[QUOTE=yBeayf]
<snip>but not any bagpipes, as from all I’ve heard all the hand-blown bagpipes take years to be any good at). <snip>
[QUOTE]
There is a difference between good bagpipes and bad bagpipes? It takes years to make that sound?
I’m neither of these, but still want to chip in here 
The people who say it can’t be done are failing to look at it in a realistic timeframe. When you consider a kid may start playing an instrument at age 8, and it’s only when they’re in their teens that they’re making a sound you want to listen to, you’re talking about many years of regular work. Not something that most people encounter in adult life, which is why the ‘not possible’ attitude can influence people - after six months, they can’t get much of a tune out of their saxophone/piano/whatever, and so give up.
Keyboard? Fffffffft. Maybe I’m influenced by the way every kid my age was asking for one from Santa back in the 80s, but I don’t see it as a good choice for this situation.
My two suggestions would be saxophone or cello. The latter, in particular, is (a) something not everyone attempts in your situation, and (b) something you won’t spend six months learning to make the most basic notes with. It’s still bloody hard work, but very rewarding.
You’re thinking of highland pipes, which are definitely an acquired taste. Try listening to uillean or Northumbrian pipes sometime, and see if you like them. Totally different sound.
how about spoons? got a washboard in your backyard just sitting there rusting?
For a first instrument, I would highly recommend a Tin Whistle. Also known as a Pennywhistle or Irish Whistle. There are a few reasons:
[ul]
[li]A tin whistle is dirt cheap. Ten bucks gets you a perfectly good whistle, and unlike other instruments, a cheap one won’t sound ‘cheap’. There are performers like Mary Bergin who play professionally with a $10 whistle. And even the best whistles around are only a couple of hundred bucks. My favorite whistle is a Sweetheart professional model, and it was $150. In comparison, a good piano will set you back thousands of dollars, and a good guitar hundreds or thousands of dollars. If you’re not sure if you’ll keep up the music, start cheap.[/li][li]A Tin Whistle is very easy to learn to play, and hard to master. That’s great, because you can be belting out tunes the day you buy one, but you can spend a lifetime improving your playing if you want.[/li][li]A Tin Whistle is small and easily transportable. Great for playing on camping trips, or even while you’re sitting in traffic. You can get loud ones for playing for an audience or in jam sessions, and quiet ones for playing at night at home.[/li][li]There are tons of internet resources to teach you to play. For example, the Chiff and Fipple forums are full of beginning, intermediate, and expert players sharing techniques and song snippets. Brother Steve’s Tin Whistle Pages have a really good set of tutorials.[/li][li]The Tin Whistle is good for learning to read music, because you don’t have the complication of two hands playing at once, chords, lots of accidentals, etc.[/li][li]It’s fun. There’s a big internet community, and if you really enjoy it, it’s easy to find jam sessions and the like.[/li][/ul]
I’d try a tin whistle, and see if the music bug bites you. If you find yourself playing it all the time and loving to learn new songs, then move on up to something like the piano to get a better grounding in music theory and to play a wider range of music. But you’ll keep playing the whistle, I’ll bet.
I’d recommend starting with something like the Mel Bay Starter Set. You get a Clarke whistle (an excellent whistle - beautiful tone and easy to play), a tutorial book with accompanying CD, and a little travel book of tunes, all for $20. You can’t go wrong. You can get starter sets like this in pretty much any music store.
A few nominations:
-The harmonica: I think it’s the easiest instrument you can pick up. The music is ridiculously easy to read (the tablature I should say: basically a chart that says blow in hole 4, suck in hole 3—har har har). Portable? Check. Sounds good solo? Check. Bad-ass? Check.
-No one’s mentioned the classical strings, unless I missed it—the cello is especially nice, in my opinion. And it sounds gorgeous by itself.
or…
-Banjo: the world needs more banjo players. I picked one up about a year ago. I’ve played other string instruments for years (bass, fiddle, guitar primarily) and this one is my favorite. Learning the banjo was more fun than I’ve ever had half-assing my way through a new instrument. When things start clicking, you’ll have the incredible urge to sit in a rocking chair with some brandy milk punch. And everyone loves the banjo, deep down inside. My strongest recommendation.
I’d put in another vote for learning to play keyboard. It’s transferable to a heck of a lot of instruments (organs, pianos, keytars, even accordions), and if you were to learn on this one you’d need almost no space at all. And it’s cheap!
I’m not an expert on any instrument, but I wanted to chime in and encourage you to go out and pursue this. I’m 30 years old and just began taking drum lessons this year. I’ve never really played a musical instrument before (outside of the recorder in elementary school), and the work is challenging, but I’m enjoying it.
Granted, I’m lucky in that I have a wife who is a musician and was able to point me in a direction where she felt I had some natural talent to begin with. But I was able to get a lot done with a set of drum pads and, believe it or not, “Drums for Dummies” before I ever started taking formal lessons. So if drums truly did interest you, I think you could pursue it at least somewhat without driving your roommate or neighbors insane. Getting started would be extremely cheap (drums pads were about $25, and the book was about the same), and if you enjoyed it, you could think about how to resolve having an actual drum set and going further.
Just my $0.02. Good luck with whatever you decide on!
Or a bucket, a string and a broomstick?
Are you hiding singing otters in your garage?
And while you’re learning the technique required to produce a good tone from a student cello, you can practice reharmonization, and, heck, harmony 101, on a keyboard, with a minimal amount of training, and (gasp!) actually play with other people as you learn the fine points of your instrument.
I just turned 60, and I’m seriously considering learning an instrument, possibly a cello or banjo. When I was a kid I played violin and viola pretty well, so hopefully that’ll shorten the learning curve a little.
At your age, I don’t think there’s an instrument you can’t learn. But I suggest narrowing it down to instruments you enjoy listening to.
I don’t know why people are saying that the harmonica is easy. Not in my experience. How on earth can someone cover three holes with their tongue and still blow through it?
I never knew washboards could sound so cool, until I heard these guys (careful, the music starts when the page loads). The washboard is easy to hear because there are only 3 people in the band, the singer/guitar player, the drummer, and the washboard player, a woman and the wife of the singer.
There aren’t enough 
smilies in the world to make an adequate response to this question
And if you are going to play the Theremin, don’t forget you can build your own. Not many instruments out there that you can build yourself.
I think the best suggestions I have seen here would be the harmonica, or the tin whistle.
How much work do you want to put into this? Do you want something you can pick up quickly, or are you ready to practice an hour a day for the next year or so?
If you are in the first category, then go with one of the above instruments. If you are in the second category, then you could take the advice of those who said piano, cello, or banjo. The cello is difficult to learn, and the banjo even more difficult. As a matter of fact, I would say the banjo is one of the hardest stringed instruments to learn.
Whatever you decide, good luck.
Pick up a Bass Guitar my friend…teach yourself to hold and sustain maybe 3 frets and you are on your way to a rock band.
I did at the age of 16 having absolutely no musical talent but a great head of hair…and you can still find an album here or there at some out of the way music shoppe.
good luck!