People come up to all the time and ask, "Is guitar an easy instrument to play?" I answer, "Yes, it's the easiest instrument in the world for the first six chords. That's why everyone knows those same six chords."
Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: "LGS-Europe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 7:00 AM Subject: [LUTE] Re: lute is hard (was: mics arrived) > Lutes and guitars _are_ difficult instruments. Guitar pupil of mine of about > 12, doing well after three years of lessons, enjoying it and studying > regulary at home (!), performed his piece on this year's pupils' night. He > really did well, no obvious mistakes, played through the whole piece without > stopping, it was musical, he had some tone and volume. Afterward his mother > comes up to me: "Is that all?" She just started on piano and was > disappointed with her son's result, as she's already doing much better after > the few lessons she's had. No wonder, try playing the opening of Fuer Elise > without piano lessons, my bet is you'll do fine. Try to do the same on a > guitar, my bet is that it'll take several years to come anywhere near the > percieved perfection and easy of your first try on piano. A piano is, in the > first stages, an on-off instrument, whereas on a guitar you'll find a miriad > of near hits before the tone is even acceptable. A lute is even harder to > play with its double strings, lower string tension and akward shape. > > Of course, piano music will be much more complicated for the advanced > student, so by that time it's a matter of different areas of difficulty. > And, obviously, the real test of mastering an instrument is being able to > express yourself musically on it, not to play the difficult pieces > technically well, but that's not the argument here. > > David - cannot play beyond the opening phrase of Fuer Elise on piano > > > **************************** > David van Ooijen > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.davidvanooijen.nl > **************************** > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.463 / Virus Database: 269.10.0/887 - Release Date: 7/5/2007 1:55 PM > >
