Preface: I said learn, not master.

I was at church band rehearsal yesterday morning and there was a young girl (maybe 11 or 12) there to play the violin in the orchestra. There was time to kill, so she sat down at the piano and played for a few minutes and I was just .

How did someone so young get so good at playing the piano?

Essentially, yes it is. For the basic reason that to play a note you simply have to press the right key. Learn your notes and some fingering technique and you're on your way. Whereas for the guitar, to play a note you have to consider a number of things; fretting the right fret - behind the fret, with your fingertip without too much pressure but not too little, you have to pick the right string and also mute unwanted strings.
Initially, piano is easier - your fingers don't hurt so much!
However, to play piano well, like with any instrument is not easy

Good thing about piano is that you have one note - one key kind of layout. On guitar you have the same note on several positions.
Bad thing about piano is that there is different scale pattern for key/scale. On guitar you can change key by simply shifting left & right.

I don't know how to play piano good, so cannot tell you what is easier. I think both require a lot of time to learn.

That´s just how it is. Everythings about the fingering But as you already mentioned mastering the piano is realy hard.

It's easier to produce a good sounding note, but it's not easier to learn to play!

I was pretty good on piano, but haven't played actively for the last 4 years, so I forgot everything I knew
But sometimes, I record some really simple keyboard lines for my songs, but that can't be considered piano playing...

This is also a good point. The replication of notes in different positions on the fretboard can get very confusing at first, howver the movable shapes and patterns are something that make improv a lot more intuitive on the guitar than the piano. That's why the majority of my childhood was spent sat at a piano just playing scales up and down.. for hours and hours.
Ah memories

Which is good and bad at the same time!
On the piano you have to think about the notes that you're playing and therefore it makes you understand what you're doing better. On the guitar you just move the shape to a different position and fire away.
I believe this is the reason why most piano and keyboard players have better understanding of music theory and harmony than most guitarists.

I agree with you there.

For me to play in C Major (no sharps/flats) vs. C# Major (all sharps) on a guitar is as easy as sliding up a fret. On a piano, the fingering would be completely different.

I think piano just looks easier at beginning because of mechanics how you play it, but to learn it is as hard as guitar to me...I tried both and guitar was somehow even more intuitive to start with.

It makes impro intuitive if we stick to basics and one key harmonies. For more complex harmonies it becomes a lot more complicated, gotta be able to go from anywhere to almost anywhere.

This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: Apr 13 2009, 03:32 PM

There's another difference that makes either piano/guitar difficult to learn.
In guitar a lot of the technical difficulties start when you have to syncronise both hands. In piano it's the exact opposite, the difficulty starts when you have to treat each hand separately.

Someone told me that pianists play the rhythym with the left hand and melody with the right, that sounds pretty hard to me! and how the hell do you tell the notes apart?? theyre all either black or white! At least we have fret markers and stuff, and what are those pedals all about? You can bet your ass theyre not tube screamers!
I love piano but the guitar is quite enough for one lifetime!! lol

ye, you often use the left for rythm and keeping the beat, and the right for melody and extended harmony. its easy to se the notes, since its not just black-whith-black-white etc, but (from c) w-b-w-b-w-w-b-w-b-w-b-w
lol pedals are for sustain and dynamics
and yeah its a pain in the ass to seperate each hand rythmicly

-Frederik

I think in longer run piano gets easier then guitar. In the beginning phase its harder since you have to coordinate left hand (rhythm ) with right hand lead.
Most guitar players use E shape of minor pentatonic for soloing, so talk about limitations... For piano its a different matter since its all about melodic shapes and rhythm.

If you have patience and are determined to practice, start learning piano , it can just benefit your overall musicianship.

I really do think it depends on what level you try to achieve on either instrument. I know for a fact that the piano can get hard and there are techniques/concepts that take years to master. I'd say that at the top levels, the instruments are on a par with each other.

Each instrument is unique and different,
plus there is always something new to learn
and you'll never be DONE with learning.

Wise words

i started learning the piano 5 weeks ago, in the beginning it is hard to use your left and right hand seperately, but it is starting to come to me now, though my hands sometimes want to move at the same time.

at first learning the piano seems easier to learn then the guitar but i think the further you get in learning both instruments the more even they get in difficulty... i've yet to find out

I think it's easier to get started. When I started to play guitar I sounded very horrible. With the Piano it was relatively easy to play simple melodies etc. But that's about it. You can spend your whole life time mastering the guitar, piano or violin.

Jonas

i just received an e-mail that clarified that she's in college. I guess she just looked really young.