through a process – or perhaps a band or another kind of relation to people with whom I could join forces so we could practice together.
But there is a tendency to feel the end of something being final and complete, if the house of cards you have built up around it falls apart. But the reality isn’t so, not always. There is often a possibility to continue, just in a different form, but you need to feel that there is still meaning in it, and that meaning may have been hung up on circumstances more than subject, which is a danger of engaging with a teacher, for instance.
So, my advice to myself and others: try to make sure that when you enter into such a journey, then have several strings of activity, both such that are connected to other people and such that you do yourself, some that cost money, others that don’t. And be clear about what you like and dislike about that journey. Maybe write a journal to describe your feelings and document your progress, so that you can always look back in time when things change and see if there is still something left to build upon, something to continue with. Something that isn’t necessarily affected by the change.
Playing a musical instrument contains a number of attractions:
The wish to make music
The wish to develop a skill, having this as a hobby or a career goal
The joy of using the craft of the instrument, whether you made it yourself or someone else made it
Sometimes some exterior attractions of being recognized for having a skill like that, or similar
It will help you develop patience, if you don’t already have that to a reasonable degree, but people who completely lack the patience to be able to concentrate for a few minutes on something new, to learn it, will probably find learning to play an instrument to be completely off for them.
You should try anyway, though, even if you belong to that category, but then you must also look at what prevents you from being patient. Maybe some unresolved problems that stress you? Or the lack of support from your surroundings, leading to disturbances or even negative comments and behavior from the people you could better need support from?
Whatever. In my opinion, nobody is unable to learn how to play. Everybody can do it, but we will all face different challenges when trying, and some of those could end the attempt – it happens to many hopeful people in this world.
But nothing is so bad that it isn’t good for something, as we say in Denmark :)
The loss of interest in an instrument is part of how the current music industry works, in the sense that it thrives from the situation that many more people than reasonable buy an instrument – many more than who actually use it. So, a lot of instruments are being put for sale second-hand, at reduced prices.
That’s your chance! If you have concerns about the cost of entering into this, you should know that there are many used instruments for sale, and a lot of those are actually hardly used at all. They can have been stored in a wrong way, though, so pay attention to the general condition of the instrument before buying it second-hand (it is a mystery to me how people can even think of putting a nice, wooden instrument in a moisturous basement or a garden shed that changes wildly in temperature, but people do that, and it can ruin the instrument).
Or you can buy a new instrument. Since the production of most of them moved to Asia in the 1970ies, and specifically to China, getting traction at around the year 2000, prices have dropped on beginners’ instruments. You can buy a guitar, for instance, at a lower price today than you needed to pay 30 years ago, and given the inflation during the time, it is actually very much cheaper now.
If you go for a locally produced instrument, it doesn’t need to be much more expensive, though, as it isn’t that expensive to make them, even in Europe or the USA, if done rationally and in a semi-industrial way. It is mostly a matter of “locally produced” often being made equal to “individual built instruments by an expert instrument maker” that causes people to believe that it must be a lot more expensive when made locally, but it doesn’t have to be so.
All depending on where in the world you live, of course, as everything around economy tends to vary quite a lot between countries.
In Europe, you’ll have companies such as Hora in Romania and APC in Portugal producing a large selection of musical instruments at reasonable prices, made locally, mostly with a high quality. They sell under other names too, as they allow distributors to put their own names on the instruments.
Some types of instruments have seen a decline, and especially the piano is now less common to have than it used to be. Pianos are now considered big, clumsy, expensive to keep in tune, etc., so they are often impossible to sell again even for a symbolic price – and a new one costs a lot, as it is connected with many hours of work and a lot of materials to produce one, plus the heavy costs for the transportation.
But there are electronic pianos to buy instead, so it isn’t a big problem for the one wanting to play the piano, it’s just slightly different.
A large group of instruments, mostly used for playing classical music in a symphony orchestra or the like, tend to be available in several quality levels, ranging from relatively inexpensive to extremely expensive. Unfortunately, there is a lot of snobbishness in that end of the musical world, so people will look at you with despise if you show up with an instrument that is less expensive than the one they have.
But if you simply want to play, and you can live with not being admired by others for your wealth and ability to buy an expensive instrument, you can get a violin or a viola for quite low prices, and these are fully playable. Your music teacher will say that they are not as good as “real instruments”, and you will never be accepted by an orchestra if you bring that instrument to the audition, but it can produce violin or viola sounds in the same way as with all other violins and violas.
The cheapest are mostly from China, but you don’t need to get much higher in price to get a useful instrument made by Hora, for instance.
