# Musical Instruments with SIMPLE Fingering? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009 "2016-03-24T05:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/21 "2016-03-24T23:15:49Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > The trombone, of course: consecutive notes are just an inch or two from each other. > > Or its more apartment-friendly cousin, the slide whistle! 🙂 The positions for a B flat scale are 1 6 4 3 1 4 2 1. There are 2 1/2 inches between positions. That works out to 12.5",5",2.5",5",7.5",5",2.5" for 8 consecutive notes. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/22 "2016-03-25T02:03:58Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > The positions for a B flat scale are 1 6 4 3 1 4 2 1. > There are 2 1/2 inches between positions. > > That works out to 12.5",5",2.5",5",7.5",5",2.5" for 8 consecutive notes. Not linear? You don’t shorten the slide to increase the pitch, but sometimes extend the slide to increase the pitch? YIKES! That’s exactly what I do not want! (Also, too loud, and, alas, also too expensive.) ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/23 "2016-03-25T02:07:57Z")
French horn is your calling. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/24 "2016-03-25T02:29:56Z")
The internet has ruined my innocence. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/25 "2016-03-25T02:32:50Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > French horn is your calling. You save money on the mute, because you use your hand. However, those teeny mouthpieces are hella hard to play. As a tuba player who also plays cornet/trumpet – and has played euphoniums in the past – I find that the bigger the mouthpiece, the easier to make sweet music with. F horns frighten me. Those alto horns look like a lot of fun, though. [http://www.prowinds.com/product/456S/Alto\_Horns](http://www.prowinds.com/product/456S/Alto_Horns) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/26 "2016-03-25T02:42:59Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > For _simple_ fingering, you basically can’t beat an autoharp. As a lifelong player of brass and woodwind instruments, I don’t recommend switching to strings, keyboards, percussion, etc. Playing a wind instrument is like Yoga. Yanks yer chakras right into line. Fills you head to toe with the vital energy of Ch’i. Sets your toes a-tapping on the yellow brick road of Tao. Mark Shepard’s book HOW TO LOVE YOUR FLUTE is one of the most lovely music instruction books ever written. [http://www.amazon.com/How-Love-Your-Flute-Playing/dp/0938497103](http://www.amazon.com/How-Love-Your-Flute-Playing/dp/0938497103) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/27 "2016-03-25T03:12:11Z")
They do make valve trombones. They’re for 3 valve brass horn players who want something in the tenor (trombone) range. But since you’re already a cornet player, why not just invest in a really good mute for a cornet? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/28 "2016-03-25T03:15:46Z")
There’s also the [pipe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-hole_pipe), which is a three-holed, one-handed whistle, usually played along with a drum. Not the most complex melodies or range given the limited options, but definitely simple fingerings. Your neighbors may well kill you, though. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/29 "2016-03-25T03:56:20Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > They do make valve trombones. They’re for 3 valve brass horn players who want something in the tenor (trombone) range. But since you’re already a cornet player, why not just invest in a really good mute for a cornet? Well, the bummer is, my cornet got stolen. That’d be about thirty years ago, so I’ve been a-mulling over what to try to learn to play. I put enough practice into the recorder to learn that it isn’t right for me. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > There’s also the [pipe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-hole_pipe), which is a three-holed, one-handed whistle, usually played along with a drum. Not the most complex melodies or range given the limited options, but definitely simple fingerings. > > Your neighbors may well kill you, though. Grin! It does, indeed, look absolutely wonderfully simple! After reading everyone’s advice – thank you, everyone! – I sent off to Amazon for a cheapish melodica. Cheap, as in under $20. That will be enough for me to play around with, to learn if it’s really what I want, at which point I can get a better model. I’m very fond of Renaissance dance tunes – John Dowland and his era – so I don’t need to be too much of a virtuoso, just able to puff out a happy tune. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/30 "2016-03-25T20:40:00Z")
Always found the violin to be just dead simple. Put down another finger, you get the next note. You learn tricks and shortcuts as you advance. I don’t know how some of my wind player friends are a little flummoxed by the idea, but there you are. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/31 "2016-03-25T20:55:09Z")
