No, they are equally as easy and difficult to learn.

 

You can learn the fingering in a day, but it takes a lot of work and regular practice to get a decent range. If you just want to pick it up occasionally and toot, don't bother.

 

What does "stick with" mean? Were you planning to switch from saxophone to trumpet? Or to play both trumpet and sax? Or was he/she just attempting to denigrate your choice of horn in general?

 

Brass instruments are harder than woodwinds in some ways. We have the benefit of a reed to get our air column started, whereas with brass instruments, your lips are performing the function of the reed. The practical effect of this is more wear and tear on the lips and facial muscles than what we experience as saxophonists. Brass players have to be very careful about warming up, taking breaks, etc. or they can end up losing range or even being unable to play the instrument. Also, it takes longer to develop range and acceptable tone than it does on saxophone, in my experience.

Having said that, to truly master any instrument takes a similar amount of dedication. My advice would be to play the instrument you most want to play. If you really want to play both, others (including folks on this forum) have shown that it's possible, but you'd need to find the time to practice both instruments regularly to achieve a decent standard of play.

 

i agree.....

Brass instruments are harder than woodwinds in some ways. We have the benefit of a reed to get our air column started, whereas with brass instruments, your lips are performing the function of the reed. The practical effect of this is more wear and tear on the lips and facial muscles than what we experience as saxophonists. Brass players have to be very careful about warming up, taking breaks, etc. or they can end up losing range or even being unable to play the instrument. Also, it takes longer to develop range and acceptable tone than it does on saxophone, in my experience.

Having said that, to truly master any instrument takes a similar amount of dedication. My advice would be to play the instrument you most want to play. If you really want to play both, others (including folks on this forum) have shown that it's possible, but you'd need to find the time to practice both instruments regularly to achieve a decent standard of play.

 

An instructor at the Army Scchool of Music was asked the same question. Young trainee musicians on Clarinet advance quicker in the early stages, but the Trumpet/ Cornet students overtake them after a period of time. He was of course talking about the parts you are likely to play in a concert band situation. I'd imagine similar with Sax. Although with band parts on Tenor sax compared to Solo Clarinet, a world of difference. If you are having problems on trumpet then you are put on Eb horn or Eb bass. If you have problems on Clarinet then they put you on Tenor sax. Mind you that reflects the band parts you will be required to play. I had to say that before some tenor player mentions playing Giant Steps on tenor. LoL.
PS. Where is Gary.

 

In general terms, (in my opinion only), a trumpet embouchure requires more practice than a sax embouchure to maintain an acceptable standard of musicianship.

I do play both and have taught both. Started cornet in 1975, and picked up a sax in 1985.

Hope this helps.

cheers.

 

In general terms, (in my opinion only), a trumpet embouchure requires more practice than a sax embouchure to maintain an acceptable standard of musicianship.

Definitely agree with this. You can (generally) let a sax embouchure go for a while (weeks, not months or years) without practice and still come back with a reasonable sound but if you do the same with trumpet, you'll have significant difficulties until you rebuild embouchure strength and accuracy.

In terms of overall difficulty when learning, I'd agree with others that have stated or implied that brass instruments are harder to start with, due to lip/embouchure development, development of internal sense of pitch etc.

I've always said to my students that saxophone is probably the easiest instrument to learn but one of the most difficult to master.

 

In general terms, (in my opinion only), a trumpet embouchure requires more practice than a sax embouchure to maintain an acceptable standard of musicianship.

+1. Can take time off from the sax and recover sooner than with my trumpet.

 

Wow...I am gonna be the fly in the ointment, then. Coming from having started on brass instruments for a decade before moving on...IMHO, Brass instruments are far easier to learn than a sax. Embouchure on Brass is NOT at all very difficult-although I would understand why it might seem this way to a sax player who utilized an octave key and is generally taught NOT to tighten up as you go higher.

So while brass embouchure may play more of a role in one aspect, in other aspects brass is much more straightforward.

Working octaves, or tonguing, or legato, etc... on a trumpet, french horn, or low brass ? Not very difficult to become decent at that.