Of course, some manufacturers will try to sell crap with the claim that it is a musical instrument, so not everything cheap is worth going for, but most of it actually works.
There is a lot of juvenile insecurity in the world of musical instruments. Very young people tend to be very focused on being accepted by others, so they buy a T-shirt with a “good” company logo printed on it, for instance, even if this is the same kind of T-shirt they could have had for less without that logo. It’s not rational, but people behave like that. It makes them feel part of the flock.
Same thing with musical instruments. If you are a classical guitar student, you’ll want an instrument of the same brand as most other classical guitar students, and preferably a model in the range that is a step or two higher than needed. For instance, Alhambra in Spain is a company producing student’s guitars (and professional guitars as well), and they have several series with several models in each. If you are studying the guitar at university level, you’ll “of course” need one of their guitars from that corresponding series, while a lower level study can allow you to get a less costly guitar from a lower ranking series. And you will of course want a better one than the “smallest” of each series, even though that means more money to spend.
Of course, this is crap. You can really use whatever you like, but people tend to bid in on this and buy a too expensive product in relation to what is needed. There are some practical differences, though: The beginner’s guitars from Alhambra have lower action (string height) and less tense strings, making these guitars easier to play for beginners. The higher series have more tense strings and may be more difficult to play well for a beginner.
Such differences between models are worth being aware of, but they should not prevent you from buying what you prefer rather than what your fellow students seem to expect from you. Unless, of course, there is a specific requirement from the school you are attending to use a particular model, which you must then consider (there are such requirements in may cases, for instance regarding how many strings your student’s harp must have to be accepted at an exam, but it is usually not about brand or price).
People also tend to believe that a “beginner’s guitar” (often defined as a cheap one) cannot be used for playing music. They believe that it is only useful for learning how to play, but “real musicians” must then buy something more expensive.
Again, crap! Music is made by the musician, the instrument is just a tool. A good musician can play on a rubber band or two spoons and still make it sound like interesting music, so you cannot just buy your way to become a “real musician”. It’s in your mind, not in your instrument.
Different instruments do sound differently, though, so if you are after a special sound from it, you may need to look for one that has been constructed in a way that can lead to that sound. And other characteristica are there as well, such as, as mentioned, the string height and other details that may matter for you.
A professional musician often sees a different need as well: that they must look good on stage. People who watch them play will look at their instrument as well and even discuss in fan forums what exact brand and model you are playing. That puts some pressure on you, if you are in this situation, to think further than just what you yourself want.
Most of us can play great music on a cheap guitar, and we can enjoy it. We shouldn’t feel ashamed for not having a bigger and better model, or one with a more fashionabel brand name. If we decide to buy a new instrument, it will often be because we are fascinated by it and the dream of what we can do better with it, such as play with a more distinct sound, a better projection, or at a more voluminous level. Most of such fascination and dreams are not rational, but we must feed the soul too, not just the factual checklists.
So, getting to the point of the article: What should yo go for, if you are interested in beginning to play a musical instrument?
The answer is simply that – it depends :)
But I’ll give you some more details, of course.
First of all, you may have a specific reason for wanting to play. Maybe you inherited an old piano and want to learn how to use it. Or your friends or relatives have a band and have invited you to take part in it – and they need a banjo player, so that’s the option for you. Or you simply see a course offered in playing the violin, and you’ve always liked that instrument, so you decide to jump in and get started.
Some people start playing with an ambition of taking it to a professional level, i.e., get a musical education and/or a job in that business. They may dream about being a guitar teacher, for instance, and want, therefore, to get to learn how to play the guitar, for a start.
You probably have a preference for one or more instruments, for reasons like the above mentioned, or for reasons you cannot explain.
Like I fell for the Portuguese guitar, mostly used in Portugal, and mostly for either being part of a Fado band or for playing and singing seranades. I am not in Portugal, have never met a Fado band, and I can’t really see myself standing in a the street in the night, under the window of the woman I adore, to sing her a love song with the Portuguese guitar fitting in for a total experience (or that is, the latter I actually could see for me, in my dreams). Nevertheless, I saw the instrument, heard it, and found that I wanted to learn how to play it.
I have read many similar stories by people who heard Flamenco and therefore wanted to play the Flamenco guitar, or those who were so fascinated by Paul McCartneys violin-shaped bass guitar that they also wanted to play such one.
We all have our reasons, but there are also many good or bad pieces of advice to get.
As a child, I learned how to play the tin whistle at school, which was a parents decision for the class, I believe, as they would otherwise need to pay for us to get a recorder (another kind of flute) and learn that one instead. So, money made the difference (even though both instruments are quite inexpensive).
