> First and foremost, guitar is a pretty straightforward instrument for beginners.
I agree with your assessment and comments! I play drums, guitar, keyboard and some bass. Guitar is the easiest by far. From the list, drums is the hardest. With regards to technique, bass is straightforward if you know how to play guitar; however the mindset or approach to bass playing within a band is way different than guitar's.
> There's a reason it's the most popular instrument in the world.
... also because it was way cheaper (and portable) than a piano or a drumset. It is cheaper than even a trumpet or sax.
Drums are hard! I occasionally noodle at them, but I'm a crap drummer.
My favorite hard, hard instrument is the tambourine. It's amazing something so small and simple can present such challenges, but it does. And played well, it's extremely expressive.
The only instrument that ever actually defeated me was pedal steel guitar. I quit and sold it. Becoming an accomplished player on pedal steel would have taken about three years as my primary instrument, in bands so I could get lots of stage time. This, after decades of guitar! On the other hand, there are things that can be played on pedal steel that cannot be played on any other instrument! The ability to change a chord to another chord by bending the pitches of some, but not all of the notes - wow. It's glorious.
> My favorite hard, hard instrument is the tambourine. It's amazing something so small and simple can present such challenges, but it does. And played well, it's extremely expressive.
There's the brazilian "pandeiro"; it's amazing. I've seen some demostrations of skilled pandeiro players and they can sort-of emulate a full drumset with that toy-like instrument.
I agree with your assessment and comments! I play drums, guitar, keyboard and some bass. Guitar is the easiest by far. From the list, drums is the hardest. With regards to technique, bass is straightforward if you know how to play guitar; however the mindset or approach to bass playing within a band is way different than guitar's.
> There's a reason it's the most popular instrument in the world.
... also because it was way cheaper (and portable) than a piano or a drumset. It is cheaper than even a trumpet or sax.