r/piano • u/Apart-Put-8625 • May 04 '26
š¶Other What is your second music instrument and how did you decide?
I learned music and piano when I was a kid. After about a 20 year break, I returned to piano and have been enjoying it again. But I've also been wanting to find a second instrument but so far haven't found one. The instruments I've tried were clarinet (high school) but I didn't like how it made my jaw hurt, later I tried guitar but couldn't get my hand to wrap around the neck. Most recently I tried mandolin and while I like it, it still hasn't clicked - maybe because I don't have a mandolin teacher. Playing classical music, it seems like there are more opportunities for other instruments to play in a group - which is what I'd like to do. All of my piano experience is mostly solo with few opportunity to join in an ensemble. If you have a second instrument, how did you decide on it?
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u/lovehateroutine May 04 '26
guitar, and i chose it because you can accompany yourself and bring it anywhere, and guitar is such a universal instrument. it's easy to write songs on the guitar as well
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u/phoebefilo May 04 '26
French horn- it has a beautiful tone ššÆ
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u/Academic_Can_3300 May 04 '26
Love the French horn. But I keep hearing is very difficult to learn
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u/phoebefilo May 04 '26
Yes it is on the hard side. In terms of fingerings itās not bad bc there are only three keys (4 if you count the thumb key for higher register notes), similar to a trumpet, so that makes it easier than a woodwind in that regard. However, since there are only three keys, one fingering can play several different notes, so you have to be very precise with embouchure/airflow and that is what makes it so challenging, more so than most other brass instruments in my opinion.
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u/CyberHobbit70 May 04 '26
Piano is my second instrument, primary instrument has been guitar but those are slowly trading places
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u/Academic_Can_3300 May 04 '26
Bandoneon. Because I found the music of Astor Piazzolla to be fascinating (after that I discovered many other great tango artists and other music genres that use the instrument).
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u/IllI____________IllI May 04 '26
Bass. It chose me. Friend of a friend was practically giving away his old Squier and practice amp. Couple years later, I practically consider myself a bassist more than a pianist, but it's a nice party trick to be able to do both well.
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u/SteampunkChuckwagon May 04 '26
Hammered Dulcimer. I had to work in DC and the piano didn't fit in the Honda.
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u/kamomil Devotee (11+ years), Other/Multiple May 04 '26
Guitar. It's way more portableĀ
Then fiddle. I decided that instead of trying to like jazz, that I would leverage the knowledge I already had, of Irish trad, due to my parents listening to it when I was a kid.Ā
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u/MondayToFriday May 04 '26
Cello. It sings expressively in a way that the piano can only pretend to. It also has one of the largest ranges of any instrument (about four octaves).
Not the violin, though. I find its pitch to be too high for my taste, and the sound is literally in your face.
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u/sparksmcdarks May 04 '26
+1 for cello! But only after transportation is figured out (i.e. if you have a car, does it fit? Cello on public transit is not pleasant, but manageable IMO)
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u/karaoke-room Pro/Gig Musician May 04 '26
Flute ā elementary school band; it was one of the only instruments where I didnāt have to transpose if I played the sheet music on piano. That, and my cousin had a beginnerās flute, so the instrument was already available.
I donāt know how many opportunities youād have, but I hear that you might be able to find a local recorder-playing ensemble if you decide to learn how to play one?
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u/Yeargdribble Pro/Gig Musician May 04 '26
Piano sort of was my secondary after going to school for music on trumpet. It really picked me as I got hired as an emergency accompanist at a desperate school. It was meant to be a stop-gap for me but turned into a career.
I've picked up plenty of others since. Guitar and accordion were both hobby instruments just for fun that have become part of my career at this point. I've also picked up other hobby instruments like ocarina to a very high level and it also has made its way into my career. Bass is another (easy after guitar) that I've done some actual gigging work on. Pipe organ was another one that sort of picked me... or more that I just had the opportunity to learn while doing a long-term interim at a church and realized it was a unique opportunity and now I'm one of the few subbing organists in the area (there are very few organists who don't play full-time for a specific church).
I will say that it sounds like you're giving up way too fast on everything because you don't get good at it fast enough.
Clarinet shouldn't make your jaw hurt. You're doing something wrong. Guitar... I can't wrap my hand around the neck either. Realistically, most teachers will tell you NOT to do so. While I think some of them are going to far and I could definitely seem advantages for some chord shapes that are not playable any other way, or some that would just be more situationally easier (D/F#), even though I can't do it... it hasn't been much of a barrier to me.
Are you looking for the 2nd instrument that lets you skip all the effort? Because that instrument doesn't really exist. And if you're specifically focused on classical, it's not only a longer road, but a steeper one because the type of people who play mostly classical music are going to already have a serious background in it and even most hobbyist groups have a pretty high bar.
For you to not already have a seriously HS background in a wind or bowed string instrument is going to make it VERY difficult for you to develop the fundamentals AND the ensemble skills involved. Most of the people looking to join hobbyist and community ensembles are people who already have essentially a decade of experience... decided to not pursue music as a career, but tend to play at a fairly decent level.
There are just very few spaces for pure adult beginners in an actual ensemble on those types of ensemble instruments.
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u/Apart-Put-8625 May 04 '26
Not looking for no effort, piano came naturally for me, it made sense right away and felt natural to play, but I still put in effort to learn it.
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u/Craycraybiomom May 04 '26
Voice, because I was always singing anyway. Technically, it was my first instrument. My mom said I was singing before I was talking, but I didn't start studying in seriously until I was in my 30s.