You are just dealing with three valves, or four, and the combinations thereof....or, seven slide positions. Really, quite straightforward, brass. No switching back and forth between right and left hand fingerings, no altissimo fingerings needed, no learning alternate fingerings really required.

Sax, notsomuch.

I will say that gaining good control on a mouthpiece of the scale of a trumpet or french horn...isn't for everybody, however. Then again, I know plenty of people who just cannot manage to get comfortable with a reed mouthpiece, as well.

But FWIW, I do not necessarily think ease of learning should be first and foremost in one's desire to learn an instrument. It's definitely a consideration, but...

 

Getting back to the op. I would say give the trumpet a go first. The reason being, if you look at the general mouth/chin shape of brass players, particularly orchestral musicians they tend to follow a set patern. I started on trumpet and did a lot of checking out of different players, and found the players with the more facility followed the same pattern. If you and your teacher feel real progress, I would say stick to the trumpet.
PS. Also in the military band, the brass players with this natural shape were the best technical players, and some of them hardly did any practice.

 

Getting back to the op.

:|...

...Had we digressed ...?

Didn't seem so....:bluewink:

 

Trumpet is easier, no contest. Imagine you know absolutely nothing about musical instruments and are presented with a trumpet and sax. It would take a few seconds to assemble the trumpet. After a few moments blowing, you'd probably figure out you need to buzz to make a sound. You could easily work out the fingerings by trial and error. You'd probably stumble on partials pretty quickly as well. The mechanical simplicity alone makes trumpet easier.

Sax, on the other hand, would be a challenge to assemble correctly. Embouchure and fingerings are both far more complex than a brass instrument to figure out by trial and error.

Case in point, when my son was young, I, a sax player, taught myself and him how to play trombone in just a few days.

As others have said, it would take about equal effort to master any instrument, except really complex ones like piano.

What this thread is really about is that a trumpet player insulted you, but you took his insult literally. Next time, just hand him your sax and see how he sounds.

 

Trumpet is easier, no contest. Imagine you know absolutely nothing about musical instruments and are presented with a trumpet and sax. It would take a few seconds to assemble the trumpet. After a few moments blowing, you'd probably figure out you need to buzz to make a sound. You could easily work out the fingerings by trial and error. You'd probably stumble on partials pretty quickly as well. The mechanical simplicity alone makes trumpet easier.

Sax, on the other hand, would be a challenge to assemble correctly. Embouchure and fingerings are both far more complex than a brass instrument to figure out by trial and error.

Case in point, when my son was young, I, a sax player, taught myself and him how to play trombone in just a few days.

As others have said, it would take about equal effort to master any instrument, except really complex ones like piano.

What this thread is really about is that a trumpet player insulted you, but you took his insult literally. Next time, just hand him your sax and see how he sounds.

Well-put. This is kind of how I feel (maybe minus the last sentence ....which I hadn't thought about, actually) .

The question is being asked on a Sax Forum, where of course people who have been playing sax would have a propensity to answer in a certain direction. If you look at the basic fundamentals of the instruments, though, and imagine that indeed you are being presented with one or the other having no prior experience with either - I feel brass are easier to learn and get a good grasp of.

 

OP - Learn what makes you happy don't let somebody's opinion of difficulty influence your decision. If you like it and want to learn it you will.

 

+1. These discussions about which instrument is easier or harder to learn are pretty useless. And regardless of how long it takes initially to get some sort of sound and learn a few basics, mastering any musical instrument is a challenge and will not happen without total dedication and a major desire, bordering on 'no choice, just have to do it' attitude, to do so. And it's a lifelong pursuit. Choose the instrument that you really love and go from there.

If you think it's going to be easy, think again, or take up some other activity.

 

Never played trumpet but I did have a go at trombone for a little while back in the early 90's. Two things that struck me were; I could make a relatively acceptable sound on trombone that wouldn't have friends and family running from the room much quicker than a beginner on sax and secondly that brass players must develop their ears quicker because a single fingering (or slide position) is used for multiple notes and you have to sort of "hear" that ahead of time to get the proper one to sound.

