What musical instrument should I learn to play? The simplest musical instrument

Most musicians find it difficult to be without music for a long time, especially if music is an integral part of personality and an important aspect of life. Unfortunately, most tools are difficult to transport - they cannot withstand moisture, shock, and much more. Transporting a piano, for example, is a completely different matter.

But don't worry - there are a number of miniature musical instruments that can help you pour out your soul at the right time, anywhere on our planet.

Guitar

Yes - the guitar may not be the smallest stringed instrument, but it is a good resonator for a relatively low price and does not weigh that much either. If you also get a water-repellent cover, then you won’t have to worry (and get bored) on the road.

Mandolin

Mandolins require a little more maintenance and time tuning than other string instruments, but they are a good choice because the mandolin is much smaller than a guitar. But for musicians with thick fingers, it is better to practice playing at home first.

Accordion

Of course, there are miniature models that are more convenient for transportation. The main thing is not to skimp on the price. Pay attention to the manufacturer, because the sound quality of the instrument depends on it.

Autoharp

A unique folk instrument is the autoharp. It's similar to a zither, but much lighter, can be held in your hands or on your lap, and is much more enjoyable to play because it has buttons like an accordion.

Ukulele

This guitar, popularly known as the “ukulele,” is another good accompaniment instrument. Cheap, and most importantly universal. Of course, it cannot compare in terms of resonance quality with a mandolin or guitar, but the ukulele sounds very nice.

Violin

Yes, perhaps this is one of the most difficult strings (in terms of expression), but if you play the violin without problems, then it will be a wonderful companion for you on the road.

Erhu

Two string Chinese violin. This instrument requires good hearing and nimble hands. When traveling, this kind of instrument will clearly attract attention to you, and the main thing is to have a good case for it.

Longitudinal flute

Probably each of us has tried to play the longitudinal flute. It certainly doesn't have a very wide range, but it is light and creates a fun atmosphere with its sound, which is reminiscent of ballads and fairy tales.

Clarinet

Not the lightest tool on this list, but definitely easy to transport, as it conveniently fits into a special case. But you need to be careful with its pads, they can easily get damaged, especially in subtropical zones.

Flute

It's a rather complex instrument - it's difficult to play well, but it's a little easier than the clarinet. As in the previous case, the pads will require additional care.

Harmonic

Harmonica is almost synonymous with the word “travel”. The harmonica is light, inexpensive, durable and fairly easy to learn to play. Moreover, they come in all kinds of tones, literally for every taste and ear.

Ocarina

The device is so light and sleek that you can even wear it as a necklace. A cheap ceramic (or wooden) instrument that's easy to learn to play, but doesn't have a very generous range.

Bonus – Your mouth

Don't forget - you can always use your ligaments and throat to imitate musical instruments, sing, whistle, quack, meow and buzz. Whatever comes into your head, because it’s much better than annoying and prolonged silence. Moreover, singing is a good exercise for the lungs and a chance to lift your spirits.

So instead of an extra pair of pants, take a musical instrument on the road and people will flock to you faster than for a new iPhone!

Many musical instruments require years of study and practice to become proficient in playing them. But if you are looking for quick results, then our list will help you. These are the most “painless”, most easy to use tools you can imagine. However, don't think that everything is that simple. The beauty of any instrument is that each of them has its place and role, and even the simplest of them become an integral part of any composition. Once you master your instrument, a whole new world of possibilities opens up for you. Even the simplest rhythm instrument, such as a tambourine, makes music shine with completely different colors if it is “placed” in the right place.

Widely used in blues, folk, country, jazz, rock and pop music. However, you don't have to be Bob Dylan to enjoy the sounds of the harmonica at home. You can learn to play a few tunes in just a couple of weeks, and that's great.

Since its invention by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann in 1821, the instrument has grown in popularity. And after the advent of the Hohner chromatic harmonica, the repertoire that could be performed on such instruments expanded significantly. The first recordings of the harmonica were made in the USA in the early 1920s, although this instrument was recorded on film in silent films as early as 1894.