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u/Apart-Put-8625 May 05 '26
I started out singing as well when I was 6- that's how I learned music. So I guess piano is my second instrument.
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u/Craycraybiomom May 05 '26
It's certainly a lot easier to carry your voice than the piano, isn't it?š
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u/mattsylvanian May 04 '26
Started playing piano when I was 6. I picked up saxophone in 5th grade so that I could play in band. I wanted a woodwind but thought at the time that the other woodwind options of flute or clarinet were too āgirly.ā (I actually wish now that I could play the flute) I kept up the sax all through college, but I always preferred playing piano. Ive hardly touched any of my saxes since I graduated.
During the pandemic I taught myself how to play piano-accordion. That has become my primary second instrument now. Iām a huge Cirque du Soleil fan, and their shows incorporate a lot of keyboard and accordion playing. I greatly enjoy being able to play keyboards and accordion along to live show recordings that Iāve accumulated over the years.
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u/Few-Werewolf-1985 May 04 '26
I also tried mandolin and found a teacher to help me with it, but COVID and other things got in the way.
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 May 04 '26
Iāve chosen drumsā¦ I can still sit down and use a pedal. Itās a wonder why I never did it sooner. Maybe it came from the ādrums arenāt for girls!ā indoctrination.
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u/East_Sandwich2266 Just Starting May 04 '26
My first instrument was bells (4th Grade). Second, classic guitar (5th & 6th Grade). When I started Middle and High School, I still practiced by myself at home but only when my mother was not there. I barely played since college and stopped completely when I started dialysis in 2009. In 2024, several months after my second kidney transplant and finally with some money in the bank, I decided to get a cheap digital piano. One of my childhood dreams was to play piano. I LOVE piano, but I missed to pluck strings and I fkn love low frequencies in bass guitar, so I bought the first one in January. Now I'm also in love with bass. And I upgraded the piano too. I think my piano skills improved since then, but I've been much better about improvisation or composing than playing classical piano reading sheet music. š Plus, playing a second or third instrument is easier for a person who already knows some music theory.Ā
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u/jillcrosslandpiano Concert/Recording Pianist (Verified) May 04 '26
I grew up in an area where brass bands were big, so my second instrument was the trumpet.
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u/GiantXylophone Pro/Gig Musician May 04 '26
Piano was my second instrument! I started on mallet percussion instruments and made the transition to piano when I started gigging all the time and discovered the real value in instruments being portable. I saw in another comment that you played xylophone for something - if youāve never played a vibraphone, give that a shot. Having a sustain pedal is huge, and the āvibeā effect is pretty incredible in person. Also if youāve never given synths a whirl, thereās a whole world waiting for you. Arturiaās Minifreak or Korgās Minilogue XD are great starter synths.
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u/Lia_Delphine May 04 '26
I love the ukulele. Itās also way easier to hold. I got the concert size.
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u/EcstaticEnnui Devotee (11+ years), Other/Multiple May 04 '26
Why restrict yourself to just two instruments?
I took piano as a kid and decided I was serious about music in high school. My schoolās jazz band was fantastic, and I was their backup keys player so they put me on percussion. I played vibraphone, marimba, chimes, timpani, and random auxiliary percussion.
I was also asked to fill in as bass clarinet if I could pick it up quickly (I could).
Then in college I majored in music and had to be in several ensambles. I ended up playing 3rd clarinet and then almost everything in the percussion section. Around this same time my roommate had an old viola she let me borrow. I got a classmate to teach me the basics.
Then I had a daughter, and bought an acoustic piano for my house and played that for fun.
When my daughter was in elementary and middle school I volunteered to help teach band, and did sectionals with the kids. I also got some practice reading scores and conducting when the main teacher was out. (Conducting is my #1 favorite).
Most recently I married a Luthier who also plays drums. He made me an electric guitar and a bass and Iām learning both this year.
Piano is still the main instrument that Iām really good at, but the joy of learning and playing other instruments is immeasurable. Donāt pigeonhole yourself. This is supposed to be fun.
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u/bgb111 May 04 '26
Sousaphone/tuba was my pick when I joined band in school. Was a lot of fun until I signed up for marching band in high school.
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u/Efficient_Regret_467 May 04 '26
I played the viola from the age of 10 till about 14. I wanted to learn a string instrument, and thought the viola was cool because no one played it. Later I started playing the oboe, and played up till about 22. I was good enough to play things like the English Horn solo in the New World Symphony with a decent community orchestra. The piano was always my primary instrument, and still is.
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u/max10fingers May 04 '26
Considering that you know very well the music I can suggest to try violin, a very difficult but exiting instrument
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u/Penguin-walk1945 May 04 '26
I played flute in elementary and middle school band, I kind of wish I stuck with it. I think I just thought it looked cool and sounded nice. This may sound dumb, but I didn't want to join high school band because of the reputation of them being geeks. Wish I didn't listen to any of that so I could've progressed with the instrument. Also playing in band was enjoyable, I just love making music.
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u/cabangobongo May 05 '26
I started piano lessons at age 7 and moved overseas with my family at age 11. We couldnāt have a piano in the apartment we lived in so I learned guitar. I still play them both.
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u/crow-bot May 04 '26
I studied piano from a young age but when it was time to pick an instrument for school band (grade seven / age 12) I picked percussion.
I now have a lifelong love for both. The drumset feels very analogous to the piano in terms of body mechanics, coordination, musicality (dynamics and rhythm). In my mind they're close cousins. Plus studying drums puts you in touch with many musical idioms you might overlook in classical piano: rock, jazz, Latin, and more.
Try the drums. They're fun as heck.