The other thing that gets me is that trumpet players (present company in this thread excluded since they know sax has plenty of it's own challenges) seem to make these types of claims far more often than any of the sax players I've ever known. I nearly walked out of a big band rehearsal, and would have quit the band if I hadn't just been subbing for the night, when the director (a fairly well known Denver area trumpet player) after rehearsing a part of a chart the trumpets were finding particularly challenging said to the sax section, unprovoked, "Well, there not saxophones. You don't just push your fingers down and the notes come out like a sax."

All instruments have challenges and mastering any of them requires dedicated effort. I have great respect for all the guys I play with because I know that no matter which instrument they play they put that time and effort in as have I.

 

If you attend a local school band concert, for the band that is in the age range corresponding to the first year that school lets students play wind instruments, you will hear a lot of saxophone noise. I believe the sax is easier than any other wind instrument to pick and start playing recognizable notes.

My son started on trumpet (and learned many other brass instruments), and since learned to play the sax. He explained to me that when playing the trumpet, you have to hear the note you are supposed to produce so that your muscles and lips can get the correct register to sound. This is something you don't have to do on the sax.

The ease of assembly point does not seem like a real issue to me. A sax has one extra piece (the neck) compared to a trumpet.

I will agree that it is a lot harder to keep a sax in proper regulation, because one whack can knock something out of alignment, cause a leak, and render the sax unplayable. But a similar whack to a trumpet is much less likely to render it unplayable.

Perhaps whatever we learn first becomes second nature to us, such that we think it is easiest. The linear nature of the sax keys under my fingers seem so second nature to me - they correspond nicely to the notes once reads on a music staff. What could be simpler?

 

The ease of assembly point does not seem like a real issue to me. A sax has one extra piece (the neck) compared to a trumpet.

Sure, neck to body, mouthpiece to neck is easy. But how many ebay listings have you seen with the neck backwards or the mouthpiece upside down? With no instruction, could you place the reed on the mouthpiece correctly and make the correct embouchure? Would you know to align the octave mechanism correctly?

Digressing a little, hardest instrument to learn is violin, IMO. Right out of the gate, you must have a great ear and muscle memory like a trombone player, but also very fine control of the bow. The average violin student can't even play in tune for the first few years.

But back to the why. It's easy for a beginner to hit a wall and want to switch to another instrument. You need to decide if sax is really for you or not and if you're willing to keep working at it. Keep in mind that if you switch, you'll be starting from scratch again. On the other hand, you may have a natural talent and be an excellent woodwind and brass player and could do both equally well. A good friend of mine plays both sax and trumpet extremely well.

I've heard the "all saxes have to do is press the right buttons" remark from brass players many times. And that's essentially true. If my chops are shot, my sound is still passable. If a brass player's chops are shot, failure is catastrophic.

I don't disagree that sax is pretty darn easy to learn compared to other woodwinds. But it's very difficult and time consuming to achieve a great sound. Most never do.

 

I'd be interested to know how many of the people weighing in on this (and on the numerous other threads this has been discussed on) have ever played the trumpet. I'm not talking about just picking up the trumpet and messing around for a while, but attempting to become a performance level trumpet player. I have and I can tell you that it's not as easy as many of you think it is. Yes it is easier to learn the eight fingerings vs. all the sax fingerings. Just because there are less fingerings does not make technique as much easier as you might think. The real issue however is physical strength. Playing trumpet (and French Horn) is pretty much an athletic endeavor. There is no comparison between the trumpet embouchure and the so-called sax embouchure. It takes several years of dedicated practice to even begin to develop the range and endurance needed to play at anything that even resembles a professional level. When you factor in the physical effort required, any difference in finger technique is a non-issue. From my experience, overall the trumpet is considerably more difficult to play than the sax.

For some reason, these discussions usually start with a question about the trumpet, but there will also be mention of the lower brass instruments. I'll just say this; they are much more forgiving than trumpet and horn. More volume of air is required, but the embouchure is much easier to develop.

