What's the easiest 1st instrument to learn?

[AlaskaMonty]

My DS has just started secondary school and a letter for music lessons has come out. He'd really like to learn something. He has narrowed it down to:
Drums
Guitar
Piano
Violin

He has asked which the easiest to start with would be, he can't read music, etc. I'm thinking piano as I see lots of little children be able to play that well?
Mind you, violin seems good as there are orchestras, etc.

What sort of music does he enjoy listening to? What does he want to play?

There's no such thing as the "easiest instrument" but if there were, it wouldn't be any on that list ;)

Piano and violin are both hard to play well, though for different reasons. At 11 he might find violin frustrating as it will take a while to get to the point where he can play in orchestras.

Unless he is seriously interested in playing classical music, I'd consider guitar - cheap, versatile, sociable - and if you only play pop/rock music you can get away without being able to read sheet music.

No, he wants to learn how to read music, etc.

He isn't particularly fussed about playing pop/rock and quite likes the idea of classical.

He is very serious about this! he has been asking for a while, but I could never do it outside of school.

Alto saxophone. Guitar, Recorder ..... though he's a bit old for that.
Definitely not Violin or piano.

Piano is mega hard as you have two scores of music to concentrate on and each hand following a different one. I learnt flute piano chello clarinet and saxophone and found sax easier (although that could be as I had learnt all the others previously) and it's hands down my favourite one to play x

My ds started playing piano in yr7, having shown no interest beforehand. He has 30 minute lesson a week.

He is now 17 and loves it still. He had a keyboard until this year when we got him a piano.

He

If he's serious then I'd go for piano. It doesn't take long, with dedication, to become reasonable but he will need to practice. Once you've got basic sight-reading then you can always choose another instruments.

No one is ever too old for the recorder! I did gr 8 at secondary school and played in an early music group at uni while my friend took her recorder studies to the R C M.

Not that I am saying it is right here.

Does he want to play with others? I think that is key to enjoying music as a teenager so I would discourage solitary instruments and encourage something he can take to groups, bands, orchestras etc..

At this stage, he hasn't expressed an interest in playing with others as he knows it can take a long time.

If he is heavily into classical or wants to develop that, then out of that list the only one I wouldn't bother with would be the guitar

Just to add, DS plays the Clarinet and loves it. This could be another good instrument for him.

It really depends on what he's likely to find difficult as instruments all have easy and hard bits. Piano - the note's the note but there's lots of co-ordination involved. Violin, only one line of music but can be hard to put your fingers in the right place and bow correctly; drums - great if you are rhythmical but not all that much good as a general rule for orchestras; fllute - hard to get a note out at first but only one line of music to read and no need to tune it etc etc. Also, if you want an orchestra instrument, the piano is no good.

My DS would be reasonably musical if he put his mind to it (which he tends not to....) but finds co-ordination hard and didn't enjoy reading music so he's given up the piano but enjoys the drums. One of the others played violin but never really got the hang of looking comfortable with it. The youngest has just started piano as I think on balance it's a good place to start and I couldn't face another violin which was the only other thing on offer this year.

Have a look at this app

www.boosey.com/downloads/britten_ypgo_app_pressrelease.pdf

When DD wanted something more sociable than the piano she used the Britten app to choose an instrument - she chose the clarinet despite me playing the oboe.

I second alto sax. Very cool
Or do for somthingy usual like double bass (Dd plays),bassoon, euphonium etc

I think piano is the most useful. My son's a composer and that's what he uses the most.

I play the piano but it is my other instruments that have opened up social opportunities.

Depends what he wants from it though. Have you got a piano OP?

DD, just 11 goes to this sort of thing with her clarinet, started playing 18 months ago, recently passed gr3 but has played piano and recorders for a few years.

With something like piano that sort of thing isn't possible until you are good enough to accompany.

Violin (and other strings) it takes a while to even be able to play in tune. It always seemed to me that people learning wind instruments such as clarinet or flute(if you can get it to make any noise at all), or brass got off to a quicker start. But they're not on his list.

Whatever he chooses, he'd need to practice, not just in school. Would that be feasible with all his options?

Out of those instruments I would choose piano, not because it is easier but because it is showing results and offers satisfaction pretty much from the first lesson.

If he wants to join bands and orchestras though I'd choose a wind instrument, clarinet or sax, pretty easy to learn even though they have heir own difficulties.

Piano, if he's not bothered about joining an orchestra (which would probably take him a few years to achieve a high enough standard to join in anyway with any instrument).

Piano will give him a great musical foundation to build on, should he want to add another instrument in a few years' time.

Personally I think the piano as a good first instrument for someone who is up for learning how to read music and wants to play for their own enjoyment. And once you can play the piano it's easier to learn the guitar and, I would imagine, percussion instruments.

But it's really fun playing with other people in an orchestra or band, and with the piano, you have to be more creative and proactive about making your own musical opportunities to play with others.

Drums! Go for drums!

Piano is a good first instrument for a beginner with classical leanings. It's also a very versatile instrument.

It's not an easy or sociable instrument. But it depend what your DS wants to do with music, and how motivated he is. Older beginners who are highly motivated can advance very quickly if they put the work in. But you would need a piano at home, and they are expensive.

Piano would be best to start with; he doesn't have to become very accomplished at it, but it gives a good introduction to what music 'is all about'. He can always go on to a solo instrument - strings, woodwind, brass - later, once he knows a bit more about music.

If you don't have your own piano, you can get 76 or 88 note keyboards for around £300, and they are light enough to be portable.

I'd agree with piano and getting a keyboard for home. As long as he's prepared to practise, he'll get a really good grounding, it's very versatile, and he'd be able to pick up another instrument later on, already knowing how to read music.
I have to admit saxophone would be pretty cool, though!

I have 2 DC and they play 8 instruments between them. Woodwind is the easiest to pick up and it offers plenty of opportunity to play in bands as well as orchestras - clarinet would open up jazz as well as classical. Also clarinets are easily portable (my daughter is a harpist so I would never underestimate the benefits of something small) and not too expensive if he doesn't stick to it. If he thinks he'd like a string instrument he might look at the viola rather than the violin as violists are always in demand and you can often get into a decent orchestra as a viola player 2 or even 3 grades lower in standard than a violinist or cellist. Dd is a very lazy violinist who never practices so she swapped to viola after Grade 5 as it meant she could get into lots of really good ensembles without putting the work in. The clef is different but as he can't read music anyway that isn't going to be a big issue.

For a teenager the piano is quite a lonely instrument until you are of quite a high standard as a lot of the piano parts for junior ensembles are written for the teacher to play.