David_Gerard comments on Cheat codes - Less Wrong

36 Post author: sketerpot 01 December 2010 09:19PM

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Comment author: Benquo 21 June 2011 02:12:07AM 7 points [-]

It seems as if the guitar benefits from these qualities:

  • Sufficient tonal depth to sustain a melody (i.e. not a drum)
  • Sufficient harmonic depth to be a solo instrument
  • Since it's a "plucking" instrument (rather than blowing or bowing) it's less sensitive to the quality of the musician's touch - an amateur can play a single note almost as well as a professional

Am I missing some crucial element? It looks like these attributes are not all present in the drum, trumpet, clarinet, viola, &c., but are all present in the piano, harpsichord, harp, &c. Maybe piano, harp, and harpsichord are all more difficult to learn than the guitar?

Comment author: David_Gerard 11 February 2012 08:50:07AM *  2 points [-]
  • Rock, pop and folk music, the things guitars are popularly used for, are quite simple, so you don't need to be able to play well at all to get music out of the thing. (Think how many punk rock bands could literally hardly play when they started. "Here's one chord, here's two more, now form your own band.") Also, you can get a guitar and amp that are good enough for your whole career way cheaper than the typical good classical instrument.
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