What is a good musical instrument to take up?

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I'd really like to take up a musical instrument with my daughter. She is 8 and I'd love if she and I could start something together (not necessarily the same class at the same time). Just so I could help her a bit and understand what it's like to learn an instrument. Also I'd love to try something new too. Apart from a few failed guitar lessons when I was 10 and one tin whistle class I have never tried anything. Though I am keen and I'd love to find an instrument that we could both start and be able to play a tune in a couple of years? What would be a good instrument to make progress with? Any advice really welcome. I'm willing to invest in this and spend some of my savings on private lessons to get us going.

What would she like to learn? My parents took me to a children's concert and I got to choose.
If you want to learn together though, the piano could be fun as there are lots of four handed duets you could play together.

P.s. this is such a lovely idea, am stealing it for my son and me in a few years time!

I think the piano is so versatile wrt how many styles of music you can play, and is very sociable (think people gathering round for a Christmas sing-song. And very enjoyable to play alone (no accompaniment needed).

Ukulele is fun

There are wonderful duets for other instruments too! The piano is not the most sociable instrument, actually, so if you think your daughter might like to be part of a school orchestra or band, a string instrument or wind instrument would be good for that.

The piano is wonderful, but it tends to be more solitary, I think. The piano or guitar give you the possibility to play more music on your own, because these are the instruments which play chords, harmonies, and counterpoint along with a melody. Other instruments tend to play one line most of the time- so good for playing tunes.

String instruments, especially violin, are hard to begin with, as it takes patience to learn to hold and create sound skilfully on a string instrument, but I think they are the most versatile and rewarding in the long term because of the incredibly varied repertoire. To me the very best thing about playing music is the chance to play in a small chamber music group, and string instruments just have the best chamber music! Also, you can play in an orchestra, solo, jazz, fiddle- so many options- and because there is a need for lots of strings in an orchestra (and just a few flutes or clarinets), there are often more opportunities.
I am a string player, so very biased. I guess I would recommend the cello if I had to choose, but only if you fall in love with it...

Ah Clara that's a much better answer than mine! I reallllly want my son to learn the cello, I love it so much.

Agree you could have a lot of fun with strings - either both take up the same, or perhaps one violin and one cello? There will be enough similarities in the early stages that you will be able to help each other on the learning journey.

Good luck and enjoy!!

String or wind, as then you can play in orchestras and ensembles.

Consider costs of both beginners, intermediate and top quality instruments. A top quality clarinet will be £1500+ (though the beginners are just a few hundred), but full size good quality cellos are horrendous.

See what she wants to play - it helps if they're motivated. Children's concerts are a good way to gauge interest. Mine want to play cello and trumpet, after seeing them in concerts, but they're both starting with piano.

Unusual instruments are better if you/she want to get into university orchestras etc eventually (or play strings, always lots of strings). Problem with clarinets & flutes is that you only need 2-3 for an orchestra, but so many people play them. Brass tend to be rarer and therefore more in demand. Not a reason to ditch the clarinet/flute, as there are always wind bands, but maybe something to bear in mind.

Our village has a brass band - my DC's started playing there and they are trying to get me to join too. Lots of adult beginners. They get the instrument provided for free and a bit of free tuition too. They attend band practice once a week for an hour. We also have private tuition at home which costs £20/hr. I have to say as well that being part of a community like that has been an amazing experience for my DC's and us as a family as well.

Thanks so much lovely ladies! I had not thought about playing instruments like the piano together, or two string instruments, what a lovely thought. I initially thought a string instrument would be harder to progress with compared to piano but being part of an orchestra would be fabulous and open up so much... I'm not sure there are orchestras for middle aged beginners to progress too, but it would be so great to aspire to something like that, thanks for the success suggestions and encouragement!

You can google for community orchestras. I know a few around the country. I know some 80 year old beginners!

Agree with others that a band/orchestral instrument has more possibilities than piano, both for you and your dd. Also agree about looking at more unusual instruments - things like bassoon, oboe, French horn tend to be more in demand for local ensembles, and there are lots of local bands and orchestras for different abilities. If you don't know much about orchestral instruments beyond the well-known ones, there's a lovely book called Meet The Instruments of the Orchestra which tells you about each instrument and their role in the orchestra & comes with a CD so you can hear what each instrument sounds like.

If you are in/near London or a big city with its own orchestra, look out for children's concerts and interactive events. Some of them have opportunities for children to try out different instruments, e.g. www.lpo.org.uk/education/family-concerts-funharmonics.html lso.co.uk/lso-discovery/discovery-families/family-concerts.html cbso.co.uk/take-part/families

You could also check if there's a local Music Service run by your borough/county which might offer tuition, at least for your daughter, and possibly instrument hire. Music shops also hire out instruments so you could try lessons for a few months before buying an instrument. Music shop staff arealso good people to ask about learning, which instrument to try, local teachers, ensembles, etc.

What kind of music do you like?

There isn't much point to learning clarinette if you love mostly Bach, for example. And if you like jazz, saxophone might be an idea.

As someone who plays multiple instruments, I would recommend the ukelele! It's small and inexpensive, and easy to learn, not making too much of that dreadful 'hard metal' music my eldest is obsessed with. I could talk about the virtues of the ukelele for days!