After World War II, when the soldiers returned home, there was a rise in the black ghettos, which was naturally reflected in the music. Young Southern musicians (Little Walter, Junior Wells, Snooki Pryor) now played harmonica through a microphone and amplifier. The “Mississippi saxophone” (as the harmonica was called in American slang) could now solo to the accompaniment of an orchestra. In the 50s, rock and roll exploded the patriarchal silence of the then music scene. And the harmonica found itself at the forefront of the youth rebellion, which drew inspiration from the black American blues.

A pianica is actually a reed instrument shaped like a piano. There is no need to coordinate the movements of both hands - press the keys of one, blow into the mouthpiece, and that's the end of it.

The instrument was invented by the German company Hohner in the late 50s. Already from the beginning of the 60s, piano became popular all over the world. The piano was first used as a serious musical instrument by Phil Moore Jr. on the album Right On, recorded at Atlantic Records in 1968. She is also often associated with Jamaican dub and reggae artists of the 1970s. Henry Slaughter played the piano solo on the song I'll Remember You, recorded by Elvis Presley, which was included on the Spinout album.

A kazoo may take one of the first places in the ranking of tools for the laziest, but it will not lose an ounce of charm. The instrument fits into your pocket and is very easy to use - you just need to sing or blow into it, playing some notes. If you are a lucky owner of an ear for music, then consider yourself lucky - you already know how to play the kazoo.

The use of kazoos is widespread among skiffle music performers - an Anglo-American style (guitars, melodica and washboard as a rhythm instrument), but we are all well aware of how daringly instruments have traveled between styles in recent years, so even if you don't If you're going to play skiffle, you'll find a use for the kazoo.

In Russia, a tool similar to the kazoo has been known for a long time - it is a comb with tissue paper placed on the teeth. It was used to special effect by Evgeny Vakhtangov in the music for the play “Princess Turandot” - at the right moment the violinists put down their violins and played a waltz on combs.

Let's face it - no style of music would be complete without a good old tambourine. Only a seriously concerned fanatic would undertake the search a performer who has never used this instrument. And everyone can play it. If you have problems with a sense of rhythm, another simple invention will help with them - a metronome. And after a few lessons, you can easily accompany your friends at rehearsals, pretending to be a full-fledged musician (just kidding).

The use of the tambourine and its varieties are mentioned in accounts of life in ancient colonies in Greece, China, Rome and India, as well as several times in the Bible. It later reached medieval Europe, where it was used in operas, ballets and games. And then, in the 19th century, the tambourine became popular in America, where street bands played banjos and fiddles, and it was used as the main percussion instrument.

8. AUTOHARP

The autoharp does not look like a harp at all, but rather resembles a zither (Russians, in turn, adamantly call it a gusli). The instrument has chord bars with dampers that, when pressed, dampen all strings that are not in the desired chord. To a person accustomed to playing, for example, the guitar, such mechanics may seem rather strange, but in reality everything is much easier.

There is some debate about the origin of the instrument. Around the same time, two Germans on opposite sides of the Atlantic were working on its creation without agreement: the German immigrant Charles Zimmerman came up with the design of a musical instrument in Philadelphia with a mechanism for muting certain strings while playing, and gave it a name; and Karl Gutter of Markneukirchen created a model which he called the Volkszither (folk zither), and it was this that was most similar to the modern autoharp.

Nowadays, the autoharp is used by many folk musicians, and PJ Harvey became its next popularizer, playing the instrument in some compositions from the album ‘White Chalk’ (and continuing to perform with it to this day).

If you want to learn how to play a musical instrument, but have not yet decided which one, this article is for you. Which musical instrument is the easiest to learn? This question is often asked by people who have decided to study music, but have encountered some difficulties in mastering this multifaceted art.

To solve this problem, we need to consider all types of musical instruments and identify their main features.

Types of musical instruments.

Conventionally, all existing musical instruments can be divided into three categories:

• rhythmic,
• monophonic (single-voice)
• polyphonic (polyphonic)

It is in this sequence that the difficulty in mastering them increases.
By using rhythmic instruments, as their name suggests, the musician can create rhythm. A typical example of such an instrument would be various types of drums.

