I wanna learn to play an instrument... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cmbdiesel · #1 03-30-2009, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad300tdt

I say go for the guitar. You can't take a piano to the park or beach.

I play guitar, drums, and a bit of piano. I personally think the guitar was easiest, but maybe that's because I found it to be the most fun.

I started with piano, and my left hand has never been as smart as my right. Maybe why I found guitar more difficult. I have contemplated goin all Hendrix, and flipping the thing over. I think you might be one of those people who we call 'guitar player'

TMAllison · #2 03-30-2009, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

I started with piano, and my left hand has never been as smart as my right. Maybe why I found guitar more difficult. I have contemplated goin all Hendrix, and flipping the thing over. I think you might be one of those people who we call 'guitar player'

I had the same problem with piano. Two lines of music and two hands never worked right. Played French Horn in HS and College.

Trumpet's by far the easiest brass instrument.

cmac2012 · #3 03-31-2009, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

I started with piano, and my left hand has never been as smart as my right. Maybe why I found guitar more difficult. I have contemplated goin all Hendrix, and flipping the thing over. I think you might be one of those people who we call 'guitar player'

I've played guitar since my teens and taught group classes in Seattle for years. Very lucrative part time job. Still I wish I'd learned piano along with it. Some of my favorite musicians/song writers are proficient on both.

One of the best pickers I've known is a lefty who plays the guitar strung the normal way, left hand on frets. So maybe there is an advantage to putting your primary hand on the frets. Hendrix turned the guitar around, I think he's a lefty, but left the strings strung the normal way. So did Elizabeth Cotton (Wrote 'freight train, freigt train, goin' so fast.' She was about 80 when I saw her in concert in Seattle in the early 80s)

I used to tell my left students who asked me if they should change the strings so they could flip the guitar over about my lefty friend who did really well playing it normally. But then I remembered that the single most successful guitar player in history in $$ terms was a lefty who switched the strings and played it right hand on the frets: Paul McCartney. The way he would stand next to Lennon with his bass and have the two instruments in sort of mirror image effect was eye catching. I noticed it right off and dug it. Kinda silly, but oh well.

Basically, there are no rules. One snag though, lefties: if you switch the strings, it's not cheap -- the saddle has to be repositioned and a new nut made, and you'll not be able to enjoy sampling other guitars except in the rarest of circumstances.