The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
I’m a musician and music teacher and I’ve celebrated turning 50 this year by learning 10 musical instruments and taking grade 5 in each (five down, five to go): treble recorder, tenor sax, bassoon, guitar, trombone, organ, harpsichord, voice double bass and percussion (snare drum, xylophone and timpani).The piano is probably not the easiest instrument to learn, but it has a huge advantage over all others – that the scale (starting at C) is immediately displayed via the white keys. The pattern of black and white keys, when first playing C major scale, illustrates the pattern of tones that make the major scale, which anyone will recognise as do-re-mi etc.I don’t know about learning from scratch, but in recovery from a head injury that meant I lost the use of an arm for a few years, the uke was a way back to playing the guitar, which was my original instrument.The ukulele is a very forgiving instrument, in terms of finger pressure and chord position – the F and D minor chords are only one finger different, so beginners’ mistakes don’t sound too awful. It’s a different matter to get really good on the uke, although some are virtuosos – check out James Hill playing Billie Jean.
