Are you an adult learner seeking to learn a musical instrument but not quite ready to be committed? Perhaps you would like to experiment with some music instruments on your own first before signing up for formal music training? Would it be possible to be a self-taught musician?
It is not impossible to teach yourself to master a musical instrument. Many popular musicians from Kurt Cobain to Dave Grohl have taught themselves how to play. You may argue that they have special talents besides passion and perseverance to help them. But there are also musical instruments that you can learn to play easily to start your interest in playing music. We share the 5 easiest music instruments for adult learners to pick up in this post.
1. The Harp
You might be surprised to read that the Harp is recommended as a musical instrument that is easy to learn for an adult over 50 years old. First of all, the harp comes with a number of strings. The sound is light and ethereal and easy on the ears.
Also, not all harps come in big sizes. There is the Celtic harp, which can be played when perched on the knee. It can also be placed on a small stool in front of the player. The lyre harp is also small and comes with seven to ten strings. They are very affordable as well.
2. Bongos
Bongos are made of two small open-bottomed drums that are connected together. One drum is larger than the other. Each drum produces a different sound, the larger drum has a lower tone while the smaller one has a higher tone. What makes Bongos an easy instrument to learn is that they can teach the beginner musician about rhythm and basic percussion. Bongos are also very inexpensive and easily portable. They are very loud and will allow you to practise without disturbing your neighbours.
3. Tambourines
Another simple musical instrument that helps you to learn rhythm and percussion is the tambourine. You can play this simple instrument along with your friends in a jamming session even if you have no professional music training. Its an intuitive instrument that lets you accompany your friend playing the piano or the guitar.
There are different types of tambourines to choose from. Some are made of all metal, others are made of wood with animal skin. They all come with small cymbals built into the sides, known as “jingles”. You can produce different sounds depending on whether you are shaking or banging it.
4. Ukuleles
The ukulele is a very simple instrument you can pick up on your own by learning through youtube videos. It has exploded in popularity in recent years with many people learning to play it and including it in their song compositions. The uke is small and easy to hold. It comes with four strings and is easy to strum or finger pluck.
You can choose different sizes of ukulele that catch your interest with the soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles. It doesn’t hurt your fingers as much compared to playing the guitar, which is much bigger. The size of the uke makes it easy to carry around. Just learning four chords allows you to play hundreds of songs on the uke.
5. Harmonica
The harmonica is a great choice for a first instrument. It’s compact and can be kept in your pocket. The notes can be learnt in just a few hours as you learn to produce sounds by blowing through the various holes in the body of the harmonica. All it takes to master the harmonica is practice.
Although the harmonica is notably associated with bluegrass and the blues, it has also been incorporated into today’s modern pop songs. The harmonica helps you to grasp musical notes and also imparts the basics of reading music.
6. Keyboards
The keyboard is probably the most challenging instrument to learn compared to all the others listed in this post. But still, it is a great musical instrument that is not too difficult to learn and yet presents you with some challenges if you are learning at 50.
Most keyboards come with drum tracks that you can play along with. The drum tracks can help you with learning rhythm and you can create a variety of sounds if you get tired of just listening to piano sounds. You can also have fun by changing the keyboard to play strings, organ, trumpet and electronic sounds.
The flexibility of the keyboard to allow you to play classical and even pop songs help to keep you interested in learning. Try it out at a trial lesson to test how comfortable you are with the keyboard before embarking on your learning journey.
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