All sorts of musical complexities, such as pitch, chords, bass and solo lines, are out of the question here, so purely theoretically, learning to play such an instrument is much easier than learning to play a guitar or piano. In addition, having an ear for music is not at all necessary here: it is enough to have a good sense of rhythm, and if you don’t have one, you can always develop it in yourself.

Playing monophonic, or, more simply put, single-voice instruments, you can create a melody. It will sound as if we sang it “with one voice.” There are a great variety of monophonic musical instruments: wind instruments (trumpet, flute, saxophone), string instruments (violin, cello) and many, many others.

The ease or difficulty of mastering such instruments largely depends on the technique of sound extraction, since this is often not easy. For example, on a trumpet, the sound itself is produced using a special vibration of the musician’s lips, and the instrument itself only enhances and corrects this sound.

Learn to play polyphonic (multi-voice) instruments, perhaps the most difficult. In this case, in addition to the main melody, either a bass melody or an accompaniment is extracted - a sequence of chords that creates an emotional and rhythmic background for the entire musical work. The most popular instruments in this category are the button accordion, accordion, guitar and piano (or synthesizer).

The main difficulty in the game is that the two hands of the musician play different notes or chords, i.e. move independently. And if the player who plays such an instrument also sings, this is already aerobatics!
As can be seen from the above, the more complex the instrument, the more complete and beautiful musical works can be created with its help. The above classification, of course, is not universal, because there are virtuoso drummers, whose performance not everyone will dare to repeat, and there are also guitarists who know only three chords.

In any case, if a person learns to play an instrument, the main factor will be his enthusiasm and love for music. And when these qualities are present, then you can easily and with great pleasure master any instrument, no matter how complex it may seem.

Also, listen to yourself! And you will find the answer inside your soul. This is the most correct answer!

For many, a love for music comes already at a conscious age, when there is simply no time to attend music schools. Below is a list of musical instruments that are easy to learn and play.

Guitar

Even teachers of classical music schools confirm that the guitar is the easiest instrument to learn among strings. The thing is that to develop an ear for music with its help, systematic hard training is enough, which requires no more than an hour a day.

You just need to learn a couple of chords and you can already play a simple melody. With each new chord and way of playing you learn, the variety of possible melodies increases many times over.

Drums

It’s very easy to play the drums - everything is driven by a sense of rhythm. To start, take 2-3 small classic drums. Gradually increase their number and add new instruments, such as cymbals. Over time, you will assemble a full-fledged installation of bass, snare, and floor drums.

By the way, good drummers are in great demand among many musical groups, so your talent may come in handy in the future.

One of the few downsides to these tools is that a large setup requires a lot of space, which is so often lacking at home. In addition, the drums are very noisy, and you can only practice on them until 8 pm.

Brass

Among the pipers and trumpeters, there are also instruments that are not at all difficult to learn to play.

This includes the zafun - a hybrid model, a mixture of a clarinet body and a saxophone whistle. Although it resembles a regular pipe, the zafun produces interesting sounds, similar to a clarinet or oboe. The range of this wind instrument is not very wide, but it is quite interesting to play.

There is another option: the saxonet is an instrument similar to a zafun, mainly with a wooden body. It is often used in junior music schools to teach children how to produce sound from reeds.

Synthesizer

Of course, an instrument such as a piano requires perseverance from a person who wants to learn how to play it. But there are simplified variations - for example, a synthesizer. Some of them initially have a self-instruction program.

An electronic keyboard with a reduced number of keys but expanded sound functionality will allow you to create original compositions with different sounds. You can even achieve the effect of playing multiple instruments at the same time.

If you want to perform with a synthesizer on the street or in concert halls, it is better to purchase additional speakers - they will significantly increase the volume and power of the sound output. Beginning musicians especially like small models that can be transported from place to place by simply putting them in a briefcase.

Harmonica

Surely you have seen lonely cowboys with this instrument in their hands in many films about the Wild West. In fact, learning to play it is not very difficult.