On the internet, I’ve seen many suggestions to start your musical journey with a ukulele, because that’s an easy instrument to learn, and you can use what you’ve learned on that one to later move on to a guitar. Well, no doubt some people have felt that way, and if they had a ukulele at hand, it made sense. But for the one going out to buy an instrument, it may seem weird that the tiny ukulele can actually cost more than the bigger guitar. And if the guitar is the end goal, then why not start there?
If you are interested in the bass guitar, you’ll find advices everywhere to avoid the acoustic ones, as “everybody plays the electric bass guitar anyway”, and similar arguments. Also, the acoustic bass guitar doesn’t play very loud, so it won’t be hear in a rock band. But if you want to play bass in a Fado band, you are expected to bring an acoustic one (maybe with a microphone built-in), as they want to convey the feeling of old times’ music. Then the advice to go for a fully electric version isn’t very useful for you.
All in all, you really need to make up your own mind and go for the instrument you like and want to play, and which you can afford. All talk about what others find rational or has the most perspectives is mostly for themselves, not for you. You have your wishes and motivation - use them!
All instruments have their peculiarities, and there will be costs connected to owning and playing them. You most often need a bag for protecting and carrying the instrument, and each type then has additional needs: stringed instruments need new strings now and then, wind instruments often need cork greese and other consumables for staying fit, and drums may need new skin at times, plus drum sticks.
You’ll also need space for yourself and the instrument when practicing, and that part can be a tricky one. Family and neighbors are most often not very tolerant when you want to rehearse and they want quiet. So, the availability of a rehearsal place may dictate your choice.
It takes time to become good at anything, including playing an instrument. You’ll want to be somewhat good, as this is when it starts getting really fun to play, so you must expect to set aside some time regularly, preferably daily, to learn and practice. Maybe just 20 minutes, but more likely an hour or even more, if you are serious about it. Some instruments require less time, others more, but as most of the skills you need to develop are in your mind, you will have to spend the time needed to shape that one, and this can take the same time for a simple instrument as for a complicated one.
If you engage with a teacher or in a band or an orchestra, you’ll spend time on going there, maybe going to play concerts, etc., which can consume quite a lot of time. It is time well spent in many ways, but you need to have the time to spend it.
Because of all that, there isn’t a clear answer to where to start. But here are some thoughts for inspiration:
I personally find that a guitar is a great place to start, and it will be for many people, because it is easy to get, can be had at a low price, and it doesn’t cost a fortune to keep (new strings do not have to be expensive, and they do not need to be changed all the time, even though some guitarists claim so). Also, and very significant if you are on your own with this: there are very many books available to help you get started, and to help you move on from any level you are at. You are also likely to know people who play the guitar and who, perhaps, can play with you or assist you with different things, such as trying out a used one for sale, or change the strings. The guitar world is a comfortable one, offering a lot of support.
A ukulele can be had cheaply, but it is a bit like with a toy guitar for children, that if it wasn’t made with the purpose of making real music on it, it may not work well for that purpose. Nevertheless, if you like it and want to try it out, you really should do it! It is fun to learn, and the special sound of that instrument makes it interesting to use in many contexts, and even a bit less demanding – it is meant to sound a bit primitive, so you are not required to show up with amazing skills. If you can play a few chord to support the singing at a family event or similar, you’ll often be considered the hero that made it happen.
Tin whistles are great, but be aware that if you are going to play with others, you’ll probably need several, in different tunings, as they have a very limited tonal range and need to be correct for the music played. That said, they are (or can be) inexpensive and fun to play, and it doesn’t take long to get to a point where you can play something that sounds like a melody. And a first tin whistle, to start with, is probably one of the cheapest ways into playing music that you can find.
More interested in a clarinet? Go for it! You’ll find a lot of snobbery here, and every seasoned clarinetist will tell you, no matter which instrument you have, no matter how expensive it was, that you have a beginner’s instrument, and perhaps, if they are in a good mood that that, that “it is okay for the price”. But you can actually get a quite inexpensive one, made of plastic (and they all are, up to a quite high price level) and in China. Buy it from a real shop where the staff knows about such instruments, or ask a clarinet teacher for advice, because there is also crap on the market, which you would prefer to avoid buying. But be prepared for these experts to try convincing you that you need to spend many times the amount of what the cheapest option costs, which probably isn’t necessary. They will do so, because they have always done so, and their masters did that to them when they started – it’s difficult to break such an old pattern of behavior.
This all to inspire you to consider playing a musical instrument. It is a human activity, and as such, is subject to human behavior, both good and bad, but it has the potential to make you enjoy life in a new way – the way of creative people.