Guitar or Piano???

You'll really need lessons to get anywhere with the piano and it will be quite a while before you're playing anything of interest. Are you interested in classical music? Will you be taking the graded exams? If you're willing to practice at least an hour a day I know a very good teacher in your area.

Otherwise learn the guitar.
 
Casual or proper study? Classical or other styles?

What is it you like about each of them; why do you want to learn?
 
Guitar. Easier to learn and it's a portable instrument :)

I managed to get up to grade 2 in piano before quitting. I was like 10yrs old and it seemed like so much to learn at the time. My teacher kept getting angry because I wasn't playing it right so I eventually got fed up and quit :( Also learnt guitar as well but quit for the same reason (same teacher). Wish I had carried on learning now :o
 
Guitar. Easier to learn and it's a portable instrument :)

Hmm
One is an instrument that has to be tuned daily/hourly/each song, the strings are illogically tuned and you physically have to press the strings down to make a noise and the other you just press a note down to make a noise.
 
Hmm
One is an instrument that has to be tuned daily/hourly/each song,

**** easy to do. They are geared to make it even easier.

the strings are illogically tuned

It is stupid isn't it. They should have been tuned in 5ths. They also have too many strings. Did I mention I play the violin?

and you physically have to press the strings down to make a noise

Oh the hardship... They are tabbed FFS!

and the other you just press a note down to make a noise.

Uh huh... You really shouldn't judge an instrument based on the ease of playing a single note.
 
Uh huh... You really shouldn't judge an instrument based on the ease of playing a single note.

I've been playing semi professionally/professionally in bands for 42 years playing both keyboards & guitar but if you think it is so much easier to learn guitar then go for it.
I'll guarantee that 100% of non musicians would learn & play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a keyboard far quicker than on a guitar.
 
Keyboard and piano are two completely different things though. I used to have lessons on a piano but then practised at home with a keyboard. No matter how good a keyboard you have, it's still incomparable to a proper piano. Just my opinion anyway.
 
Keyboard and piano are two completely different things though. I used to have lessons on a piano but then practised at home with a keyboard. No matter how good a keyboard you have, it's still incomparable to a proper piano. Just my opinion anyway.

But you said guitar is easier to learn which it certainly isn't.
In my example, show a beginner Do Re Mi on a piano and they will be playing it in seconds with perfect in tune notes.
Show them Do Re Mi on a guitar and they will need a month just to press the strings down to make a note.
 
I've been playing semi professionally/professionally in bands for 42 years playing both keyboards & guitar but if you think it is so much easier to learn guitar then go for it.
I'll guarantee that 100% of non musicians would learn & play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a keyboard far quicker than on a guitar.


So this

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(bottom 2 lines)

is easier then this?

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So this

is easier then this?

I used the word 'show'.

If you want to believe a total beginner can learn guitar easier than piano then go for it.
I have been teaching for most of those 42 years so I think I have a little experience how quick people take things up.
 
Sheet music is a lot harder to read than tablature yes, but when learning by ear the basics of piano is easier to grasp.


The easiest tunes on piano require only one hand, whereas all songs on guitar require two hands (well, one handed techniques are quite advanced) with good co-ordination between them. Also when starting to learn guitar your fingers will hurt before you develop calluses.
 
I used the word 'show'.

If you want to believe a total beginner can learn guitar easier than piano then go for it.
I have been teaching for most of those 42 years so I think I have a little experience how quick people take things up.

I've owned a guitar for a year now and barely play it as I get bored. It took 3 attempts to play it through without making a mistake and have got the piece in short term memory. I've grew up with a piano in the house that is constantly played, I'll let you know once I've been able to play the piece from start to finish (and I can already read sheet music). A student would spend months learning scales and playing simple pieces one hand at a time to learn to read sheet music.
 
But you said guitar is easier to learn which it certainly isn't.
In my example, show a beginner Do Re Mi on a piano and they will be playing it in seconds with perfect in tune notes.
Show them Do Re Mi on a guitar and they will need a month just to press the strings down to make a note.
Come on, you're talking about the basics here. Who's going to want to just play Do Re Mi or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Once you get past the basics of understanding the keys/notes/chords then everything starts to get more difficult.

Absolute basic version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:


Advanced/improvised version:


Everyone will have to learn the basics either way. I just think piano in general (not just the basics) is more difficult to learn compared to guitar.
 
As a n00b in both I'm going to throw my two cents in here and hope not to get bludgeoned to death :p. In my opinion the guitar is easier to learn but they both seem equally difficult to master. The fact that tabs are so much easier to read than sheet music I think plays a part in the reasoning going through my head :p.
 
Everyone will have to learn the basics either way. I just think piano in general (not just the basics) is more difficult to learn compared to guitar.

If we're talking beyond basics then each instrument will gradually get just as hard but the difference is the piano will always be in tune when you hit a note.
I can play the chord of C on a piano a million times and apart from dynamics it will always sound the same.
I can play a chord of C on a guitar and each time can sound a little bit different and of course you've got two hands that have to do it.
You are being a little bit snobbish by saying that piano gets more difficult than guitar the further you go but I reckon you should type Tommy Emmanuelle into You Tube.
 
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