The bottom line for anyone considering trumpet as some sort of a double is that you're not going to just pick it up and mess around in your spare time and expect to become a performance level player. You will need to be able to find at least a couple of hours of non-consecutive practice time EVERY day, although it will take months before you will even be able to play this long in one day.

 

Trumpet is obviously much more difficult.
A trumpet player friend that I play with a lot blew his lip out in September and is still working his way back.
Meanwhile, I put on a new reed and go about my business.

 

:|.....Choosing an outlier as an example is really a pretty questionable way to support your position, though.

Yup, sometimes a tpt player blows his/her lip when they push themselves too far.

I fail to see exactly how that relates to "is a trumpet more difficult to learn than a sax ?", however.

I'd be interested to know how many of the people weighing in on this (and on the numerous other threads this has been discussed on) have ever played the trumpet.

:wave: me, me, me !

But yes, again, the question is being asked on a Sax Forum...

 

I don't know about all that,
but I found out that I play
the radio better'n I play the
sax.

 

I can tune a piano but I can't tuna fish!

(yeah, dated myself on that oldie but a goodie!) :bluewink: :mrgreen:

 

HarmonizerNJ makes a good point.

If you grab 100 saxes from gig-playing player, how many will be in 95%+ playing condition with no leaks at tenon or pads etc? How about if you grab 100 trumpets?

Saxes are very often somewhat "off" and the compensation for that is a significant factor, vs. a much more reliable machine (trumpet). To say nothing of reed variations, fails, changes etc. which require compensation. Yes trumpeters have unique set of challenges but they are not centered around an essentially flawed instrument!

As to hearing the tone in your head when playing, when I hear hobbyest/non-serious sax players "blowing into mouthpieces" (my term), I know they are not creating tonal concept/notes, with their ears/mind/body/voicing, cause their sound is just not there/weak/choppy/fill-in-the-blank-not-good

THE factor that hasn't been plugged into the equation: Dude, which one gets the chicks?!?

 

That 'bout says it all.
Hence, a dilemma.

 

When asked this type of question I always respond that any instrument is difficult to master and play at a high level. Some things are easier to do on one, yet harder on the other and vice versa.

 

I play some functional tuba, but really struggle to get much out of a trumpet or cornet. Horn, I can't even get a sound out of it. That thing is damned difficult!

I do think sax is one of the more difficult instruments to play well. Not that I have first hand knowledge of playing well.

 

Hmm.. I just picked up a trumpet (never played one before) and played a scale (somebody showed me the fingerings). Sounded perfectly fine. When I first picked up a sax, it took me a couple of days to get a sound and learn a scale. So I guess trumpet really is easier. Remember, the OP said "learn", not "master".


I agree horn is a b*tch, tons more partials to deal with. One time our director told the bones to try to sound more like horns on a certain passage. One of them piped up and said, "you mean you want me to stick my hand in the bell and crack every note?". I laughed my a** off.

 

I tried playing trumpet, as many have said, its nice there are only 3 buttons and a slide tune, but getting higher notes took a lot of effort and I can see how brass players can wear out embouchures/blow out chops. On the other hand I can play several hour long sets and comeback the next day with little or no problem.

 

Before I learned to play the sax, I played trumpet when I was in high school. I tried going back to the trumpet but I felt I don't have the energy anymore to play it. Much effort is needed in terms of airstream to blow a note in a trumpet than a sax. Of course this issue could be solved through dedicated practice but I thought it would be better if I just devote my spare time to playing the sax.

 

Weightlifting also takes a lot of effort and energy, but it isn't difficult.

 

Actually using free weights with proper form is fairly difficult judging by all the people in gyms doing it wrong.

 

I wonder if anyone asked that question to Benny Carter when he was still alive? I continue to find it amazing that he could be a professional musician on both saxophone and trumpet. There may have been others with this unusual double, but I do not know who. Since we can't ask Benny I will make the assumption that the trumpet is easier, since to became proficient on trumpet after he was a saxophonist.

 

There may have been others with this unusual double, but I do not know who.

Herb Hardesty

 

Miles Donahue and Jay Thomas.