Which is harder, high level piano or high level guitar?

[FZ2017]

Ive played classical guitar and piano both at a high level, it's not even close.


Start here with this seemingly silly thing. The piano does not move. A guitar does. It's much harder to hit a moving target. End here 10 fingers vs 4.


Ive literally had a professor in music school who played everything (all strings, all brass, etc) say.


"You play classical guitar? I tried to play that, it's too freaking hard!!!..... and how do you read on that thing anyway?"





Lastly, how many child virtuoso piano players are there (playing Bach Mozart etc)? Countless
How many child virtuoso classical guitar players are there? A handful?

I've known somebody who could play anything with strings including classical guitar, but to be able to play brass and all that too man that professor of yours sounds amazing!

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[FZ2017]

I have a friend who has perfect pitch, composes music in her head, plays classical piano to a pretty high level, and also guitar and uke, and she says has literally no idea how to go about reading on the thing.

She plays folk guitar mostly in open position. Nice player in that style - taught me a few things. I think she likes it a little less formal.

From this, I conclude that 'formal guitar' is very hard when even musicians with much greater natural talent than myself struggle with it.

(I on the other hand have no shortage of bloody mindedness)

On the other hand, fingerstyle, alternate tunings, bottleneck, open string bluegrass stuff etc etc... That's what the guitar is FOR really.

I mean both guitar and piano, at least one half of it, are written in treble clef.

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[FZ2017]

Oh - that made me think of something.

The guitar is very much a 'intervallic instrument'; a relative pitch instrument.

At least, I feel most jazz guys learn scales and chords this way. Maybe hearing music in absolute pitches (perfect pitch) makes it harder to map music in that way - you know 1 2 3 4 5 etc...

Another friend (from school) who also has perfect pitch can't deal with alternate tunings.

So perfect pitch might be a bit of an impediment when it comes to guitar... Is that BS?

I feel my sheer lack of formal musicianship was quite helpful at the early stages. I think I would have got frustrated with it if I'd already learned piano to a high level, say.

Don't know but I'd take perfect pitch any day for sure.

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[Alter]

I am a very mediocre piano player, but i would say that reading music is obviously much easier on the piano, despite the two hands. Also piano tends to lend itself to harmonic complexity a bit more, probably cause of the polyphony of the instrument and the keyboard layout. This is the biggest difference i hear in high level pianists and guitarists, the second are usually much simpler in their harmonic approach.

Piano (and keys) are basically one instrument, guitar is many. Electric, acoustic, nylon string, jazz, four very different instruments and techniques. Between that and playing with a pick, fingers or thumb, i think technically it is pretty difficult to master

[FZ2017]

I am a very mediocre piano player, but i would say that reading music is obviously much easier on the piano, despite the two hands. Also piano tends to lend itself to harmonic complexity a bit more, probably cause of the polyphony of the instrument and the keyboard layout. This is the biggest difference i hear in high level pianists and guitarists, the second are usually much simpler in their harmonic approach.

Piano (and keys) are basically one instrument, guitar is many. Electric, acoustic, nylon string, jazz, four very different instruments and techniques. Between that and playing with a pick, fingers or thumb, i think technically it is pretty difficult to master

Yeah except keyboards. When you start talking keyboards it's different sounds kinda like guitar ya know synthesizers and what not. Keyboard players have whole rigs like Joe Zawinul!

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[FZ2017]

The guitar covers 3 octaves played with 4 fingers (and maybe a thumb). The piano covers 7 octaves played with 10 fingers (including thumbs).

You can figure it out :-)

Plus a minor 3rd piano speaking.

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[Alter]

Yeah except keyboards. When you start talking keyboards it's different sounds kinda like guitar ya know synthesizers and what not. Keyboard players have whole rigs like Joe Zawinul!

yeah, but still that's kind of like the effect rigs in guitar. Even with the different keyboards, weighted keys etc, it 's more or less the same playing technique regerdless of the sounds you use or build. I would only see hammond and the church organ as essentially different in that.

[FZ2017]

yeah, but still that's kind of like the effect rigs in guitar. Even with the different keyboards, weighted keys etc, it 's more or less the same playing technique regerdless of the sounds you use or build. I would only see hammond and the church organ as essentially different in that.

So the top keyboard of the organ is that treble clef? Cause it's definitely higher than the bottom keyboard. Talking about the Hammond of course.

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[Alter]

More or less. The bottom one is bass and chords usually, but it is also a different way of playing than that of a piano. Plus a lot of footwork as well with the pedals, although usually not as much as a church organ player would do..

[Robertkoa]

I think the bar is set much higher for Piano Players....

[Epistrophy]

I've played both. I see it's definitely easier to learn stuff with piano. With guitar it took me many years to master (I'm still learning and I always will), playing piano as my side instrument for fun. How those tricky Bill Evans voicings could be when applied for guitar, and only some of us have hands big enough to play those stretched out chord voicings that include seconds and ninths. For guitarist, it takes a long time to learn those ninth chord inversions (Cmaj9 in root position, first inversion third on the bottom, second inversion fifth on the bottom). With piano it's just about playing the voicings without thinking that much about it at all. And those damn arthritis problems. Not as likely to develop to pianists compared to guitarists.

When it comes to improvising, I could easily improvise stuff on piano if I heard a line in my head, even when I have played it much less than guitar. I wouldn't say the same if piano was my main instrument and guitar was my side hobby.

With piano it's simple, you don't have to carry stuff with you since the venue might have a piano with them. Pianists don't have to worry about owning different kinds of equipment like guitarists (pedal boards, amps, solid body, semi-hollow, hollowbody, nylon string, steel string etc.) As a pianist, you just need one instrument and that's it. You don't have to own a fancy grand piano. With 2k you get a decent second hand Yamaha upright piano if you're lucky and that is all you need. All it takes to practise with it. Well, the tuning has to be done regularly and that's the only downside I see.

Generally speaking I see pianists having easier time.

[Marcel_A]

"High-level piano music" is nearly impossible on most other instruments.

High-level piano music is nearly impossible on a piano aswell. The barr is set very high by composers composing for the piano.

I think this is very much an apples and oranges kind of thing.

exactly. High level is hard on anything. Even on a simple flute:

[greveost]

Stole this idea from another thread (thanks goldenwave77). Apparently Barry Galbraith thinks high level guitar is much harder. Me, I'm not sure, but I look forward to some thoughts from the peanut gallery

Depends on what you mean with high level, but in many ways, in general, piano is an easier instrument (linear, visual, direct contact with a note, etc etc)....

[greveost]

I think the bar is set much higher for Piano Players....

Bar is set much higher, because mainly of two reasons, more piano players than guitar players in jazz, therefore more competition, and skills are getting better, but also because the piano is an easier instrument to master.

[Marcel_A]

I'm not talking about jazz. I'm talking about music in general. It's not easier to become a top level piano player. Compare what work a top player has to do to reach that level to what a top guitar player has to do. There is not a difference.
How many hours do you think that flute player spends every day? Every instrument is difficult in its own way. Did you ever take singing lessons? Did you ever try to play a violin? Did you really try to become a really high level player on the piano?

[djg]

the triangle is a bitch to play as well