Brass and woodwinds have one fatal drawback that prevents me from even considering them. You can’t play and sing at the same time! > [@Jpeg\_Jones](#): > > Always found the violin to be just dead simple. Put down another finger, you get the next note. You learn tricks and shortcuts as you advance. I don’t know how some of my wind player friends are a little flummoxed by the idea, but there you are. Sheesh, you make it sound easy - but with no markings on the violin neck, knowing exactly _where_ to put your next finger is the tricky part. It’s very easy to play very badly - I’m very good (at playing it badly). But putting your finger in the right spot isn’t the only tricky part: bowing with your other hand, at the right angle, speed, pressure and direction - is a bear. Plus, while it’s admittedly easier to sing while playing a violin than it is with a trumpet… it ain’t very easy. That’s why I’ve recently hung up my fiddle (for now) and picked up a mandolin. Same finger positions but with frets and no pesky bow. And I can sing with it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/32 "2016-03-25T21:46:11Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Brass and woodwinds have one fatal drawback that prevents me from even considering them. You can’t play and sing at the same time! . . . If you’d ever heard me sing… (Cows are more melodious and crows more harmonic; hyenas have more charm, and the gurgling of a manatee is more enchanting. I am that class of singer whom audiences pay money not to perform. My mother gave me a bucket once…) Old Tumbleweeds cartoon where 'Weeds is about to start singing, and everyone around him offers him something to put in his mouth. “Licorice? Peanuts? Chaw of Tobaccy?”) ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/33 "2016-03-26T14:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Trinopus** > > I’ve tried the tin whistle, and didn’t have much luck. (Do they make an “alto” or “tenor” tin whistle? They make tin whistles in a variety of keys, and you can find tin whistles that are one or two octaves below the normal range. If you’ve tried them you know there’s six holes, so there’s a lot of possible combinations, but for 99% of all music you only need to know 7 (all holes covered to no holes covered, removing the bottom finger each time). And I find it the simplest. Want to go up a note? Remove one finger. Nice and easy. Also, super cheap, and a lot of good music written for it. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/34 "2016-03-26T16:29:47Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > If you’d ever heard me sing… (Cows are more melodious and crows more harmonic; hyenas have more charm, and the gurgling of a manatee is more enchanting. I am that class of singer whom audiences pay money not to perform. My mother gave me a bucket once…) > > Old Tumbleweeds cartoon where 'Weeds is about to start singing, and everyone around him offers him something to put in his mouth. “Licorice? Peanuts? Chaw of Tobaccy?”) Thanks. Your description made me laugh out loud. Fits me to a T. Crooning to the ladies, cows and crows, hyenas and manatees is definitely not my specialty either. ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Clegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Corporal\_Clegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Clegg)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/35 "2016-03-26T16:39:18Z")
You’d be surprised how easy the guitar is to play hundreds and hundreds of songs. All instruments can be hard at first, based upon what and how you learn. The simple “recorder” requires two hands to play and all you can do with it is play a melody. If you learn just the 5 “open” chord shapes on guitar you really just have to train your fretting hand as the picking hand is pretty simple (until you get more proficient and want to advance). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/36 "2016-03-27T02:41:42Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > They make tin whistles in a variety of keys, and you can find tin whistles that are one or two octaves below the normal range. . . . I’m amazed! I’ll go a-looking! I thought all tin whistles were the same “sopranino” range! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/37 "2016-03-27T04:29:00Z")
Ow! I did some looking around, and the prices are prohibitive. Several listings for tenor tin whistles were over $200. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/38 "2016-03-27T09:29:15Z")
There are penny whistles and there are penny whistles. I’m sure you can find an inexpensive one to start with. It’s not like you start learning to play guitar on a Les Paul Custom or Martin D-45. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/39 "2016-03-27T10:25:32Z")
If you value your life, please stay away from the bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009/40 "2016-03-27T13:18:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Trinopus** > > Ow! I did some looking around, and the prices are prohibitive. Several listings for tenor tin whistles were over $200. Look for tin whistles in low D. You can find them for as low as $70 usually. Used ones run around $30, if that doesn’t squick you out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-instruments-with-simple-fingering/750009.md?page=3)