My hand joints are getting better finally and I wanna learn an instrument. The thing is, I’m dumb and have struggled really badly with reading music in the past.
The easiest to learn is the kazoo in my experience.
More serious: reading music isn’t nessecary to learn how to play an instrument. For instance, guitar can be played using tabs or even chord progressions.
Trombone.
You don’t need to learn finger combinations like on most brass and woodwinds, nor chords like piano and other string instruments. Just the 7 positions the slide can be at. Blow a raspberry and the note comes out.
Trumpet is similar but a lot easier to store and transport. Also those three valves are pretty much the same amongst other brass instruments like French horn, baritone, tuba, etc. so you can move between instruments if you choose.
I have to stop you there. Fingering for french horn is different from the other valved brass.
It sorta is. It’s also sorta not.
I wouldn’t recommend French Horn to most people as a first instrument without a good instructor.
Agreed. There’s a lot more to it, the mouthpiece is small, hand position in the horn, knowing how to deal with what’s directly behind you.
Because of the rotary valves and trigger? Or for some other reason?
If that’s the only difference you’re calling out, it’s worth noting rotary valves and triggers show up on other instruments as well. In particular, tubas often have rotary valves, and it’s not uncommon to see trigger valves on trombones.
Having played both piston valves and rotary, the difference is negligible.
The fingerings are different. Playing one just doesn’t mean you can automatically switch back and forth.
I think that applies to the others as well, except in some cases when they are tuned to the same fundamental, e.g. Bb Trumpet, BBb Tuba. But tubas commonly come in C, F, and Eb as well (trumpet variants also exist, but are less common).
As someone who could never get used to just kinda eyeballing where a note is supposed to be, I strongly disagree about the trombone.
You could have marked your slide, but also if you can’t hear when a note isn’t right you’re doing music on hard mode.
The problem with hearing when a note isn’t right is that by the time you hear it you’ve already played it…
If it’s a short note, it’s usually not that dramatic. If it’s a long note and you’re still playing it, then have no shame in adjusting as soon you hear that it’s off.
Generally, though, don’t beat yourself up about it while learning. Just make a mental note that you eyeballed too low/high and try to do better next time.
If your issue is mainly about reading sheet music maybe a Veeh Harp would be for you.
It is a string plugged instrument played from note stencils, which are pushed between the strings and the resonance body and enable playing from sight.
https://youtu.be/vQaGn9_iMMQ?feature=shared
Jaw harp.
Mouth organ.
Cajon.
Guitar and ukelele are relatively easy to learn and don’t require reading music. Ukelele would probably be a bit easier on your joints though.
Absolutely. Guitar is quite a strain on many things in the hands, joints included. Piano is quite gentle on hands as well.
All things considered, any instrument can give you more pain than necessary if you develop bad habits. So consider having a teacher lesson perhaps once a month.
Theremin
Pan flute
Theremin is about as low impact on the joints as you can get. That’s for sure.
Posted this somewhere else too, but saying Theremin is easy is just crazy. It is one of, if not THE most precise instrument there is.
The pitch can vary per session if you happen to have different CLOTHES on. It is that precise. Carolina Eyck on Youtube has some great videos about the basics. She shows how complicated playing tonally is with a Theremin.
Easy to have fun with though, but playing along with other music is really hard. You need very good ears to succesfully play a Theremin
Trombone, full stop. If you have hand issues, the trombone is definitely the instrument to start with. There are other instruments of course, but for your particular predicament that’s what I would recommend.
The ukulele is pretty easy as far as guitar-like instruments go. The strings are nylon and there are only 4, so it’s easier to manage. If you like it, you can eventually learn to play the full guitar. And you only need to learn chords, not sheet music.
I second ukulele if string instruments are on the table!
Ukulele is easy, cheap and fun. Very great instrument to learn if you want to have fun without investing too much money and time!
The bass is a great instrument as it’s easy to pick up and be able to use decently but it also has a super high skill ceiling.
skin flute
The Triangle. There’s that joke about the guy going to practice each week, he shows up, plays “ding!”, teacher goes “great work, you’re getting so much better! See you next week!”, and then he leaves.
I’m a woodwind person. I have the most fun with flute, but the sax is more accessible in my experience. You could also have fun with a penny whistle, there’s a lot of rep for it and you can play bagpipe repertoire on one too.
The biggest thing is to practice and respect the instrument. There’s a lifetime of mastery ahead of you, and approach it with patience and hard work.
Also, have fun!
Piano is way up there, not just because it’s mechanically simple to learn and understand (press button, note plays, always same note in same place) but because there are just massive amounts of resources to learn how to play. When I had more time, I had a lot of fun playing songs on a light up keyboard hooked up to a computer using Synthesia. I would download a song I wanted to learn (eg Moonlight Sonata), and the keys I needed to press would light up, so I would play the song bit by bit, building muscle memory. I was able to use a music sheet just to remind me of what my fingers already knew. Is it the “right way” to learn? Probably not but it’s fun and easy and that’s what I wanted.
Singing, your throat becomes the instrument
I have no personal experience but I’ve heard people say that a saxophone is rather quick to learn to play at a level that it sounds good.
