Everyone that plays the piano knows how marvelous it is to learn,understand and pursue the study of the instrument. My theory is there are two kinds of people in the world...those that play the piano [ or did] and the other half are those that wish they did or wish thy will.

rada

I think we're biased in favor of piano, naturally, because it's so expressive and versatile *and* because it's what we know. But any 50/50 thing is probably a divide between those who don't (or won't or can't) express themselves through making music - and those who do (or want to), regardless of the instrument(s).

I imagine those musically inclined feels as passionate about their own instruments as we do about piano!

You forget a third kind - those who play piano but wish they played a string instrument.....

What about the fourth kind - those who play piano but wish they sang?

I wish i could play the violin. Or even the guitar. Maybe i'll learn the guitar.

I wish I could play tenor sax!

Learning the guitar (started with the uke) was the best thing I ever did for my piano playing. To wit:

I took lessons in my youth and continued to pursue the piano, but as a baby boomer the piano was not cool like the guitar. Man, all those great-looking Fenders, Gibsons, Rickenbackers, etc. that the guitar heros would caress, strangle, make squeal or sing! Then there was the mystery of the tuning(s) and fretboard. Always curious about that. Hey, if some punk can go from his bedroom to the stage in a year, I should be able to pick this up in no time. Wrong!

So eventually I have learned a lot of guitar bits and pieces but came to the realization that I have an much easier time playing a Beethoven sonata than a simple guitar tune! So I guess what I am saying is that trying to learn the guitar has given me a greater appreciation of my piano abilities, and helped motivate me re-focus on the piano.

i'm quite addicted to classical guitar. i've managed to pick out little themes and things over the years but never really took it up but i'd rather learn the technique proper this time rather than what i did with the piano where i started playing by ear, which wasn't too healthy for my technique.

Every time I thought about learning something else I thought I could just as well be playing scales.

Classical guitar is so romantic!
I toyed with the idea of learning another instrument but the piano is so satisfying, there is so much literature to choose from and there is so much technique to improve on, I finally abandoned the idea. I think I would find it frustrating to play an instrument that can only one or two notes at a time.

I still have the harp on my wish list, as I think I mentioned some time ago.

... and I thought this was a thread about music theory.

When I was 15 and had a year's hiatus from piano lessons, I started getting interested in music again (for the first time since *before* I started lessons) and playing by ear. Once I was actually depressed because I couldn't figure out the chords for some song on the radio. Sitting with a friend and waiting for the school bus, I was trying to explain to her what was bothering me. She seemed puzzled. I asked, "When you hear a song you like, don't you feel like you want to reproduce it?" She said "No?!" like it was a peculiar notion. I was also surprised. That was the first time I realized that not everybody wanted to make music! But till then, I probably would have assumed the OP's theory was correct!

My wish list has many instruments on it, including the recorder, guitar, oboe, organ, and other similar instruments (come on, you KNOW you want to give your rude neighbors quite the wakeup with a shawm blast in the morning!). I'd love to get back into choral conducting as well. And deepen my studies of music theory past the graduate level.

I've played bassoon (Toronto City Young Orchestra 1980-82; Hart House Orchestra 1982-94), flute, banjo and I sang in a punk band for a while. I prefer the piano to those activities.

Well, keep living the good life, and one day you may be playing it

Cheers!

Can play six notes at a time with a normal guitar. Which really isn't that restrictive; how many times do you actually play 10 notes at once on the piano (with all 10 fingers)?

Plus you easily play two octaves apart on guitar with one hand.

I shuddered for a moment because I thought it was going to be another topic about talent vs. hard work!

And then there's the 5th kind (I think that's the number we're up to) ....those who wish they played better.

Actually on second thought I think that covers all the kinds.

I always thought there were two groups of people, those who grouped people into two groups and those who don't.

There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems" - Paul Erdös


I wonder what a musician is then?

Yeah, those six notes chords in guitar scores look so formidable and... intimidating