Easy Start Instrument

[hopless500]

Don't play the oboe.

I speak as a former oboist.

To quote Eddie Izzard (who played it at school): "Playing the oboe is like blowing a weasel".

I agree. (with the "don't", that is - never tried to blow into a weasel ) Sold mine about 5 years ago. Fine if you play in an orchestra, but most people don't.
I've got an old decrepit baritone I rescued to play instead if I feel the need.

 

[nickyboy]

Spoons

Not the cuddling position, rather the item of cutlery. Actually, thinking about it, maybe you could combine the two for an intimate musical evening?

 

[Panter]

Don't play the oboe.

I speak as a former oboist.

To quote Eddie Izzard (who played it at school): "Playing the oboe is like blowing a weasel".

If you blow them too much, do they pop?

 

[the_mikey]

Irish melodeon?

 

[Dave 123]

Guitar
1- relatively easy to get going
2- 40 quid will get you a decent sounding entry level Stagg
3- it can be sociable
4- it's portable

 

[MrPie]

Deffo guitar......just remember that there is an n+1 rule for guitars too. Come to think of it, I have 4 bikes with another on the way and only 4 guitars. Might need to redress that balance and get another guitar......now got a hankering for a new Paul Reed Smith.

 

[Dave 123]

Deffo guitar......just remember that there is an n+1 rule for guitars too. Come to think of it, I have 4 bikes with another on the way and only 4 guitars. Might need to redress that balance and get another guitar......now got a hankering for a new Paul Reed Smith.

I only have 2 bikes and 3 guitars. I feel inadequate!

 

[MrPie]

I only have 2 bikes and 3 guitars. I feel inadequate!

You have some catchin up to do . Dont worry, 3 bikes and 2 guitars are somewhat 'low end'.....but you gotta start somewhere.

 

[Stephen Piper]

Tune a guitar to open G: DGDGBD, for instant blues slide or Keith Richards sound alike. I have acquired two new instruments over Christmas, a tenor sax (no idea how to play any wind/reed instruments but is supposedly the easiest sax to play) and a mandolin which is easy to strum chords on. All instruments are hard to master when taken to their limits.

 

[slowwww]

Another vote for the Bass.
If you buy an amp with a headphone jack and a line input to enable you to add a music source such as an iPod or cd player, you can play along to music with only minimal annoyance to your fellow inhabitants, but via the headphones you can be thrashing it out at stadium volume!

Also, it's dead easy to find rock, pop, indie, blues, folk songs etc that have only half a dozen notes in a repeating sequence (chords? - pah!!) and so you can quickly find tracks that you can play along to which gives you sufficient encouragement to stick at it and build your ability and repertoire.

 

[srw]

To be fair I did love it for a long time. We played in wind quintets and stuff, and I was in the youth orchestra. But oboes eff with your breathing, most pro oboists are mad as hatters, and my mouth is really the wrong shape. It spoiled my breathing for singing, which is my real thing and which I do now.

Are you me and @rvw?

I love playing the recorder - if you get fairly good at it, it is a fun ensemble instrument. You kinda hafta like anything Baroque or earlier though! (which I do). We used to play this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0CFbzPHDE
- made the school buy a bass recorder specially (looks like a junior bassoon!).

I think you are.

We have a bass and a great bass sitting next door - but very soon after we bought them our friends who we used to play with occasionally moved abroad and we had no time to find local players. Mrs W's oboe is still sitting downstairs, while I flogged mine on the internet. The son of those friends who moved abroad is now learning the oboe. I shocked him by picking up his instrument and still being able to get a decent sound out of it (despite it being a conservatoire system and having learnt on thumbplate) about 25 years after I last played seriously.

My claim to fame is playing in a recorder consort with Jonny Greenwood - before he was famous.

 

[Dave 123]

You have some catchin up to do . Dont worry, 3 bikes and 2 guitars are somewhat 'low end'.....but you gotta start somewhere.

It's what you do with them that counts.....

 

[andyfraser]

I play guitar, keyboard and harmonica.

Keyboard was easiest to get into and most versatile but can get very hard very quickly depending on what you want to play. Good keyboards don't have to be that expensive.

I picked up guitar fairly easily but have seen people really struggle even with basic chords. Hard to master but once a good number of chord and scale shapes have been memorised the instrument can really open up. Good acoustics can be reasonably priced (I still love my £100 Yamaha) but electric plus amp plus effects (if that's your thing) can get quite costly.

Harmonicas are cheap, around £30 for a decent Hohner diatonic (I have a set of Pro Harps and a set of Blues Harps) but each diatonic harmonica is in a specific key so buying a set can get costly. Fairly easy to play with practice but learning to bend notes for blues was really tough for me.

 

[srw]

Over the Christmas holidays I turned 40 and was thinking about what skills/talents I have. I spent 30 years mainly running into people, playing rugby. Truthfully no great skill involved but it kept me occupied. So now I have decided that I should learn an instrument and the obvious mid life crisis answers are guitar and drums.
I dont really want to go down that route and would like to start something relatively cheaply and that I can pick up fairly quickly.
So Im turning to the good folk of CC for ideas. Whats a good instrument to start from scratch with little talent?

What kind of music do you like?

Anything folky - the tin whistle is good start.
Anything classical or pre-classical - the recorder.

I'm not your man if you're a popster or a rocker.

 

[Dave 123]

An instrument I think is really cool is one of those big old double bass.
I've seen a few folk and acoustic rock bands use one live and they sound magnificent, so rich and deep.