Is it hard to learn the clarinet for a beginner?

Question:I have been playing clarinet for over 18 years.

I remember when I started, it was insane! The fingering charts didn't make sense, I couldn't play a note without squeaking first, and even when I did get a note out, I had so many tears streaming down my face that it would run into my mouth and make it too hard to play!

A couple of weeks later, I finally figured out where my fingers went, and I could play short melodies with no breaks.

A couple weeks after that, my right thumb hurt like crazy, I couldn't feel my mouth anymore... and I was moved to advanced band.

It is extremely hard to get at first, and very frustrating! But once you start to build the muscles in your face (your embochure) and your hands, it gets easier- MUCH easier. You just have to be consistant, persistant, and patient.

Once you get good enough (can play through and above the break, keep a steady tone), it's really easy to pick up other woodwind instruments if you wanted. And if you get great on clarinet, you can, with little effort, be great on sax too! It's not usually the same if you start on sax and try to switch to clarinet because you would still have to build some muscle and get used to the pinky keys!

Hope this helped some!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have been playing clarinet for over 18 years.

I remember when I started, it was insane! The fingering charts didn't make sense, I couldn't play a note without squeaking first, and even when I did get a note out, I had so many tears streaming down my face that it would run into my mouth and make it too hard to play!

A couple of weeks later, I finally figured out where my fingers went, and I could play short melodies with no breaks.

A couple weeks after that, my right thumb hurt like crazy, I couldn't feel my mouth anymore... and I was moved to advanced band.

It is extremely hard to get at first, and very frustrating! But once you start to build the muscles in your face (your embochure) and your hands, it gets easier- MUCH easier. You just have to be consistant, persistant, and patient.

Once you get good enough (can play through and above the break, keep a steady tone), it's really easy to pick up other woodwind instruments if you wanted. And if you get great on clarinet, you can, with little effort, be great on sax too! It's not usually the same if you start on sax and try to switch to clarinet because you would still have to build some muscle and get used to the pinky keys!

Hope this helped some!

It's one of the easier instruments.

No, the clarinet is quite an easy instrument to learn. Everything is very straight-forward and you should pick up everything fairly fast. It is however quite difficult to play well. It takes a lot of work to get a good tone, and because the clarinet is such a popular instrument, you would want to be good at it to get anywhere with it.

Not at all. I just learned how in 2006, and I loved it AND it was not that difficult, right from the start. It's my second year of playing the clarinet, and in my school's symphonic band! (and im 2nd chair) =D
nah, it's easy.