3 Relatively Easy Instruments

While some people can pick up an instrument and just play it, others may not find the task so natural. While part of this reality has to do with a person’s inherent talent, curiosity, patience and determination, another part is knowing which instrument to pick up in the first place. While delving headfirst into any instrument is not necessarily bad, it can often leave a person feeling overwhelmed, especially if they don’t have prior experience, which then can make their progress seem miniscule or even non-existent.

Not everyone who plays an instrument wishes that they were the greatest player, some just want to pick up an instrument to be able to play some music without having to dedicate all their time and money into learning something complicated.

With some instruments, aside from being able to understand how they work and how note changes are made, they also require a tremendous amount of finger dexterity and/or proper mouth and lip embouchure. Who has the time to learn guitar or the oboe when all they want to do is be able to play recognizable music around a campfire?

Below are three instruments that are relatively easy to play compared to others.

Recorder

When I first heard this instrument I thought it was a flute. I was at a middle school concert and a student was talented enough to solo a whole song on stage. After the concert I remember asking a classmate of mine what instrument that was and he said that it was a “recorder.” For a moment I didn’t believe that an instrument which looked and sounded like a flute was called a recorder, but sure enough this little woodwind instrument was called a recorder. And if you recorded yourself playing a recorder, well then that would be on record.

But anyway, the recorder is a little flute-type instrument that is easy to play because it doesn’t require the use of a reed, meaning that all one has to do is blow into the integrated mouthpiece. Another reason why it’s easy to use is that it only has 7 holes along its length, making it less complicated for beginners.

Although the recorder is a legitimate instrument with a long history of use, nowadays it is mostly used to teach children the basics of music. It is not uncommon for school teachers to give their students their very own plastic recorder and as a class learn some songs to perform. This gives students the satisfaction of playing music as well as acting as a gateway instrument to other, more complicated ones.

You can pretty much play any melody on a recorder and for this reason I think it’s a cool little instrument to learn how to play. It also doesn’t hurt that they’re sold pretty much everywhere and sometimes only cost a few dollars.

Ukulele

Guitar was too hard for me, so I purchased a ukulele in highschool. To this day I still have it hanging on my wall and I do bring it down from time to time and strum some simple songs. Compared to other popular string instruments, the ukulele only has 4 strings and features a very forgiving tuning scheme, which if you pressed on all 4 strings on any given fret would produce a pleasant sound. On the ukulele, chords are relatively easy to form and the strings being made of nylon means you won’t be in pain after playing.

Many think that the ukulele is a toy, as in not a serious instrument, but this is very far from the truth. Not only is it able to play just about any song or genre of music, it does so in its own unique and tropical way. There are even very talented musicians out there who play the ukulele very intricately, like Jake Shimabukuro who does wonderful instrumental covers of The Beatles’ music.

Fun fact, throughout the 1800s the ukulele was actually considered the national instrument of the Kingdom of Hawai’i by Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani. Similar to how the sitar took the world by storm in the 1960s and 70s, the ukulele had similar fame after Hawaii became a state in 1959.

Harmonica

One of the smallest instruments out there, the harmonica is able to fit in anybody’s pocket. It’s the ultimate portable instrument, so much so that my own harmonica always finds a place inside my travel bag – you just never know when inspiration will hit.

The harmonica is a woodwind instrument that produces a very classic, organ-like sound. It is a rectangular box with holes along its length that players either blow into or suck air out of. Like in its name, because a person’s mouth naturally fits over more than one hole, when sound is produced, it sounds harmonic. The harmonica is often associated with folk and blues music.

It’s pretty difficult to make a harmonica sound bad. With basic knowledge, one can improvise minutes worth of music and even sing along to it. If one has a good ear, they can even learn songs as they listen to them. For this reason I think the harmonica is a great and easy instrument to learn.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I believe anyone could learn any instrument they want if they put their mind to it. But in case they didn’t want to dedicate so much effort, there are instruments out there one can learn in an afternoon that could bring them a lifetime of entertainment. I think if someone learned any of the instruments mentioned above, they would be able to play their favorite tunes and they would sound unique because they would be played on a different instrument than the original. Apart from being easy to obtain and learn, mastering the instruments above would build a solid foundation to learn other instruments in the future.