Guitar vs Piano: Which One Should I Learn? The Layout
Thursday, May 27, 2021 by Chandra Davis | Guitar vs. Piano
Since I opened my studio, many have asked about the difference between piano and guitar lessons. Which instrument is easier to learn and how do I decide if it is the right fit for me or my child? The answer to these questions depends on a few different factors. In this article, we will compare the layout of the piano and guitar along with their pros and cons.
On the piano, the notes repeat across the keys in the same sequence. There are white keys which identify your natural notes and black keys that identify your sharp/flat notes. This layout is easy to memorize, and students can quickly identify intervals (the distance between two keys). Playing to the right of the piano raises the pitch while playing to the left lowers the pitch. This concept is helpful to beginners when they are learning how to read music. The pitch of a note is never repeated anywhere on the piano unless you play the same key twice.
The format of the guitar is a bit more challenging to learn for two reasons. Each string has a different note sequence, and the same note can be found on different strings which can be confusing to beginners especially when learning how to read music. Unlike the piano, there are no black and white keys to distinguish where the sharp/flat or natural notes are. Anyone who is learning guitar must put in the extra effort to memorize the fretboard in sections over time. Another aspect of playing guitar is tuning. When the weather changes, so does the tension on the strings, so it is important to learn this skill quickly since a guitarist must check the tuning each time before they play. In the next article I will discuss the learning curve for both instruments and what kind of progress a student should expect when taking lessons.