The peculiarity is that while playing the harmonica, the musician perceives the sound differently than his listeners, due to the touch of his lips and hands. To understand your sound, record it on a voice recorder.

Start your lessons by playing chords and individual sounds, gradually moving on to combining them and playing simple melodies. Review and listen to performances by professional harmonica players - harpers. Copying their style will be helpful for you at first.

Using a harmonica as an example, this video shows the process of choosing a musical instrument for beginners:

Useful tips

Music is good for health. This statement has been repeatedly confirmed in practice by numerous studies. However playing music can bring no less benefits. And even if your child does not become a great musician (or a musician in general), attending a music school will bring him certain benefits.

These are not general words. In fact, there is a huge amount of research that clearly proves the fact that any musical activity can benefit not only the human brain and spirit, but also the body.

Moreover, it doesn’t matter at all how old you are, how well you play this or that instrument, How long ago did you start practicing music?. The fact is that playing music improves the cognitive functions of the brain.

There are other benefits associated with honesty, reducing stress levels, as well as normalizing blood pressure, which ultimately can prevent the development of depression and dementia.

And if you are looking for a useful hobby that can positively affect your overall well-being, as well as improve your moral well-being, it makes sense for you to start taking, for example, piano lessons. So, we bring to your attention 10 reasons why you should take up music.

Music lessons are beneficial

As a result of one study carried out at the University of Kansas Medical Center, USA, scientists concluded that musicians perform better on cognitive tests than non-musicians.

Regularly playing any musical instrument is a great way to train your brain. And it doesn’t matter at all - whether you play your heart out on the drums, or lazily “blow” into the saxophone. At the same time, certain areas of the brain increase their activity.

Playing music improves coordination

It is an absolute fact that musicians usually demonstrate excellent coordination of movements. This is because playing musical instruments requires very high hand-eye coordination. Even athletes for whom hand-eye coordination is of paramount importance can benefit from this.

Making musical sounds improves your mood

Music affects mood - this is a well-known fact that is not worth mentioning, if not for the need to explain the mechanism of action. Research shows that not only the music itself, but also the process of playing music affects cortisol levels.

And if you play music at different speeds, you can regulate this process. Playing musical instruments creates an emotional outlet. By creating your own music, you regulate, if you wish, the level of your sadness, joy or tension through art.

Music improves reading as a learning skill

One of the important aspects of playing music that distinguishes a musician from a non-musician is, so to speak, ability to read and comprehend music. Constant reading and recognition of different notes also helps to improve the skills of reading and comprehending ordinary texts.

Playing music improves the respiratory system

Whether you play the trumpet, clarinet, flute, or any other wind instrument, one of the fundamental skills you must master is how to breathe properly.

Relatively speaking, all these instruments turn air vibrations into music, that a musician should create. This means that well-placed breathing should become, if you like, second nature to any musician.

Music improves listening skills

In order to learn how to skillfully extract musical sounds from any instrument, you need to be able to listen literally at the level of intuition. This skill, if developed at the proper level, allows you not only to hit the notes.

Some may say that this requires an ear for music, which is given by nature. In fact, this is not true. An ear for music can be developed. This, in turn, will teach you to listen to the sounds around you in the literal sense of the word. This skill is extremely important from the point of view of building social relationships.

The benefits of music

Playing music allows you to set goals, achieve them and develop

The process of learning to play any musical instrument can be quite tedious and even boring. However, once you overcome these necessary obstacles, you will instantly feel not only a certain pride, but also the strength to move on.

In this situation, a simple principle works - you get exactly as much as you invest. This fact should spur you on, no matter how tired you are. The more time and effort you put into improving your craft, the more obvious the results will be, which will be inspiring.

Playing music improves concentration

There are many aspects to music that should not be underestimated if you play an instrument. As a musician (even an amateur or a beginner), you must grasp the rhythm, timbre, light shades, and texture of a piece of music.

The only thing that can be more useful to a musician than the ability to concentrate on the sounds of your music, this is the ability to concentrate on all the sounds of, say, an entire orchestra or group.